Automate All The VMworld US 2013 Session Downloads

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If you attended VMworld US 2013, all of the sessions have been posted online. Many of the sessions have MP4 video, MP3 audio, and PDF copies of the presentation available for download. Instead of manually saving off the content and session materials, you can use this PowerShell script.

This script has been around since 2010, when it was created by Stu Radnidge. Since then, it’s been modified by Alan Renouf, André Pett, Brent Quick, and Damian Karlson.

The script gives you the ability to download content by session type (ex: BCO for business continuity) and/or content type (ex: mp3, pdf, all). Be sure to read through the top of the script and set the various parameters accordingly.

If you’re running IE 10 and PowerShell v2 (check version with Get-Host), you may run into some issues. I’ve made some changes in the script to account for IE10, but it’s been hit and miss amongst the folks that have been testing it. The first way to potentially fix any download issues is to add vmworld.com to IE 10’s Compatibility View list. If that doesn’t work, upgrade to PowerShell version 3. Even though there’s nothing in this script that requires PowerShell 3, version 2 and IE 10 don’t get along very well, hence the need to upgrade.

Requirements: valid VMworld.com account with 2013 conference attendance, Windows with PowerShell installed (Win 7 and above shipped with it), Internet Explorer, and storage space for the content.

Note: If you’re a VMware vExpert for 2013 and you didn’t attend the conference, hit up the vExpert community on VMware.com for your conference access code. This will make 2013 content available to you on your vmworld.com account.

DOWNLOAD THE SCRIPT

11 thoughts on “Automate All The VMworld US 2013 Session Downloads”

  • To make it work with IE 11 on Win 8.1, change lines 198, 229, 256: } elseif (($ieVersion -like “9.*”) -or ($ieVersion -like “10.*”) -or ($ieVersion -like “11.*”)) { #it’s IE9 or 10 or 11

  • Pingback: Automated download of VMworld sessions | UP2V

  • using powershell 3.0 on Win 8: I get error:

    At E:vmworld2013scriptDownloadVMworld2013Session-v2.11.ps1:118 char:18
    +
    The ‘<' operator is reserved for future use.

    Tried Windows 7 with Powershell 2.0 and same issue.

    Would love to get working…I spend months every year downloading manually.

  • Sadly I am not very PowerShell savy yet. I build a new Win8/IE10 system just to try and give this script everything it wanted and I still get the following. Any thoughts? I really want to use this script. Assistance very much appreciated.

    Cannot find an overload for “getElementById” and the argument count: “1”.

    At C:ScriptsDownloadVMworld2013Session-v2.11.ps1:179 char:1

    + $checkIEUser = $ie.document.getElementByID(“username01”)

    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodCountCouldNotFindBest

    Cannot find an overload for “getElementById” and the argument count: “1”.

    At C:ScriptsDownloadVMworld2013Session-v2.11.ps1:180 char:1

    + $checkIEPass = $ie.document.getElementByID(“password01”)

    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodCountCouldNotFindBest

    Cannot find an overload for “getElementById” and the argument count: “1”.

    At C:ScriptsDownloadVMworld2013Session-v2.11.ps1:181 char:1

    + $checkIEForm = $ie.document.getElementByID(“loginform01”)

    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodCountCouldNotFindBest

  • hi,

    I was testing the script and it was only downloading the MP4 Files.

    I noticed that the location was not set correct. Possible after the last updates of the site.

    Quickfix:

    change line 97: $tmpURL = “http://sessions.vmworld.com” + $mp3URL[$i – 1]

    change line 112: $tmpURL = “http://sessions.vmworld.com” + $pdfURL[$i – 1]

    It works now.

  • Unfortunatly doesnt work for VMworld 2014, syntax of the pages has changed. Any chance of a recode for 2014? Would save a huge amount of time and would be much appreciated!!

  • Guys can anyone help on getting a powershell script to download the 2014 sessions. It would save soooooooooooo much time. Cheers

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