Content says Get-EventLog supports value 'localhost' for -ComputerName parameter; this is actually not the case

[softwareguycoder]

Hi,

I am trying to use the cmdlet Get-EventLog. The docs (at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/get-eventlog?view=powershell-5.1) say that the -ComputerName parameter accepts as input the value localhost to mean the local computer. I know that I can also not supply the parameter, or put ., but this is not possible as this is part of a larger script I am working on for my customer and they want the option to pass the computer name they want events pulled from, so I am thinking I am going to have to read their choice in from a param to my script and then pass -ComputerName $param1 to the Get-EventLog cmdlet.

But my issue is, your docs have an errata. They specifically say localhost is a valid value for Get-EventLog; however, as can be seen by the PowerShell output below, this is not the case:

PS > $PSVersionTable.PSVersion

Major  Minor  Build  Revision
-----  -----  -----  --------
5      1      17763  316


PS > Get-EventLog -LogName Security -ComputerName localhost
Get-EventLog : The network path was not found.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-EventLog -LogName Security -ComputerName localhost
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-EventLog], IOException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.IOException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetEventLogCommand

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Document Details

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• ID: bf280305-63b5-a41b-fe39-4c50484029c6
• Version Independent ID: 8fd10e62-dee2-56fd-e3c1-07c07f8854a3
• Content: Get-EventLog (Microsoft.PowerShell.Management)
• Content Source: reference/5.1/Microsoft.PowerShell.Management/Get-EventLog.md
• Product: powershell
• GitHub Login: @daxian-dbw
• Microsoft Alias: dongbow