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TOPIC
	about_Jobs

SHORT DESCRIPTION
	Provides information about how Windows PowerShell background jobs run a
	command or expression in the background without interacting with the 
	current session. 

LONG DESCRIPTION
	This topic explains how to run background jobs in Windows PowerShell on a 
	local computer. For information about running background jobs on remote 
	computers, see about_Remote_Jobs. 

	When you start a background job, the command prompt returns immediately,
	even if the job takes an extended time to complete. You can continue to 
	work in the session without interruption while the job runs. 

	
 HOW TO START A JOB ON THE LOCAL COMPUTER
	To start a background job on the local computer, use the Start-Job 
	cmdlet. 

	To write a Start-Job command, enclose the command that the job runs in 
	braces ( { } ). Use the ScriptBlock parameter to specify the command.

	The following command starts a background job that runs a Get-Process 
	command on the local computer.

		start-job -scriptblock {get-process}


	The Start-Job command returns an object that represents the job. The job 
	object contains useful information about the job, but it does not contain 
	the job results.

	Save the job object in a variable, and then use it with the other Job 
	cmdlets to manage the background job. The following command starts a job 
	object and saves the resulting job object in the $job variable.

		$job = start-job -scriptblock {get-process}
	
	You can also use the Get-Job cmdlet to get objects that represent the jobs 
	started in the current session. Get-Job returns the same job object that 
	Start-Job returns.

 
 GETTING JOB OBJECTS

	To get object that represent the background jobs that were started in the 
	current session, use the Get-Job cmdlet. Without parameters, Get-Job 
	returns all of the jobs that were started in the current session.

	For example, the following command gets the jobs in the current session.

		get-job


		Id  Name  State	HasMoreData  Location   Command
		--  ----  -----	-----------  --------   -------
		1   Job1  Running	True		 localhost  get-process


	You can also save the job object in a variable and use it to represent the 
	job in a later command. The following command gets the job with ID 1 and 
	saves it in the $job variable.

	 $job = get-job -id 1  


	The job object contains the state of the job, which indicates whether the 
	job has finished. A finished job has a state of "Complete" or "Failed". A 
	job might also be blocked or running.


		get-job


		Id  Name  State	HasMoreData  Location   Command
		--  ----  -----	-----------  --------   -------
		1   Job1  Complete	True		 localhost  get-process




 GETTING THE RESULTS OF A JOB

	When you run a background job, the results do not appear immediately. 
	Instead, the Start-Job cmdlet returns a job object that represents the 
	job, but it does not contain the results. To get the results of a 
	background job, use the Receive-Job cmdlet.

	The following command uses the Receive-Job cmdlet to get the results of 
	the job. It uses a job object saved in the $job variable to identify the 
	job.

		receive-job -job $job

	 The Receive-Job cmdlet returns the results of the job. 


		 Handles  NPM(K)	PM(K)	WS(K) VM(M)   CPU(s)	Id ProcessName
		 -------  ------	-----	----- -----   ------	-- -----------
			 103	 4	11328	 9692	56		 1176 audiodg
			 804	14	12228	14108   100   101.74  1740 CcmExec
			 668	 7	 2672	 6168   104	32.26   488 csrss
		 ...

	 You can also save the results of a job in a variable. The following 
	 command saves the results of the job in the $job variable to the $results 
	 variable.

		$results = receive-job -job $job

	 And, you can save the results of the job in a file by using the redirection 
	 operator (>) or the Out-File cmdlet. The following command uses the 
	 redirection operator to save the results of the job in the $job variable in 
	 the Results.txt file.


		receive-job -job $job > results.txt




 GETTING AND KEEPING PARTIAL JOB RESULTS

	The Receive-Job cmdlet returns the results of a background job. If the 
	job is complete, Receive-Job returns the complete results of the job. If 
	the job is still running, Receive-Job gets the results that have been
	generated thus far. You can run Receive-Job commands again to get the 
	remaining results.

	When Receive-Job returns results, by default, it deletes the results from 
	the cache where job results are stored. If you run another Receive-Job 
	command, you get only the results that were not yet received.

	The following commands show the results of Receive-Job commands run 
	before the job is complete.


		C:\PS> receive-job -job $job

		Handles  NPM(K)	PM(K)	WS(K) VM(M)   CPU(s)	 Id ProcessName
		-------  ------	-----	----- -----   ------	 -- -----------
			103	 4	11328	 9692	56			1176 audiodg
			804	14	12228	14108   100   101.74   1740 CcmExec


		C:\PS> receive-job -job $job

		Handles  NPM(K)	PM(K)	WS(K) VM(M)   CPU(s)	 Id ProcessName
		-------  ------	-----	----- -----   ------	 -- -----------
			 68	 3	 2632		664	29	 0.36   1388 ccmsetup
			749	22	21468	19940   203   122.13   3644 communicator
			905	 7	 2980	 2628	34   197.97	424 csrss
		 1121	25	28408	32940   174   430.14   3048 explorer


	To prevent Receive-Job from deleting the job results that it has
	returned, use the Keep parameter. As a result, Receive-Job returns all
	of the results that have been generated until that time.

