Powershell script invoked by SQL Agent works differently - sql-server

Question

I have a pretty simple powershell script (to convert .xlsx files to .xls) like below:
$files = Get-ChildItem "C:\MyFolder\*.xlsx"
foreach ($file in $files) {
$Filepath = Get-Item -Path $file
$NewFilepath = Join-Path -path $Filepath.directory.fullname -ChildPath
"$($Filepath.basename).xls"
$Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$Excel.Visible = $false #or false
$Excel.displayalerts = $false
$Workbook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open("$Filepath".fullname,
[Type]::Missing,$true)
$Workbook.SaveAs("$NewFilepath",56)
#https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff730962.aspx
$Workbook.Close()
$Excel.Quit()
[System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($Excel)
Remove-Variable Excel
Remove-Item $Filepath
}
If I run this script from powershell directly it works just as expected. I mean for each .xlsx file it creates a new .xls file and removes given .xlsx file.
But when I invoke it by SQL Agent all the .xlsx files are simply removed with no creation corresponding .xls files.
SQL Job step
Type: Powershell
Run as: SQL Server Agent service account (checked folder permissioned and is full control)
Command: powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"
The job does not fail. But when I go to the step execution details I can see the following message:
Message
Executed as user: ServiceAccount. ...rors did not stop the script:
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script.
The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"'.
Correct the script and reschedule the job.
The error information returned by PowerShell is: 'Sorry, we couldn't find .
Is it possible it was moved, renamed or deleted? '
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script.
The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"'.
Correct the script and reschedule the job.
The error information returned by PowerShell is:
'At C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1:16 char:1 + $Workbook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open("$Filepath".fullname,[Type]::Missin ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : OperationStopped: (:) [], COMException '
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script.
The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"'.
Correct the script and reschedule the job.
The error information returned by PowerShell is: ' + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException '
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script.
The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"'.
Correct the script and reschedule the job. The error information returned by PowerShell is: ' '
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script.
The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"'.
Correct the script and reschedule the job.
The error information returned by PowerShell is: 'You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression. '
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script.
The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"'.
Correct the script and reschedule the job.
The error information returned by PowerShell is: 'At C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1:18 char:1 '
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script.
The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"'.
Correct the script and reschedule the job. The error information returned by PowerShell is: '+ $Workbook.SaveAs("$NewFilepath",56) '
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script.
The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"'.
Correct the script and reschedule the job.
The error information returned by PowerShell is: '+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ '
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script.
The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"'. Correct the script and reschedule the job.
The error information returned by PowerShell is: ' + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException '
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script. The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"'.
Correct the script and reschedule the job. The error information returned by PowerShell is: ' + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull '
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script. The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"'.
Correct the script and reschedule the job. The error information returned by PowerShell is: ' '
A job step received an error at line 1 in a PowerShell script.
The corresponding line is 'powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1"... Process Exit Code 0. The step succeeded.

Answer 1

A PowerShell job step type expects a script but it looks like you are specifying the OS command powershell -File "C:\MyScripts\MyConvertToXls.ps1" to invoke the script.
Try a Operating System (CmdExec) job step type to invoke the command. Alternatively, paste the script into the PowerShell job step instead of running the external script.

Answer 2

I had same error, and found this solution.
You need to create folder Desktop
C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\Desktop for 32 bit machine
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Desktop for 64 bit machine
It's amaizing but it works