Invoke-WebRequest/Invoke-RestMethod doesn't error silently and doesn't return object

Prerequisites

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Make sure you are able to repro it on the latest released version
Search the existing issues.
Refer to the FAQ.
Refer to Differences between Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell.

Steps to reproduce

This is a PS 5.1 vs PS 7.1.4 behavior

I am trying to get information from the Web. When you submit the form data to the site, it sends to you a site that returns many different 30x codes including 308, 302 and 301. In PS 5.1 I had to work around this by erroring silently and manually picking up the next URL and continue this until I get to the final page. The same code will not work in PS 7.1.4. PS 7.1.4 Errors and never sets the response object information with:
Invoke-RestMethod: Object moved
Object moved to here.

I did adjust for the differences between the two concerning -MaximumRedirection values (I tried with both zero and non-zero in PS 7.1.4, 0 only works in PS 5.1)

Maybe my problem is with -MaximumRedirection, not sure. It would be nice if -MaximumRedirection actually worked and followed to the final site, but that didnt work in PS 5.1 either.

Expected behavior

$URL = "https://www.house.mi.gov/MHRPublic/frmFindARep.aspx"
$NewForm = @{
	__VIEWSTATE = "/wEPDwUKMTg0NjQzMjc3MmRkBuNUB5KimRXurClxgRghZ2iO1Go+8M7cuUyliKPvmLw="
	__VIEWSTATEGENERATOR = "198DD409"
	__SCROLLPOSITIONX = 0
	__SCROLLPOSITIONY = 360.5
	__EVENTTARGET = ""
	__EVENTARGUMENT = ""
	__EVENTVALIDATION = "/wEdAAcfDlizqjSQxG3MopasYgsWq+/5lC5Dfq9OI8O6z0tv6ZqPnR1JXGHWscSP1P0vWV0rmtCHLRrNXCrKIKqPA4/Y5rWBbqmpI2g3SVFNwbNmiJmBxNgbZoDGCpe4awpYx8p13HaNCmKPXwtSIMJvlpwqEw7fcrrJNQQPsugholuaz+Tm3c8Xf5WRgoGXZLzvHpA="
	txtDistrictNumber  = 74
	btnFindARep = "Find A Representative"
}

$FollowURL = $URL

$RedirectResponse = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $FollowURL -Method POST -Body $NewForm -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -MaximumRedirection 0

$RedirectResponse.Headers.Location to have a value to be able to process the next jump

Actual behavior

$URL = "https://www.house.mi.gov/MHRPublic/frmFindARep.aspx"
$NewForm = @{
	__VIEWSTATE = "/wEPDwUKMTg0NjQzMjc3MmRkBuNUB5KimRXurClxgRghZ2iO1Go+8M7cuUyliKPvmLw="
	__VIEWSTATEGENERATOR = "198DD409"
	__SCROLLPOSITIONX = 0
	__SCROLLPOSITIONY = 360.5
	__EVENTTARGET = ""
	__EVENTARGUMENT = ""
	__EVENTVALIDATION = "/wEdAAcfDlizqjSQxG3MopasYgsWq+/5lC5Dfq9OI8O6z0tv6ZqPnR1JXGHWscSP1P0vWV0rmtCHLRrNXCrKIKqPA4/Y5rWBbqmpI2g3SVFNwbNmiJmBxNgbZoDGCpe4awpYx8p13HaNCmKPXwtSIMJvlpwqEw7fcrrJNQQPsugholuaz+Tm3c8Xf5WRgoGXZLzvHpA="
	txtDistrictNumber  = 74
	btnFindARep = "Find A Representative"
}

$FollowURL = $URL

$RedirectResponse = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $FollowURL -Method POST -Body $NewForm -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -MaximumRedirection 100

Invoke-WebRequest: Object moved
Object moved to here.

Error details

Exception             :
    Type       : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.HttpResponseException
    Response   : StatusCode: 302, ReasonPhrase: 'Found', Version: 1.1, Content: System.Net.Http.HttpConnectionResponseContent, Headers:
                 {
                 Cache-Control: private
                 Location: http://gophouse.org/representatives/westmi/huizenga/
                 Server: Microsoft-IIS/10.0
                 Set-Cookie: ASP.NET_SessionId=l4jrqorprompojbv1a0v5v4j; path=/; HttpOnly; SameSite=Lax
                 X-AspNet-Version: 4.0.30319
                 X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
                 Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 20:37:04 GMT
                 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
                 Content-Length: 169
                 }
    TargetSite :
        Name          : ThrowTerminatingError
        DeclaringType : System.Management.Automation.MshCommandRuntime, System.Management.Automation, Version=7.1.4.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35
        MemberType    : Method
        Module        : System.Management.Automation.dll
    StackTrace :
   at System.Management.Automation.MshCommandRuntime.ThrowTerminatingError(ErrorRecord errorRecord)
    Message    : Response status code does not indicate success: 302 (Found).
    Source     : System.Management.Automation
    HResult    : -2146233088
TargetObject          : Method: POST, RequestUri: 'https://www.house.mi.gov/MHRPublic/frmFindARep.aspx', Version: 1.1, Content:
System.Net.Http.ByteArrayContent, Headers:
                        {
                        User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0
                        User-Agent: (Windows NT 10.0; Microsoft Windows 10.0.19043; en-US)
                        User-Agent: PowerShell/7.1.4
                        Content-Length: 478
                        Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
                        }
CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (Method: POST, Reque…-form-urlencoded
                        }:HttpRequestMessage) [Invoke-WebRequest], HttpResponseException
FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletWebResponseException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeWebRequestCommand
ErrorDetails          : Object moved
                        Object moved to here.


