PowerShell Quick Reference v3.03 by Dimitri Koens - www.dimensionit.

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Quick Start
Get-Process # displays a list of running processes
Get-Process | Select-Object Name, Company # selects several columns
Get-Process | Select-Object Name, Company | Format-Table -AutoSize # uses minimal column width
Get-Process | Select-Object Name, Company | Format-List # displays a list instead of a table
Get-Process | Sort-Object ID –Descending # sorts on process id instead of name
Get-Process | Where-Object { $_.vm –gt 150MB } # selects processes where virtual memory is greater than 150MB
Get-Process | Select-Object Name, @{Name=”Virtual Memory”; Expression={$_.vm}} # changes the name of a column
Get-Process | Select-Object Name,VM,WS,@{Label="TotalMemory";Expression={$_.vm + $_.ws}} # introduces a calculated column
Get-Process | Select-Object Name,VM,WS,@{Label="Total Memory in MB";Expression={[int](($_.vm + $_.ws)/1MB)}} # calculated column and rounded to integer

Built-in Help functionality

Get-Help Get-Command -CommandType Cmdlet # display all native PowerShell cmdlets
Get-Help Get-Process –full Get-Process | Get-Member # display the properties and methods of the output
Get-Help Get-Process –examples # view the example commands
Get-Help about* # lists all the about-articles, use the full article name to view its # The following two examples help you to protect you from ... you!
contents, e.g. about_scripts Get-Process PowerShell | Stop-Process –whatif # displays the command without
actually executing it
Get-Command # display all commands Get-Process PowerShell | Stop-Process –confirm # asks for confirmation
Get-Command *process* # display all commands containing the word “process”

Aliases (and functions denoted by *)

All default cmdlets with “-Object” as a noun are aliased to their verb without “-Object”, e.g. Sort is an alias of Sort-Object, Select is an alias of Select-Object
Get-Alias | Group-Object Definition # display all possible aliases per command
Command Alias Command Alias Command Alias
Clear-Host cls, clear Get-Help help *, man Rename-Item rni, ren
Copy-Item copy, cpi, cp Get-Member gm Select-String sls (Psv3+)
ForEach-Object foreach, % Get-Process gps, ps Set-Location sl, cd, chdir
Format-List FL Get-WmiObject gwmi Start-Sleep sleep
Format-Table FT Move-Item mi, move, mv Stop-Process spps, kill
Get-ChildItem gci, dir, ls Out-Host oh Where-Object where, ?
Get-Command gcm Powershell_ise.exe ise (PSv2+) Write-Output echo, write
Get-Content gc, type, cat Remove-Item ri, del, erase, rmdir, rd, rm
New alias expected in Windows 2015: Set-Alias Ping Test-Connection. Select-String has an alias in PSv3: sls. Shouldn’t this have been ‘grep’? ;)

Operators (most of them), Get-Help about _Operators

Operator Meaning Operator Meaning
+, -, *, /, % add, subtract, multiply, divide, remainder =, +=, -=, *=, /=, %= assign/change/append one or more values to variables
-eq, -ne Equal, not equal: 5 –eq 5 -match, -notmatch, -cmatch regular expression match: “Rick” -match "[DMNR]ick"
-gt, -ge greater than, greater than or equals: 6 –gt 5 -contains, -notcontains Array contains specific value: “red”, “blue” –contains “blue”
-lt, -le less than, less than or equals: 5 –lt 6 -and, -or, -xor, -not, ! Logical operators
-like, -notlike, -clike wildcard comparison: "Samantha" -like "sam*" -f Formatting: $a=2987654; “free space: {0:N0} bytes” -f $a

Punctuation Marks
( expression ) { code block } [ item in array ] “string with automatic variable expansion”
` backtick is the escape character, mostly found on the key combined with tilde-sign ~ ‘string without automatic variable expansion‘

