print the errors when no package index file could be accessed

also change how failures when testing file existence/access are passed
around internally.

private/Get-PackagePathInfo.ps1

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
         'Reachable'        = $false
         'Type'             = 'Unknown'
         'AbsoluteLocation' = ''
+        'ErrorMessage'     = ''
     }
 
     Write-Debug "Resolving file path '$Path'"
@@ -82,8 +83,13 @@
                     }
                     $response.Dispose()
                 }
+                # Catching the (most common) WebException separately just makes the error message nicer as
+                # it won't have the extra 'Exception calling "GetResponse" with "0" argument(s)' text in it.
+                catch [System.Net.WebException] {
+                    $PathInfo.ErrorMessage = "URL ${UriToUse} is not reachable: $($_.FullyQualifiedErrorId): $_"
+                }
                 catch {
-                    Write-Debug "Could not connect to URL ${UriToUse}: $_"
+                    $PathInfo.ErrorMessage = "URL ${UriToUse} is not reachable: $($_.FullyQualifiedErrorId): $_"
                 }
             }
 
@@ -109,9 +115,7 @@
             $PathInfo.Type = 'FILE'
             $PathInfo.AbsoluteLocation = (Get-Item -LiteralPath $JoinedPath).FullName
         } else {
-            # Writing an error with ErrorAction SilentlyContinue has the purpose of adding it to
-            # ErrorVariable (and the global $ERROR) but not returning it via the pipeline
-            Write-Error "'$Path' is not a supported URL and does not exist as a filesystem path" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+            $PathInfo.ErrorMessage = "'$Path' is not a supported URL and does not exist as a filesystem path"
         }
     }
 

private/Get-PackagesInRepository.ps1

@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@
         $DatabaseXmlPath = Join-Path -Path $Repository -ChildPath "database.xml"
     }
 
-    if ((Get-PackagePathInfo -Path $ModelXmlPath -TestURLReachable).Reachable) {
+    # Used as pipeline OutVariables
+    $ModelXmlPathInfo    = $null
+    $DatabaseXmlPathInfo = $null
+
+    if ((Get-PackagePathInfo -Path $ModelXmlPath -TestURLReachable -OutVariable ModelXmlPathInfo).Reachable) {
         Write-Verbose "Getting packages from the model xml file ${ModelXmlPath}"
         if ($RepositoryType -eq 'HTTP') {
             # Model XML method for web based repositories
@@ -67,7 +71,7 @@
                 Write-Error "The package definition at $($Package.location) could not be found or accessed"
             }
         }
-    } elseif ((Get-PackagePathInfo -Path $DatabaseXmlPath -TestURLReachable).Reachable) {
+    } elseif ((Get-PackagePathInfo -Path $DatabaseXmlPath -TestURLReachable -OutVariable DatabaseXmlPathInfo).Reachable) {
         Write-Debug "Getting packages from the database xml file ${DatabaseXmlPath}"
         if ($RepositoryType -eq 'HTTP') {
             $webClient = New-WebClient -Proxy $Proxy -ProxyCredential $ProxyCredential -ProxyUseDefaultCredentials:$ProxyUseDefaultCredentials
@@ -114,6 +118,8 @@
             Write-Debug "Discovered package $($Package.LocalPath) is not applicable to the computer model and OS"
         }
     } else {
-        Write-Warning "The repository '${Repository}' did not contain either a '${Model}_Win10.xml' or 'database.xml' file to get packages from"
+        Write-Warning "The repository '${Repository}' did not contain either a '${Model}_Win$($CachedHardwareTable._OS).xml' or 'database.xml' file to get packages from"
+        Write-Warning "Could not get ${Model}_Win$($CachedHardwareTable._OS).xml: $($ModelXmlPathInfo.ErrorMessage)"
+        Write-Warning "Could not get database.xml: $($DatabaseXmlPathInfo.ErrorMessage)"
     }
 }

public/Get-LSUpdate.ps1

@@ -126,9 +126,9 @@
             Write-Warning "Unfortunately, this command produces most accurate results when run as an Administrator`r`nbecause some of the commands Lenovo uses to detect your computers hardware have to run as admin :("
         }
 
-        $RepositoryInfo = Get-PackagePathInfo -Path $Repository -ErrorVariable InvalidRepositoryReason
+        $RepositoryInfo = Get-PackagePathInfo -Path $Repository
         if (-not $RepositoryInfo.Valid) {
-            throw "Repository '${Repository}' refers to an invalid location: $InvalidRepositoryReason"
+            throw "Repository '${Repository}' refers to an invalid location: $($RepositoryInfo.ErrorMessage)"
         }
 
         $UTF8ByteOrderMark = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString(@(195, 175, 194, 187, 194, 191))