Find and Replace in PowerShell produces a corrupt/not valid file

Question

I'm using PowerShell to edit an XML file. What I'm doing is searching for a string and replacing that string within the XML. The command for this looks like:

(Get-Content "C:\My_VM\Virtual Machines\xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.XML") | 
Foreach-Object {$_ -replace "My_VMName", "My_VMName_0"} |
Set-Content "C:\My_VM\Virtual Machines\xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.XML"

Where the XML file in my case is a Virtual Machine image to be imported into Hyper-V

The find/replace works fine, and I can rename the .vhdx file for the import no problem also. I do this using:

Rename-Item "C:\My_VM\Virtual Hard Disks\My_VMName.vhdx" My_VMName_0.vhdx

But when I try to use Import-VM using the following cmdlet:

Import-VM -Path "C:\My_VM\Virtual Machines\xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.XML" -Copy -GenerateNewID

I get the error:

"Import-VM : The virtual machine configuration could not be read. The data might be corrupt or not valid."

Does anyone know why this is? I've already come up with a workaround(using different technologies) but it's still frustrating. If I open a text editor and rename everything manually it works fine.

Have you tried `Get-Content -Encoding UTF8 "C:My_VM...` and `Set-Content -Encoding UTF8` accordingly? — LocEngineer, Jul 14 '15 at 10:05

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 14 '15 at 10:08

1

Could you try this one? You probably have an issue with newlines etc.

ForEach ($line in (Get-Content "C:\My_VM\Virtual Machines\xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.XML")) {
  $line -replace "My_VMName", "My_VMName_0" | Out-File new.txt -Append
}

More on this: http://powershell.org/wp/2013/10/21/why-get-content-aint-yer-friend/

answered Jul 14 '15 at 10:08

Jos Lemmerling

81
5

I'll try this now and get back to you. – Spellchamp Jul 14 '15 at 10:17
Bingo, she works. Thanks very much, it was a real headwrecker. – Spellchamp Jul 14 '15 at 10:22

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 04 '17 at 03:29

1

I had this exact same problem, and that's how I solved it:

Problem

When I tried to use PowerShell to edit a Citrix Receiver *.ica file. If I opened the file with Notepad, replaced the text I wanted, then save it, Receiver will launch the session. However, if I used PowerShell using Get-Content and then Out-File, the file looked normal, but Receiver wouldn't read it and reported a general error.

Solution

The solution turned out to be that, by default, Out-File writes in Unicode format. I needed to change the encoding format to ASCII for it to be in the format required by Receiver.

edited Oct 04 '17 at 03:29

answered Oct 04 '17 at 00:37

David Bakkers

300
2
11

Yes. Wrong encoding. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/40922800/1001100 – JamesQMurphy Oct 04 '17 at 00:46
Thanks James. I just read up on the exact same answer elsewhere. Adding the -Encoding ASCII switch to Out-File command fixed the issue – David Bakkers Oct 04 '17 at 01:01

Find and Replace in PowerShell produces a corrupt/not valid file

2 Answers2