Obtaining ExitCode using Start-Process and WaitForExit instead of -Wait

Question

I'm trying to run a program from PowerShell, wait for the exit, then get access to the ExitCode, but I am not having much luck. I don't want to use `-Wait` with `Start-Process`, as I need some processing to carry on in the background. Here's a simplified test script: ``` cd "C:\Windows" # ExitCode is available when using -Wait... Write-Host "Starting Notepad with -Wait - return code will be available" $process = (Start-Process -FilePath "notepad.exe" -PassThru -Wait) Write-Host "Process finished with return code: " $process.ExitCode # ExitCode is not available when waiting separately Write-Host "Starting Notepad without -Wait - return code will NOT be available" $process = (Start-Process -FilePath "notepad.exe" -PassThru) $process.WaitForExit() Write-Host "Process exit code should be here: " $process.ExitCode ``` Running this script will cause Notepad to be started. After this is closed manually, the exit code will be printed, and it will start again, without using `-wait`. No ExitCod…

Accepted Answer

Two things you could do I think...

- Create the System.Diagnostics.Process object manually and bypass Start-Process

- Run the executable in a background job (only for non-interactive processes!)

Here's how you could do either:

```
$pinfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
$pinfo.FileName = "notepad.exe"
$pinfo.RedirectStandardError = $true
$pinfo.RedirectStandardOutput = $true
$pinfo.UseShellExecute = $false
$pinfo.Arguments = ""
$p = New-Object System.Diagnostics.Process
$p.StartInfo = $pinfo
$p.Start() | Out-Null
#Do Other Stuff Here....
$p.WaitForExit()
$p.ExitCode
```

OR

```
Start-Job -Name DoSomething -ScriptBlock {
    & ping.exe somehost
    Write-Output $LASTEXITCODE
}
#Do other stuff here
Get-Job -Name DoSomething | Wait-Job | Receive-Job
```

Obtaining ExitCode using Start-Process and WaitForExit instead of -Wait

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