Keyboard shortcuts
Tab: command completion F7: display history popup, Alt-F7: clears command buffer Ctrl , Ctrl : jump one word left or right
Esc: clear the command line F8: lookup last command that starts with current input. Try | More: <Ctrl-C> quit, <q> quit, <space> scroll page,
this: Get-Process; <enter>; Get<F8> <enter> scroll one line
Use arrow up and down to browse previous commands Home, End: jump to start or end of current command line Within ISE: F5 = Run, F8 = Run Selection

Security
The .ps1 extension Execution Policy (Set- and Get-ExecutionPolicy) To prevent command hijacking
Associated with Notepad. When a user receives a Restricted (default), AllSigned, RemoteSigned, Unrestricted (not You can only run commands from the current
PowerShell script through e-mail and doubleclicks it recommended) location by specifying the path to the script.
then the script just opens in notepad instead of Remote scripts: not on local fixed disks, like CD’s/DVD’s, drive mappings to Example: .\script.ps1 instead of script.ps1.
executing (like the i-love-you virus did). network shares, attachements in e-mail and chat-programs.

Variables
$_ # Current object in the pipeline $Host # Displays the PowerShell version
$Home # Full path to the user’s home directory $i = 1 # storing value 1 in variable $i
$PSHome # Full path to the installation directory $i++ # incrementing $i with 1, resulting in 2

Working with files

Get-Process | Out-File p.txt –append Get-Process | Export-CSV p.csv Get-Process | Export-CliXML p.xml
Import-CSV p.csv # displays using Format-List because there are more than four columns and object type is not recognized
Import-CliXML p.xml # displays using Format-Table because object type is recognized (try to add: | Get-Member)
Compare-Object (Import-Clixml p.xml) (Get-Process) -Property name # compare processes stored in XML with current situation

Dir –Recurse | Where { $_.length –gt 100MB } | Group Length | Where { $_.count –gt 1 } # displays large files with exact same size, might be duplicate

This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivsCC BY-NC-ND license.

What’s New in PowerShell 3
Requirements: W2008 R2 SP1, W7 SP1, .NET 4.0, download and install KB2506146 or KB2506143.
Note: install ISE first before upgrading to PowerShell 3 on Windows 2008 (R2) or Windows 7!
Automatic module loading: no need to use e.g. “Import-Module ActiveDirectory” anymore.
ISE changes: IntelliSense, brace matching, error indication, start snippets, rich copy, block select (Alt+Mouse), context sensitive help (F1), many more!
New modules: BranchCache, DirectAccess, Dism, DHCP, DNS, iSCSI, NetAdapter, NetTCPIP, NetworkSecurity, PKI, Printing, Schedul ed Tasks, SMB, Storage, many more!
$PSItem # same function as $_: current item in pipeline
Show-Command # shows a GUI for a specific Cmdlet
Get-Process | Out-GridView -OutputMode Multiple | Stop-Process # Out-GridView has an OutputMode parameter: select several items and press OK
Install-WindowsFeature WindowsPowerShellWebAccess -IncludeManagementTools –Restart # Installs PowerShell Web Access feature
Install-PswaWebApplication -UseTestCertificate # creates the virtual directory and appliation pool using a test certificate
Add-PswaAuthorizationRule * * * # Creates an authorization rule. Now browse with any supported browser (IE, Chrome!, Firefox!, Safari!) to http://<server>/pswa

Looping
for ($i = 1; $i -le 10; $i++) { $i } # displays numbers 1 through 10. See the Active Directory section for a practical example

While loop only executes when condition is true Do … While loop, always executes, at least once Do … Until loop, always executes, at least once
$i = 1 $a = 1 $a = 1
While ($i -le 10) { $i; $i++ } Do {$a; $a++} While ($a -lt 10) Do {$a; $a++} Until ($a –gt 10)

Typical example of a Do … Until loop

$RequiredLength = 12
Do {
$password = read-host -prompt "Password, please"
if ($password.length -lt $RequiredLength) { "password is too short!" }
} Until ($password.length -ge $RequiredLength)

Functions
Function Get-NewestEventlog { Param ($log=”system”, $newest=5) Get-Eventlog $log –newest $newest }
Get-NewestEventlog # try with parameters like –log application –newest 10

