Azure DevOps build pipeline with hosted agent failing - azure

Question

I am pretty new to Azure and TFS and related. So please excuse me if I mix up the terms here.
I am testing the capabilities of Microsoft Team Foundation Server with an on-premise installation. I am not the admin of the server itself, I have admin access to one of the projects inside.
I have a git repo with some python code in this project and I am trying to set up CI build pipeline for this. I am also manually configuring an agent to run this build pipeline. For the timebeing, I am configuring the windows machine that I am working on to run as an agent. I was able to set it up to listen for jobs and also it picks up the job when submitted from the TFS server. (I am running the agent from a cmd.exe window)
However, I couldn't get it do even the simplest of command line tasks as part of the build pipeline.
Below is the output of where python:
2019-08-27T14:41:15.1614046Z ##[section]Starting: Find python version
2019-08-27T14:41:15.1623937Z ==============================================================================
2019-08-27T14:41:15.1624042Z Task : Command Line
2019-08-27T14:41:15.1624091Z Description : Run a command line script using cmd.exe on Windows and bash on macOS and Linux.
2019-08-27T14:41:15.1624157Z Version : 2.146.1
2019-08-27T14:41:15.1624203Z Author : Microsoft Corporation
2019-08-27T14:41:15.1624258Z Help : [More Information](https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=613735)
2019-08-27T14:41:15.1625058Z ==============================================================================
2019-08-27T14:41:15.6151701Z Cannot invoke method. Method invocation is supported only on core types in this language mode.
2019-08-27T14:41:15.6151921Z At line:1 char:1
2019-08-27T14:41:15.6151968Z + . ([scriptblock]::Create('if (!$PSHOME) { $null = Get-Item -LiteralPa ...
2019-08-27T14:41:15.6152019Z + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2019-08-27T14:41:15.6152077Z + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
2019-08-27T14:41:15.6152123Z + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodInvocationNotSupportedInConstrainedLanguage
2019-08-27T14:41:15.6152156Z
2019-08-27T14:41:17.7569608Z Cannot invoke method. Method invocation is supported only on core types in this language mode.
2019-08-27T14:41:17.7569833Z At line:1 char:740
2019-08-27T14:41:17.7570630Z + ... Continue' ; Invoke-VstsTaskScript -ScriptBlock ([scriptblock]::Create ...
2019-08-27T14:41:17.7571090Z + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2019-08-27T14:41:17.7572452Z + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
2019-08-27T14:41:17.7574051Z + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodInvocationNotSupportedInConstrainedLanguage
2019-08-27T14:41:17.7574178Z
2019-08-27T14:41:17.8271008Z ##[error]Exit code 1 returned from process: file name 'C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe', arguments '-NoLogo -Sta -NoProfile -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command ". ([scriptblock]::Create('if (!$PSHOME) { $null = Get-Item -LiteralPath ''variable:PSHOME'' } else { Import-Module -Name ([System.IO.Path]::Combine($PSHOME, ''Modules\Microsoft.PowerShell.Management\Microsoft.PowerShell.Management.psd1'')) ; Import-Module -Name ([System.IO.Path]::Combine($PSHOME, ''Modules\Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility\Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility.psd1'')) }')) 2>&1 | ForEach-Object { Write-Verbose $_.Exception.Message -Verbose } ; Import-Module -Name 'C:\TOOLS\agent\_work\_tasks\CmdLine_d9bafed4-0b18-4f58-968d-86655b4d2ce9\2.146.1\ps_modules\VstsTaskSdk\VstsTaskSdk.psd1' -ArgumentList #{ NonInteractive = $true } -ErrorAction Stop ; $VerbosePreference = 'SilentlyContinue' ; $DebugPreference = 'SilentlyContinue' ; Invoke-VstsTaskScript -ScriptBlock ([scriptblock]::Create('. ''C:\TOOLS\agent\_work\_tasks\CmdLine_d9bafed4-0b18-4f58-968d-86655b4d2ce9\2.146.1\cmdline.ps1'''))"'.
2019-08-27T14:41:17.8301183Z ##[section]Finishing: Find python version
This command runs fine when I execute it from a commandline interactively in my machine.
Why is the PowerShell getting invoked when the pipeline runs? And why such a long command to execute something so simple?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can give.

Answer 1

The agent uses PowerShell behind the scenes, it looks like your IT put some security in the computers that blocked running some PowerShell scripts (maybe only it from remote).
Try to run it in your PowerShell:
$ExecutionContext.SessionState.LanguageMode
I guess you will get this output:
ConstrainedLanguage
If yes, try to switch it to FullLanguage:
$ExecutionContext.SessionState.LanguageMode = "FullLanguage"
If it doesn't help maybe it's also blocked, so you need to talk with IT that will change it or try to change the registry like explained here or set the environment variable __PSLockdownPolicy to 0.