PowerShell error when converting a SecureString back to plain text

Question

How do I convert a SecureString back to plain text?

From Example 4 of the Microsoft Documentation.

$secureString = ConvertTo-SecureString -String 'Example' -AsPlainText
$secureString # 'System.Security.SecureString'
ConvertFrom-SecureString -SecureString $secureString -AsPlainText # 'Example'

But when I try the following:

>> $secureString = ConvertTo-SecureString -String 'Example' -AsPlainText -Force
>> $secureString # 'System.Security.SecureString'
>> ConvertFrom-SecureString -SecureString $secureString -AsPlainText # 'Example'

I get this error:

ConvertFrom-SecureString : A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'AsPlainText'.
At line:3 char:54
+ ... ertFrom-SecureString -SecureString $secureString -AsPlainText # 'Exam ...
+                                                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [ConvertFrom-SecureString], ParameterBindingException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NamedParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ConvertFromSecureStringCommand

When I run those commands without -AsPlainText it returns:

01000000d08c9ddf0115d1118c7a00c04fc297eb0100000063db09d0a5a25b4d92484ee7d5911cf90000000002000000000003660000c00000001000000098fcbc0d5e009078dd7a1dfe9f24d3380000000004800000a00000001000000027a7f841c320bc17b5e4febbcd3e49551000000005a133e9f864340d9d7b2473939156ef14000000f889bf5c0fc4799a5aaf435ebb15cd0920f24575

Is this a Microsoft issue or is this not supported in PowerShell 5.1

PowerShell Version

Major  Minor  Build  Revision
-----  -----  -----  --------
5      1      18362  628

Question is similar to stackoverflow.com/questions/28352141/… — Arik
– Arik, Commented Jan 31, 2020 at 20:29

codewario · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-11 17:03:14Z

43

It's not supported in PowerShell 5.1. ConvertFrom-SecureString doesn't support the
-AsPlainText parameter until PowerShell Core 7+.

If you want to get the plain text string from a plain text SecureString in PowerShell prior to 7, use the following methods:

$bstr = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($secureString)
$plaintext = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto($bstr)

$plaintext will be your plaintext string converted from the SecureString you passed in.

edited Aug 11, 2021 at 17:03

answered Jan 31, 2020 at 20:18

codewario

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