What is the difference between PowerShell and cmd.exe command syntax?

Question

I am running the following command in PowerShell:

PS C:\Users\adminaccount> winrm s winrm/config/service @{AllowUnencrypted="true";
MaxConcurrentOperationsPerUser="4294967295"}
Error: Invalid use of command line. Type "winrm -?" for help.

Which gives me an error, as you could see. But the same command in cmd.exe works fine:

C:\Users\adminaccount>winrm s winrm/config/service @{AllowUnencrypted="true";
MaxConcurrentOperationsPerUser="4294967295"}
Service
...

So, what should I know about PowerShell syntax to get this working there?

Answer 1

@{} defines a hashtable in PowerShell, but winrm expects a string argument. Put that argument in quotes if you want to run the command directly in PowerShell:

winrm s winrm/config/service '@{AllowUnencrypted="true"; MaxConcurrentOperationsPerUser="4294967295"}'

Also, you need admin privileges for this to work.

Answer 2

Or use the special --% parameter which lets PowerShell stop parsing the parameters.

winrm --% s winrm/config/service @{AllowUnencrypted="true";MaxConcurrentOperationsPerUser="4294967295"}

Answer 3

You can prefix your command with cmd /c and quote it like:

cmd /c "winrm s winrm/config/service @{AllowUnencrypted=`"true`";
MaxConcurrentOperationsPerUser=`"4294967295`"}" 

PowerShell will execute executables that exist in the system.