Powershell - script error: "You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression."

So I have this Powershell script that I execute that clears out my Quick Access pinned items and adds several custom paths. I'm trying to make it generic to where I can execute it on my host machine as well as a VM. I run into trouble when I have different usernames between host or VM. I'm getting this error:

Code:

You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At C:\Users\test\Desktop\quick_access.ps1:10 char:3
+   $qa.NameSpace($array[$i]).Self.InvokeVerb("pintohome")

It works when I hard-code in my username for $name.

Code:

#$ErrorActionPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'
$qa = New-Object -ComObject shell.application
$okItems = @("")
#remove
($qa.Namespace("shell:::{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}").Items() | where {$_.name -notin $okItems}).InvokeVerb("unpinfromhome");
#add
$name=powershell -c "(Get-ChildItem Env:\USERNAME).Value"
$array = @('C:\users\$name\desktop','C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc')
for($i=0;$i -lt $array.Length;$i++) {
  $qa.NameSpace($array[$i]).Self.InvokeVerb("pintohome")
}

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: It works when I replace

Code:

$array = @('C:\users\$name...

with

Code:

$array = @('C:\users\test...

 

Of course, concatentation, that'll teach me to wake up at 2am. I ended up using a slight change but this appears to be final:

Code:

$ErrorActionPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'
$QA = New-Object -ComObject shell.application
$okItems = @("")
#remove
($QA.Namespace("shell:::{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}").Items() | where {$_.name -notin $okItems}).InvokeVerb("unpinfromhome");
#add
$UserName=powershell -c "(Get-ChildItem Env:\USERNAME).Value"
$Desktop = [System.String]::Concat("C:\Users\",$UserName,"\Desktop")
$array = @($Desktop,'Z:\2.8','Z:\Plex','Z:\Torrents','Z:\Media','Z:\Projects','Z:\Projects\OS\Windows\10','C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc','Z:\Media\webm\boram\resources\app')
for($i=0;$i -lt $array.Length;$i++) {
  $qa.NameSpace($array[$i]).Self.InvokeVerb("pintohome")
}

Hopefully, someone else finds this useful for when your Quick Access pins gets wiped (via scripts or user error). Thanks and Merry Christmas.

 

Thanks, I updated the code:

Code:

$UserName=[System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent().Name.split("\")[1]
$Desktop = 'C:\Users\' + $UserName + '\Desktop'

 

This is the FINAL version (I swear). Use it as to how you like: https:// pastebin.com/raw/SyFiTbmi