A passing problem with PSCustomObject when passing from PowerShell to Windows PowerShell - json

Question

I'm trying to setup an IIS application pool via PowerShell 7.1.1.
I read configuration from a JSON file into the variable $configuration which is hand over to Windows Powershell because of WebAdministration module which isn't natively supported PS 7.1.1.
A script block is defined in the top level function, the configuration is injected as PSCustomObject into the script block and executed in Windows PowerShell.
function Set-AxisAppPool
{
Write-Message 'Setting up a resource pool for Axis...'
$executeInWindowsPowerShellForCompatibilityReasons = {
param (
[Parameter(Mandatory)]
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[PSCustomObject]
$Configuration
)
Import-Module WebAdministration
Remove-WebAppPool -Name $Configuration.AppPool.Name -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction:SilentlyContinue
New-WebAppPool -Name $Configuration.AppPool.Name -Force | Write-Verbose
$params = #{
Path = "IIS:\AppPools\$($Configuration.AppPool.Name)"
Name = 'processModel'
Value = #{
userName = $Configuration.AxisUser.Name
password = $Configuration.AxisUser.Password
identitytype = 'SpecificUser'
}
}
Set-ItemProperty #params
}
powershell -NoLogo -NoProfile $executeInWindowsPowerShellForCompatibilityReasons -Args $configuration # This is a line 546
}
When the configuration JSON file exceeds a certain level, PowerShell can't pass through this deserialized JSON, the PSCustomObject, into Windows PowerShell.
Program 'powershell.exe' failed to run: The Process object must have the UseShellExecute property set to false in order to use environment
| variables.At C:\Users\JohnDoe\Desktop\Localhost automatization\Set-AxisEnvironment.ps1:546 char:5 + powershell -NoLogo -NoProfile
| $executeInWindowsPowerShellForCompa … +
It literally work with level n of objects in the JSON and it doesn't with n+1 level of objects in the configuration JSON. The JSON schema is validated, deserialization works as expected.
When I use Start-Process for invoking Windows PowerShell, I receive a different problem. Does anybody have any hint on this one?
Update
This seems to be a bug in PowerShell.

Answer 1

I suspect it is the size of the argument list overflowing into other fields, thus giving you weird error messages. From Start Process:
The length of the string assigned to the Arguments property must
be less than 32,699.
If you are passing a configuration that is larger than 32,699 characters (including spaces), then that likely may be your problem. It would likely take those first 32,699 characters then continue to the next field, -UseShellExecute which would receive a character which is not zero or false, and thus true. This would trip the "wrong", and misleading error message.