powertips

The easiest way of accessing databases right from PowerShell is to visit control panel and open the Data Sources (ODBC) module (which resides in...

One way to find out the owner of a process is to add the missing Owner property to process objects: $processes = Get-WmiObject Win32_Process -Filter...

Ever wanted to automatically change the Password a service uses to log on to its account? WMI has a solution. Have a look: $localaccount =...

You can easily add new properties and functions to object types using the extended type system. In this example, you append file objects with a new...

PowerShell cmdlets return objects with rich information, and to see all the information, you can pipe the result to Format-List *: Dir $env:windir |...

Select-Object can add new properties to objects and fill them with calculated content. All you need for this is a hash table with two pieces of...

Hash tables can generate "calculated" columns. All you need to do is store two pieces of information: a "label," which serves as...

There is a powerful new way in PowerShell v.2 to create new objects from scratch: You should first get yourself an empty hash table object, then add...

You may have to use alternate credentials when you connect to different systems. You’ll find that a lot of cmdlets provide the -credential...

Use the Exit statement if you run into a condition where a script should quit. The script breaks whenever you call exit from within your script. Add...

When you start using PowerShell remotely, you may run into situations like this one: Invoke-Command -ComputerName remotepc { Get-Process |...

It is sometimes necessary to dynamically create script blocks. Here is an example how and why: function Get-RemoteLog($name) { $code =...

Use Remove-Item to actually delete a registry key: function Remove-RegistryKey($key) { Remove-Item $key -Force} Use Remove-ItemProperty to delete a...

In PowerShell, you access registry keys through virtual drives like HKCU: (for HKEY_CURRENT_USER) and HKLM: (representing HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE). You...

Adding or changing registry values is not always intuitive with PowerShell. Here is a function called Set-RegistryValue that will make your life...

In PowerShell, you will need to use one of the Registry virtual drives to read from the Windows Registry as it is - not always intuitive. Here are...

You can work remotely not just for single computers. You can also run your commands against multiple computers like this: $computer = Get-Content...

When working remotely in a peer-to-peer or cross-domain scenario, you will have to add all the computers you'd like to communicate with into the...

By default, PowerShell requires Kerberos authentication to operate remotely, so you cannot use it in a simple peer-to-peer scenario. You can also...

Setting up the brand new PowerShell v.2 remotely in a domain environment is easy: simply run Set-WSManQuickConfig As long as you have proper...

Event logs record all kinds of stuff. To find the important things, use Get-EventLog and query for the events you are seeking. In PowerShell v.2,...

PowerShell can use regular expressions to validate user input. All you need is a regular expression that adequately defines the pattern you are...

You can use Select-Object to add new properties to an existing object. In PowerShell v.2, Select-Object accepts a wildcard, which in turn adds all...

Use New-Timespan and submit a date if you'd like to know how long it is until next Christmas. New-Timespan automatically compares this date to the...

You probably know that PowerShell is pretty flexible when it comes to parameters you want to submit to cmdlets and functions. You can name them...

When launching powershell.exe directly, you get a console with black background and only 300 lines of buffer text. When you launch PowerShell from...

Get-Help is great for discovering cmdlet and function syntax but sometimes it fails on PowerShell v.2. Take a look at this: Get-Help...

In a previous tip, you learned how to add Comment-Based Help information to your own functions so that Get-Help can auto-document the usage....

PowerShell v.2 allows your functions to seamlessly integrate with the built-in PowerShell Help system. All you need to do is a Comment-Based- Help...

Another new feature in PowerShell v.2 is the introduction of a new block comment. Basically, anything you place between <# and #> will be...