WMI
Get-WmiObject –list # lists all WMI classes
# inspecting shares through WMI # automating defragmentation (please check with your SAN administrator!)
Get-WmiObject Win32_Share $Cvolume = Get-WmiObject Win32_Volume | Where { $_.name –eq "C:\" }
$share = Get-WmiObject Win32_Share | Where { $_.Name –eq “C$” } $df = $Cvolume.DefragAnalysis() # can take several minutes or even hours
$share | Get-Member # check name and caption $df # inspecting the result
# we’ll need the wmiclass type to create objects through WMI If ($df.DefragRecommended) { $Cvolume.defrag($true) }
$share=[WMICLASS]"Win32_Share"
$share.create("C:\", "mynewshare", 0) # creating a new share

Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem –computername (Get-Content servers.txt) | Format-Table __SERVER,Version,ServicePackMajorVersion,ServicePackMinorVersion

Get-WmiObject Win32_LogicalDisk -Filter 'DriveType=3' –ComputerName (Get-Content computers.txt) |
Format-Table __SERVER,DeviceID,FreeSpace,@{Label='PercentFree';Expression={$_.FreeSpace / $_.Size};FormatString='{0:#0.00%}'}

Active Directory
Requirements: PowerShell v2, Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell (on a Domain Controller, also part of RSAT). Open port TCP/9389.
Requirements: Windows Server 2008 R2 Domain Controller or install ADMGS on a W2003/2008 Domain Controller.
Import-Module ActiveDirectory # imports the Active Directory module for PowerShell
Get-Command –module ActiveDirectory # displays all 76 commands in PowerShell v2
New-ADOrganizationalUnit “Employees” -Path "DC=Contoso,DC=com" # creates a new OU
Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -Filter “*” | FT Name, DistinguishedName –AutoSize
New-ADUser TestUserA # creates a disabled user in the Users container

# The next script takes a plain text password as input and creates an enabled user account in the Employees OU
$userpwd = ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText "Pa$$w0rd" –Force # converts plaintext to secure string
New-ADUser TestUserB -AccountPassword $userpwd -Enabled $true -Path 'OU=Employees,DC=Contoso,DC=com'

For ($i=1; $i –le 10; $i++) { New-ADUser –name Testuser$i } # creates ten new testusers

Background Jobs Remoting

Start-Job { Get-Process PowerShell } Requirements: PowerShell v2 on local and remote systems. Enable Remoting on
Get-Job remote system. Open port TCP/5985.
Get-Job -Id 1| Receive-Job # use the -Keep parameter to keep the data in memory Enable-PSRemoting # Run this on the remote system. Use –Force optionally.
Start-Job { Sleep 60 } # starts a new job which just waits for 60 seconds Enter-PSSession –ComputerName Server2
Wait-Job -Id 3 # wait for a job to complete, or use: Stop-Job -Id 3 # stops job # use your PowerShell skills now on the remote machine
Remove-Job -Id 3 # remove a completed job Exit-PSSession
Free ebook about remoting: http://www.ravichaganti.com/blog/?page_id=1301

Error handling and Debugging

$ErrorActionPreference # displays the default action when an error occurs
Dir c:, x:, c: # should result in a file listing of the c-drive, followed by an error, followed by a listing of the c-drive
$ErrorActionPreference = ‘SilentlyContinue’ # or ‘Continue’ or ‘Inquire’ or ‘Stop’
Dir c:, x:, c: # should result in two file listings of the c-drive, no more error
# Use the –ErrorAction parameter to use a other error action for the current command only
$Error[0] | Get-Member # displays information about the last error

More information on the Internet (and the previous page…)

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/powershell/ http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/powershell/
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/dd742419.aspx http://powerwf.com/products.aspx
http://poshoholic.com/ http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/windows-powershell-
http://thepowershellguy.com/ survival-guide.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kathykam/archive/2006/03/29/564426.asp
http://www.powershellmagazine.com/

This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivsCC BY-NC-ND license.