InvocationInfo        :
    MyCommand        : Invoke-WebRequest
    ScriptLineNumber : 1
    OffsetInLine     : 21
    HistoryId        : 28
    Line             : $RedirectResponse = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $FollowURL -Method POST -Body $NewForm -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
-MaximumRedirection 0
    PositionMessage  : At line:1 char:21
                       + … tResponse = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $FollowURL -Method POST -Body $New …
                       +               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    InvocationName   : Invoke-WebRequest
    CommandOrigin    : Internal
ScriptStackTrace      : at <ScriptBlock>, <No file>: line 1

Environment data

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      7.1.4
PSEdition                      Core
GitCommitId                    7.1.4
OS                             Microsoft Windows 10.0.19043
Platform                       Win32NT
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0…}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
WSManStackVersion              3.0

Visuals

No response

Please check with latest PowerShell 7.2 Preview version.

Please check with latest PowerShell 7.2 Preview version.

I have tried this on 7.1.5 just released and 7.2 Preview 10. Same behavior. Same with Invoke-RestMethod too.

Invoke-RestMethod does the same, this is in 7.2 preview:

PS > get-error

Exception :
Type : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.HttpResponseException
Response : StatusCode: 302, ReasonPhrase: 'Found', Version: 1.1, Content:
System.Net.Http.HttpConnectionResponseContent, Headers:
{
Cache-Control: private
Location: http://gophouse.org/representatives/westmi/huizenga/
Server: Microsoft-IIS/10.0
Set-Cookie: ASP.NET_SessionId=hrqkjj3lw1xt1011u2k4j40l; path=/; HttpOnly; SameSite=Lax
X-AspNet-Version: 4.0.30319
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2021 20:46:19 GMT
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 169
}
TargetSite :
Name : ThrowTerminatingError
DeclaringType : System.Management.Automation.MshCommandRuntime, System.Management.Automation,
Version=7.2.0.10, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35
MemberType : Method
Module : System.Management.Automation.dll
Message : Response status code does not indicate success: 302 (Found).
Source : System.Management.Automation
HResult : -2146233088
StackTrace :
at System.Management.Automation.MshCommandRuntime.ThrowTerminatingError(ErrorRecord errorRecord)
TargetObject : Method: GET, RequestUri: 'https://www.house.mi.gov/MHRPublic/frmFindARep.aspx?__SCROLLPOSITIONY
=360.5&txtDistrictNumber=74&__EVENTVALIDATION=%2FwEdAAcfDlizqjSQxG3MopasYgsWq%2B%2F5lC5Dfq9OI8O6z0tv6ZqPnR1JXGHWscSP1P0
vWV0rmtCHLRrNXCrKIKqPA4%2FY5rWBbqmpI2g3SVFNwbNmiJmBxNgbZoDGCpe4awpYx8p13HaNCmKPXwtSIMJvlpwqEw7fcrrJNQQPsugholuaz%2BTm3c
8Xf5WRgoGXZLzvHpA%3D&__SCROLLPOSITIONX=0&btnFindARep=Find+A+Representative&__EVENTTARGET=&__VIEWSTATE=%2FwEPDwUKMTg0NjQ
zMjc3MmRkBuNUB5KimRXurClxgRghZ2iO1Go%2B8M7cuUyliKPvmLw%3D&__VIEWSTATEGENERATOR=198DD409&__EVENTARGUMENT=', Version:
1.1, Content: System.Net.Http.StringContent, Headers:
{
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0
User-Agent: (Windows NT 10.0; Microsoft Windows 10.0.19043; en-US)
User-Agent: PowerShell/7.2.0
Content-Length: 0
}
CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (Method: GET, Reques…ontent-Length: 0
}:HttpRequestMessage) [Invoke-RestMethod], HttpResponseException
FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletWebResponseException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeRestMethodCommand
ErrorDetails : Object moved
Object moved to here.

InvocationInfo :
MyCommand : Invoke-RestMethod
ScriptLineNumber : 1
OffsetInLine : 21
HistoryId : 6
Line : $RedirectResponse = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $FollowURL -Body $NewForm -ErrorAction
SilentlyContinue -MaximumRedirection 0
PositionMessage : At line:1 char:21
+ … tResponse = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $FollowURL -Body $NewForm -ErrorAc …
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
InvocationName : Invoke-RestMethod
CommandOrigin : Internal
ScriptStackTrace : at , : line 1

https://gophouse.org
Mark Huizenga Posts | Michigan House Republicans
Mark Huizenga Posts

Michigan House of Representatives

I can't connect to the website to check; but I think it fails silently on a Https to Http redirect.
Fixed by #18595 and #18546

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Invoke-WebRequest/Invoke-RestMethod doesn't error silently and doesn't return object #16247

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Invoke-WebRequest/Invoke-RestMethod doesn't error silently and doesn't return object #16247

Description

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Expected behavior

Actual behavior

Error details

Environment data

Visuals

Activity

iSazonov commented on Oct 15, 2021

officialh1 commented on Oct 16, 2021

officialh1 commented on Oct 16, 2021

CarloToso commented on Jan 23, 2023

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