Initial

server/models/settingsModel.js

@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@ export function getBooleanSetting(key, fallback) {
   return String(value).toLowerCase() === 'true';
 }
 
+export function getStringSetting(key, fallback = '') {
+  const value = getSetting(key);
+  const normalized = String(value ?? '').trim();
+  return normalized || fallback;
+}
+
 // Effective CORS allow-list: admin-editable `trusted_origins` merged with the
 // built-in localhost defaults so the dev experience never locks itself out.
 export function effectiveTrustedOrigins() {

server/services/powershellRunner.js

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { config } from '../config.js';
 import { logger } from './logger.js';
 import { listExecutableAssets } from '../models/assetModel.js';
 import { listExecutableCustomVariables } from '../models/variableModel.js';
-import { getBooleanSetting } from '../models/settingsModel.js';
+import { getBooleanSetting, getStringSetting } from '../models/settingsModel.js';
 import { path } from '../utils/pathUtils.js';
 
 // The execution kill-switch can be set at boot via ALLOW_SCRIPT_EXECUTION and
@@ -17,6 +17,25 @@ function scriptExecutionAllowed() {
   return getBooleanSetting('allow_script_execution', config.allowScriptExecution);
 }
 
+export function resolvePowerShellExecutable() {
+  return getStringSetting('powershell_bin', config.powershellBin).trim();
+}
+
+export function powerShellSpawnFailureLines(error, executable) {
+  const code = error?.code ? ` (${error.code})` : '';
+  const lines = [
+    `Unable to start configured PowerShell executable "${executable}"${code}.`,
+    `Node spawn error: ${error?.message || 'unknown process start failure'}`
+  ];
+  if (error?.code === 'ENOENT') {
+    lines.push('The executable was not found on the API server PATH.');
+    lines.push('Windows: set Config > PowerShell Binary to "powershell.exe" or the full path "C:\\Windows\\System32\\WindowsPowerShell\\v1.0\\powershell.exe".');
+    lines.push('PowerShell 7: set it to "pwsh.exe" or the full pwsh install path.');
+  }
+  lines.push(`API process platform: ${process.platform}; PATH: ${process.env.PATH || '(empty)'}`);
+  return lines;
+}
+
 export function executeRunPlan(runplanId, userId) {
   // Create the durable job record before async execution so the UI can attach to logs immediately.
   const runplan = db.prepare('SELECT * FROM runplans WHERE id = ?').get(runplanId);
@@ -214,8 +233,11 @@ function spawnPowerShell(jobId, host, file, secret, executionContext = {}) {
   // Secrets are passed through process environment variables and are never written to job logs.
   const runtimeEnv = Object.fromEntries(runtimeVariableValues(host, executionContext).map((variable) => [variable.name, String(variable.value ?? '')]));
   const assetManifest = JSON.stringify(executionContext.assets || []);
+  const executable = resolvePowerShellExecutable();
+  const args = ['-NoProfile', '-ExecutionPolicy', 'Bypass', '-File', file];
   return new Promise((resolve) => {
-    const child = spawn(config.powershellBin, ['-NoProfile', '-ExecutionPolicy', 'Bypass', '-File', file], {
+    appendLog(jobId, host.id, 'system', `Launching PowerShell executable "${executable}"`);
+    const child = spawn(executable, args, {
       env: {
         ...process.env,
         ...runtimeEnv,
@@ -229,19 +251,26 @@ function spawnPowerShell(jobId, host, file, secret, executionContext = {}) {
       },
       shell: false
     });
+    let settled = false;
+
+    function settle(status, exitCode) {
+      if (settled) return;
+      settled = true;
+      finishHost(jobId, host.id, status, exitCode);
+      resolve();
+    }
 
     child.stdout.on('data', (chunk) => appendChunk(jobId, host.id, 'stdout', chunk));
     child.stderr.on('data', (chunk) => appendChunk(jobId, host.id, 'stderr', chunk));
     child.on('error', (error) => {
-      appendLog(jobId, host.id, 'stderr', `Unable to start PowerShell: ${error.message}`);
+      for (const line of powerShellSpawnFailureLines(error, executable)) appendLog(jobId, host.id, 'stderr', line);
-      finishHost(jobId, host.id, 'failed', 127);
+      settle('failed', 127);
-      resolve();
     });
     child.on('close', (code, signal) => {
+      if (settled) return;
       if (signal) appendLog(jobId, host.id, 'stderr', `PowerShell terminated by signal ${signal}`);
       const exitCode = code ?? 1;
-      finishHost(jobId, host.id, exitCode === 0 ? 'completed' : 'failed', exitCode);
+      settle(exitCode === 0 ? 'completed' : 'failed', exitCode);
-      resolve();
     });
   });
 }

server/test/settings.test.mjs

@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ import { db, load } from './setup.mjs';
 import test from 'node:test';
 import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
 
-const { getSetting, getBooleanSetting, updateSettings, effectiveTrustedOrigins } = await load('../models/settingsModel.js');
+const { getSetting, getBooleanSetting, getStringSetting, updateSettings, effectiveTrustedOrigins } = await load('../models/settingsModel.js');
+const { resolvePowerShellExecutable, powerShellSpawnFailureLines } = await load('../services/powershellRunner.js');
 
 test('unpinned settings seed as editable defaults', () => {
   // No SERVER_FQDN env var is set in the test environment, so server_fqdn is a
@@ -30,6 +31,19 @@ test('allow_script_execution is readable as an effective boolean', () => {
   assert.equal(getBooleanSetting('allow_script_execution', false), true);
 });
 
+test('powershell_bin config is used by the runner at execution time', () => {
+  updateSettings({ powershell_bin: 'powershell.exe' });
+  assert.equal(getStringSetting('powershell_bin', 'pwsh'), 'powershell.exe');
+  assert.equal(resolvePowerShellExecutable(), 'powershell.exe');
+});
+
+test('PowerShell spawn failures include operator guidance', () => {
+  const lines = powerShellSpawnFailureLines({ code: 'ENOENT', message: 'spawn pwsh ENOENT' }, 'pwsh');
+  assert.ok(lines.some((line) => line.includes('configured PowerShell executable "pwsh"')));
+  assert.ok(lines.some((line) => line.includes('Config > PowerShell Binary')));
+  assert.ok(lines.some((line) => line.includes('powershell.exe')));
+});
+
 test('effectiveTrustedOrigins merges admin edits with built-in defaults', () => {
   updateSettings({ trusted_origins: 'https://ops.example.com' });
   const origins = effectiveTrustedOrigins();