Windows Powershell Commands for Beginners

• Get information about the make and model of a computer:Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem
• Get information about the BIOS of the current computer:Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_BIOS -ComputerName .
• List installed hotfixes -- QFEs, or Windows Update files:Get-WmiObject-Class Win32_QuickFixEngineering -ComputerName .Get the username of the person currently logged on to a computer:
• Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem -Property UserName -ComputerName .
• Find just the names of installed applications on the current computer:
• Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product -ComputerName . | Format-Wide -Column 1
• Get IP addresses assigned to the current computer:Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration -Filter IPEnabled=TRUE -ComputerName . | Format-Table -Property IPAddress
• Get a more detailed IP configuration report for the current machine:Get-WmiObject-Class Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration -Filter IPEnabled=TRUE -ComputerName.|Select-Object -Property [a-z]* -ExcludeProperty IPX*,WINS*
• Find network cards with DHCP enabled on the current computer:Get-WmiObject-ClassWin32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration-Filter "DHCPEnabled=true" -ComputerName .
• Enable DHCP on all network adapters on the current computer:
• Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration -Filter IPEnabled=true -ComputerName . | ForEach-Object -Process {$_.EnableDHCP()}

• Install an MSI package on a remote computer:(Get-WMIObject -ComputerName TARGETMACHINE -List | Where-Object -FilterScript{$_.Name-eq "Win32_Product"}).Install(\\MACHINEWHEREMSIRESIDES\path\package.msi)
• Upgrade an installed application with an MSI-based application upgrade package:
• (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product -ComputerName . -Filter "Name='name_of_app_to_be_upgraded'").Upgrade(\\MACHINEWHEREMSIRESIDES\path\upgrade_package.msi)
• Remove an MSI package from the current computer:(Get-WmiObject-ClassWin32_Product-Filter "Name='product_to_remove'" -ComputerName . ).Uninstall()

Machine management:

Stop-Computer “ComputerName1, Name2”Stop-Computer –computer DC1 –Credential nwtraders\administrator

Shutdown –i (to restart/shutdown bulk of computer in one shot with message)

Restart-Computer “ComputerName1”

Get-wmiobject –class WIN32_OperatingSystem –ComputerName .).Invokemethod(“Win32Shutdown”,0)Or(gwmi Win32_OperatingSystem).Win32Shutdown(0).

 

1.Log Off   “0”

2.Forced Log Off   “4”

3.Shutdown “1”

4.Forced Shutdown “5”

5.Reboot  “2”

6.ForcedReboot  “6”

7.Power Off  “8”

8.Forced Power Off  “12”

 

Concept of Pipeline ( | )

 

• Pipelining could almost be described as PowerShell's signature tune.
• Piping work almost everywhere in Powershell
• PowerShell does not pipe text between commands. Instead, it pipes objects.
• Piping is used for several purposes like:- got a focused result, use output of previous command to further within same line,filtering.
• PowerShell encourages you to join two statements so that the output of the first clause, becomes the input of the second clause.Example :-  Get-Process 

 

Selecting,Sorting,Measuring,Exporting,Importing,Converting,Filtering,...

 

Select or Select-Object Get-process | Select ID,ProcessName

 

 

Sorting 

• Sort-Object

 

 

Measuring 

• Measure-Object / Count

 

Exporting/ Converting

 

• Export-csv/

 

 

• Get-childitem > c:\test1.txt
• Get-childitem | Out-File c:\test2.txt 
• ConvertTo-Html

 

 

ConvertTo-SecureString :- Convert any string into Encrypted form

-AsSecureString :- Take input from user in secure way

$var = Read-Host -AsSecureString

$var1 = ConvertTo-SecureString -SecureString $var

Filtering

• Where-Object

 

 

 

Formatting Output

 

Variable ($)

 

• $var = (get-process).count
• Windows PowerShell works with objects. Windows PowerShell lets you create variables - essentially named objects - to preserve output to use later. If you are used to working with variables in other shells, remember that Windows PowerShell variables are objects, not text.
• Variables are always specified with the initial character $, and can include any alphanumeric characters or the underscore in their names.

IF / IF-Else

 

$var = (get-process).countif($var -gt 110)

{

Write-Host "We have $var process in running state "

}

Else {

Write-Host “Number of Processes are less than 100 in count.”

 

 

Read User Input/Display Output

 

• $var =Read-Host –prompt “Enter your Name:”

 

 

Display output:-  Write-Host / Echo / Write-Output

 

 

Write-Host

 

Write-Host is having more attributes

Write-Host –NoNewLine “Counting from 1 to 9 (in seconds):  “

foreach($element in 1..9){

Write-Host –NoNewLine  “${element} “

Start-Sleep –Seconds 1

}

Write-Host “”

Output :-  Counting from 1 to 9 (in seconds):  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 

Write-Output

Write-Output should be used when you want to send data on in the pipe line, but not necessarily want to display it on screen.

PS C:\> Write-Output"test output" | Get-Member

This command pipes the "test output" string to the Get-Member cmdlet, which displays the members of the System.String class, demonstrating that the string was passed along the pipeline.

Loops 

• Looping are required to perform a repeated set of operations for number of times.
• These above mentioned are three major loop techniques:

1. For Loop
2. For-each Loop
3. While Loop
4. Do While

 For / For-Each  Loop 

 

 

ForEach is specially used to fetch elements from an array

While/ Do-While Loop 

While :-  As long as the condition remains true, PowerShell reruns the {command_block} section.

while($val -ne 10) { $val++ Write-Host $val }

Do-While:- First the Command Block will run and then it will check condition

Do {

$val++ Write-Host $val

} while($val -ne 10)

Importing:

Get-Content :- To Read content from a file (.txt/ .csv /.xlsx)

$var = Get-Content -Path .\Desktop\names.txt

foreach ($i in $var)

{

Write-Host $i

Start-Sleep -Seconds 1

} 

• Import-csv :- To Read Data from csv file $var = Import-Csv -Path .\Desktop\names.csv