How do I resolve “Cannot invoke the SendConfigurationApply method.” when performing Start-DscConfiguration?

Question

Another way to phrase the question less specifically: What is the correct way to \'reset\' the DSC processes on a target machine?

I\'ve created a DSC configuration

Answer 1

You could also try executing the start-dscconfiguration command with the -Force option

Start-DscConfiguration -Force ...

Answer 2

I've found the following works pretty well to reset DSC. Note this will delete the local configuration, so you will need to re-apply the machinename.meta.mof file.

#Remove all mof files (pending,current,backup,MetaConfig.mof,caches,etc)
rm C:\windows\system32\Configuration\*.mof*
#Kill the LCM/DSC processes
gps wmi* | ? {$_.modules.ModuleName -like "*DSC*"} | stop-process -force

At this point you have a clean system ready to be configured using Set-DscLocalConfigurationManager and updated using Update-DscConfiguration -Wait -Verbose -CimSession machinename

So far the only thing this hasn't fixed is a corrupted $env:psmodulepath or missing scheduled tasks for Consistency/Reboot checks. Update: According to this item on connect the scheduled tasks for Consistency/Reboot were removed in the WMF 5.0 February preview.