PowerShell: DSC Quirks, Part 2

In this episode:

Why does my config seem to use an old resource version?

Why is WmiPrvSE using up SO much memory?

The solution to both of these is actually the same:

gps wmi* | ?{ $_.Modules.ModuleName -like "*DSC*" } | Stop-Process -Confirm:$false -Force

This kills the WMI provider for DSC and forces it to launch a new one. As to why, well in the first instance I imagine the engine caches the script, and I bet there is a timeout before it will pick it up again. In the second case...it's WMI, either your script or the machine or just the alignment of the planets made it all emo, kill it and move on.

This command, btw, can absolutely be run against multiple machines remotely via WinRM. Not only that but it can be monitored remotely as well. So if you have a problem, script out a monitor/resolver, it seems fairly sturdy in the sense that if you kill it mid-action it just bombs that run, next time the DSC task runs it fires up a new instance and goes on about it's business. If the problem is chronic, I would review your code...