	The following commands show the effect of using the Keep parameter on a job
	that is not yet complete. 

		C:\PS> receive-job -job $job -keep

		Handles  NPM(K)	PM(K)	WS(K) VM(M)   CPU(s)	 Id ProcessName
		-------  ------	-----	----- -----   ------	 -- -----------
			103	 4	11328	 9692	56			1176 audiodg
			804	14	12228	14108   100   101.74   1740 CcmExec


		C:\PS> receive-job -job $job -keep

		Handles  NPM(K)	PM(K)	WS(K) VM(M)   CPU(s)	 Id ProcessName
		-------  ------	-----	----- -----   ------	 -- -----------
			103	 4	11328	 9692	56			1176 audiodg
			804	14	12228	14108   100   101.74   1740 CcmExec
			 68	 3	 2632		664	29	 0.36   1388 ccmsetup
			749	22	21468	19940   203   122.13   3644 communicator
			905	 7	 2980	 2628	34   197.97	424 csrss
		 1121	25	28408	32940   174   430.14   3048 explorer



WAITING FOR THE RESULTS

	If you run a command that takes a long time to be completed, you can use 
	the properties of the job object to determine when the job is complete. 
	The following command uses the Get-Job object to get all of the background 
	jobs in the current session.

		get-job

	The results appear in a table. The status of the job appears in the State 
	column.

		Id  Name  State	HasMoreData  Location   Command
		--  ----  -----	-----------  --------   -------
		1   Job1  Complete	True		 localhost  get-process
		2   Job2  Running	 True		 localhost  get-eventlog -log syst...
		3   Job3  Complete	True		 localhost  dir -path c:\* -recurse


	In this case, the State property reveals that Job 2 is still running. If 
	you were to use the Receive-Job cmdlet to get the job results now, the 
	results would be incomplete. You can use the Receive-Job cmdlet 
	repeatedly to get all of the results. By default, each time you use it, 
	you get only the results that were not already received, but you can use 
	the Keep parameter of the Receive-Job cmdlet to retain the results, even 
	though they were already received.

	At this point, you can write the results to a file and then append the 
	newly received results as they arrive. Or, you can wait and check the 
	state of the job later.

	Or, you can use the Wait-Job cmdlet to wait for any or all of the results 
	of the job. Wait-Job lets you wait for a particular job, for all jobs, or 
	for any of the jobs to be completed.
  
	The following command uses the Wait-Job cmdlet to wait for a job with 
	ID 10.

		wait-job -ID 10

	As a result, the Windows PowerShell prompt is suppressed until the job 
	is completed.

	You can also wait for a predetermined period of time. This command uses 
	the Timeout parameter to limit the wait to 120 seconds. When the time 
	expires, the command prompt returns, but the job continues to run in the 
	background.

		wait-job -ID 10 -timeout 120


STOPPING A JOB

	To stop a background job, use the Stop-Job cmdlet. The following command 
	starts a job to get every entry in the System event log. It saves the job
	object in the $job variable.

		$job = start-job -scriptblock {get-eventlog -log system}

	The following command stops the job. It uses a pipeline operator (|) to
	send the job in the $job variable to Stop-Job.

		$job | stop-job


DELETING A JOB

	To delete a background job, use the Remove-Job cmdlet. The following 
	command deletes the job in the $job variable.

		remove-job -job $job 


INVESTIGATING A FAILED JOB

	To find out why a job failed, use the Reason subproperty of the job object.

	The following command starts a job without the required credentials. It
	saves the job object in the $job variable.


		 $job = start-job -scriptblock {new-item -path HKLM:\Software\MyCompany}

		 Id   Name  State	HasMoreData  Location   Command
		 --   ----  -----	-----------  --------   -------
		 1	Job1  Failed   False		 localhost  new-item -path HKLM:\S...


	The following command uses the Reason property to find the error that 
	caused the job to fail.

		 $job.ChildJobs[0].JobStateInfo.Reason


	In this case, the job failed because the remote computer required explicit 
	credentials to run the command. The value of the Reason property is:

		 Connecting to remote server failed with the following error 
		 message : Access is denied.


THE JOB CMDLETS

	Start-Job		Starts a background job on a local computer.

	Get-Job		Gets the background jobs that were started in the current 
					 session.

	Receive-Job	Gets the results of background jobs.

	Stop-Job		 Stops a background job.

	Wait-Job		 Suppresses the command prompt until one or all jobs are 
					 complete.

	Remove-Job	 Deletes a background job.

	Invoke-Command   The AsJob parameter runs any command as a background job on a
					 remote computer. You can also use Invoke-Command to run
					 any job command remotely, including a Start-Job command.

 
SEE ALSO
   about_Remote_Jobs
   about_Job_Details
   about_Remote
   about_PSSessions   
   Start-Job
   Get-Job
   Receive-Job
   Stop-Job
   Wait-Job
   Remove-Job
   Invoke-Command