Sitecore 9.1 Install Install-SitecoreConfiguration : Cannot retrieve the dynamic parameters for the cmdlet. Unrecognized escape sequence

Question

Trying to install Sitecore 9.1 XP0 version, single Dev. Have Solr service running TLS, able to browse to https://localhost:8984/solr. Certificate for Solr cert in Trusted Root Certificate Store of my local. Other prerequisites are there, local SQL Server 2017, setup account with enough permissions to create databases, etc. My install Powershell Script gives error messages when I run the Install-SitecoreConfiguration commands, that is, errors when running Install-SitecoreConfiguration with the various hashtables as parameters, @xcSolrParams, @idServerParams, @xcidCertParams. The PowerShell session finally dies with an unable to connect to the remote server message.

The specific error message for the Install-SitecoreConfiguration commands is Install-SitecoreConfiguration: Cannot retrieve the dynamic parameters for the cmdlet. Unrecognized escape sequence. (400), so it seems that the Install-SitecoreConfig cmdlet cannot understand the hashtable variables. I have displayed them before running the Install-SitecoreConfiguration command and they all seem reasonable, indicating the proper script/home paths. Have chosen default certificates generated by Sitecore to avoid installation problems. Any ideas accepted, I wonder if there is a new version of the Install-SitecoreConfiguration cmdlet that changes how the hashtable parameters are passed in.

Answer 1

It looks like you have edited the file and put the path to CertPath parameter in the .json file. This isn't a problem in itself, but you haven't escaped the \'s (Which you must do in .json)

change:

        "CertPath": {
        "Type": "String",
        "Description": "The physical path on disk where certificates will be stored.",
        "DefaultValue": "C:\technicalSubjects\SiteCore\certificates"
    },

to:

        "CertPath": {
        "Type": "String",
        "Description": "The physical path on disk where certificates will be stored.",
        "DefaultValue": "C:\\technicalSubjects\\SiteCore\\certificates"
    },

and anywhere else where you have used them.

I would suggest you install Visual Studio Code or similar as this has built in tools for highlighting syntax errors.

Answer 2

Here's the first two calls of Install-SitecoreConfiguration. 1) The first call of Install-SitecoreConfiguration with idCertParams, with -Verbose, gives the output right after the next 3 sentence. Note that the lines before the call populate values for the idCertParams hash table, and the values are written out before the call, as shown. As mentioned before, there are one or two more calls of Install-SitecoreConfiguation with various hash tables, all with the same result. Just showing the first two calls, as they are all the same.

idCertparams, before Install-SitecoreConfiguration @idCertParams

Name Value
---- -----
Path C:\technicalSubjects\SiteCore\resourcefiles\createcert.json
CertificateName sitecore9.identityserver

Install-SitecoreConfiguration : Cannot retrieve the dynamic parameters for the cmdlet. Unrecognized escape sequence. (400): { "Parameters": { "CertificateName": { "Type": "String", "Description": "The name of the certificate to be created.", "DefaultValue": "" }, "CertPath": { "Type": "String", "Description": "The physical path on disk where certificates will be stored.", "DefaultValue": "C:\technicalSubjects\SiteCore\certificates" }, "RootCertFileName": { "Type": "String", "Description": "The file name of the root certificate to be created.", "DefaultValue": "SitecoreRootCert" }, "ExportPassword": { "Type": "String", "Description": "Password to export certificates with.", "DefaultValue": "SIF-Default" } }, "Variables": { "Root.Cert.DnsName": "[concat('DO_NOT_TRUST_', parameter('RootCertFileName'))]", "Root.Cert.Store": "Cert:\LocalMachine\Root", "Client.Cert.Store": "Cert:\LocalMachine\My", "Export.Password": "[if(variable('User.Supplied.Password'),variable('Secure.Password'),variable('Convert.User.Password'))]", "User.Supplied.Password": "[equal(parameter('ExportPassword'),'SIF-Default')]", "Secure.Password": "[ConvertToSecureString(String:variable('Password.String'),AsPlainText:true,Force:true)]", "Password.String": "[RandomString(Length:20,EnforceComplexity:True)]", "Convert.User.Password": "[ConvertToSecureString(String:parameter('ExportPassword'),AsPlainText:true,Force:true)]" }, ...

Here's the second call of Install-SitecoreConfiguration, with idServerParams. The results are similar. Note that the idServerParams are populated just before the call of Install-SitecoreConfig.

idServerParams, before Install-SitecoreCOnfiguration SqlServer DAN-PC-17\MSSQLSERVER01
Path C:\technicalSubjects\SiteCore\resourcefiles\identityserver.json
SqlCorePassword Sitecor3SecureP4ssword!
LicenseFile C:\technicalSubjects\SiteCore\resourcefiles\license.xml
SqlDbPrefix sitecore9
Package C:\technicalSubjects\SiteCore\resourcefiles\Sitecore.IdentityServer 2.0.0 rev. 00157 (OnPrem)_identityserver.scwdp.zip
SitecoreIdentityCert sitecore9.identityserver
PasswordRecoveryUrl https://sitecore9.sc
ClientSecret SIF-Default
SiteName sitecore9.identityserver
AllowedCorsOrigins https://sitecore9.sc
Install-SitecoreConfiguration : Cannot retrieve the dynamic parameters for the cmdlet. Unrecognized escape sequence. (763): { "Parameters": { "Package": { "Type": "string", "Description": "The path to the Web Deploy package to deploy.", "DefaultValue": "" }, "SqlDbPrefix": { "Type": "string", "Description": "The prefix used for all Sql databases.", "DefaultValue": "" }, "SitecoreIdentityCert": { "Type": "string", "Description": "The certificate to use for encryption. Provide the name or the thumbprint.", "DefaultValue": "" }, "LicenseFile": { "Type": "string", "Description": "The path to the Sitecore license file.", "DefaultValue": "C:\technicalSubjects\SiteCore\resourcefiles\License.xml" }, "SiteName": { "Type": "string", "DefaultValue": "IdentityServer", "Description": "The name of the site to be deployed." }, "SqlCoreUser": { "Type": "string", "DefaultValue": "coreuser", "Description": "The user to create and use in Core connection string." }, "SqlCoreDbName": { "Type": "string", "DefaultValue": "_Core", "Description": "The database to use in Core connection string." }, "SqlCorePassword": { "Type": "string", "DefaultValue": "sitecore!", "Description": "The Sql password for the Core connection string in Sitecore." }, "SqlServer": { "Type": "string", "DefaultValue": "DAN-PC-17\MSSQLSERVER01", "Description": "The Sql Server where databases will be installed." }, "PasswordRecoveryUrl": { "Type": "string", "Description": "Password recovery Url (Host name of CM instance).", "DefaultValue": "http:\" }, "AllowedCorsOrigins": { "Type": "string", "Description": "Pipe-separated list of instances (URIs) that are allowed to login via Sitecore Identity.", "DefaultValue": "" }, "ClientSecret": { "Type": "string", "Description": "Client secret of PasswordClient section. It's a random string between 1 and 100 symbols long.", "DefaultValue": "sitecore!" }, "CustomConfigurationFile": { "Type": "string", "DefaultValue": "", "Description": "Path to file with custom configuration to be deployed in Identity Server folder." }, "HostMappingName": { "Type": "string", "Reference": "SiteName", "Description": "The host name of the site." }, "DnsName" :{ "Type": "string", "Reference": "SiteName", "Description": "The dns name of the site." } },