[SOLVED] Problem passing SSH arguments into Windows Terminal using Powershell

Issue

I am trying to write a small putty replacement using powershell. I am having trouble passing the SSH command in, here is what I have:

The outgrid opens and I click on a server, but its not connecting. I get a new Windows terminal window with this text:

[error 2147942402 (0x80070002) when launching "ssh root@server1"']`

I would like it to open a new tab in my existing WT session, and pass ssh root@server, then I can enter the PW and connect.

Any help would be great, Thanks!

# ssh-connect.ps1
$servers = @(
    "server1",
    "server2",
    "server3"
)

# Create an array to store the data for Out-GridView
$data = @()

foreach ($server in $servers) {
    $data += [PSCustomObject]@{
        Server = $server
    }
}

$selectedServer = $data | Out-GridView -Title "Select a server" -PassThru
if ($selectedServer) {
    # Construct the SSH command
    $sshCommand = "ssh root@$($selectedServer.Server)"

    # Execute the Windows Terminal command using the call operator
    & wt new-tab -p PowerShell -d . -H $sshCommand
}

Solution

Do not construct your SSH command as a single string, because PowerShell passes it as a single argument (enclosed in "...") to wt.exe, the Windows Terminal CLI, whereas the latter expects a command (line) to be specified as individual arguments.

Therefore:

# Note how ssh and its argument are specified as separate arguments.
wt new-tab -p PowerShell `; split-pane -H ssh "root@$($selectedServer.Server)"

Note:

• -d . was omitted, because it is redundant (the caller's current directory is used by default).

• In order to use -H to create a horizontally split pane, you need the split-pane subcommand.

• Multiple wt.exe subcommands must be separated with ; and because ; is also a PowerShell metacharacter, it must be escaped as `; (';' or ";" would work too).

• The lower horizontal pane created with split-pane uses your default Windows Terminal in terms of styling and doesn't actually create a shell session - it executes the command given directly in the pane.

  • To use the styling of a different profile, simply use another -p argument, in the context of the split-pane subcommand; e.g.:

    wt new-tab -p PowerShell `; split-pane -H -p PowerShell ssh "root@$($selectedServer.Server)"
    

Answered By - mklement0

Answer Checked By - Marilyn (WPSolving Volunteer)