SharePoint PowerShell Script Hits Exception on First Run but not Second

Question

I am getting an Exception thrown when I try to run a script the first time after opening the PowerShell ISE but not the second time or anytime after that. It works everytime after the first run. I'm thinking it has something to do with the order I am calling things. Here is my code with some values replaced:

Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"

$User = "[email protected]"
$pwFile = 'C:\encryptedPW.txt'
$PWord = (Get-Content $pwFile | ConvertTo-SecureString)
$creds = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $User, $PWord

Connect-MsolService -Credential $creds
Connect-AzureAD -Credential $creds

$SiteURL="https://example.sharepoint.com/sites/exampleSite/"
$listName="Example List"
$Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
$Ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($creds.UserName, $creds.Password)

$list=$Ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($listName)
$qry = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.CamlQuery]::CreateAllItemsQuery()
$items = $list.GetItems($qry)
$Ctx.Load($items)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()

It throws the exception on the "$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()" line with the exception: Exception calling "ExecuteQuery" with "0" argument(s): "Value cannot be null. Parameter name: password"

Answer 1

Modify the code as below to to get list items from SharePoint online list.

Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"

$User = "[email protected]"
$pwFile = 'C:\encryptedPW.txt'
$PWord=ConvertTo-SecureString (Get-Content $pwFile) -AsPlainText -Force

$SiteURL="https://example.sharepoint.com/sites/exampleSite/"
$listName="Example List"
$Ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
$Ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($User, $PWord)

$list=$Ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($listName)
$qry = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.CamlQuery]::CreateAllItemsQuery()
$items = $list.GetItems($qry)
$Ctx.Load($items)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()
foreach($item in $items){
    $item["Title"]
}