Issue:
Would like PowerChute Network Shutdown to trigger a Windows executable.

Product:
PowerChute Network Shutdown

Environment:
All supported Windows OS running PowerChute Network Shutdown version 4.4.x and above.

Solution:

To run a Windows PowerShell script from PowerChute, you must create two scripts: a .bat or .cmd file and a PowerShell script .ps1. We recommend using Notepad ++ to avoid saving the files as .txt in Notepad or Wordpad.

PowerChute will run a .bat, so we created Trigger.bat. That file consists of
"%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -NoProfile -NonInteractive C:'\Temp\MyPowerShellScript.ps1'

You will need to verify or change the path to powershell.exe and change the path to the MyPowerShellScript.ps1. Also, all command files and script PowerChute Network Shutdown 4.4.x and above will run must be stored in

C:\Program Files\APC\PowerChute\user_files for Windows systems

/opt/APC/PowerChute/user_files/ for Linux systems

The second file is the .ps1 file. In the example below, we had PowerShell trigger my.exe

Start-Process "C:\Program Files\my.exe"

You will need to verify or change the path to the .exe

The command file runs using the local system account. You may need to change the account to allow the script to run. To change the account, go to Control Panel—Administrative Tools—Services. In the example below, the user has been changed to wkadmin.


NOTE: PowerChute cannot execute programs that require interaction with the desktop; only command line-enabled programs are supported, e.g., if you try to launch Notepad, it will fail. In earlier versions of Windows, all services run in Session 0 along with applications. This situation poses a security risk. In Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, the operating system isolates services in Session 0 and runs applications in other sessions. PowerChute is run in Session 0, so if a command file launches a .exe, that .exe will be launched in Session 0 and not visible to the logged-in users. To verify that the .exe has launched, open Task Manager and review the list of Processes running. More information on Windows Session can be foundat http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2007/04/27/application-compatibility-session-0-isolation.aspx

Released for: Schneider Electric Hong Kong