Powershell

Handy Powershell

Divert errors to a file:

<command> 2>> C:\temp\filecontainingerrors.txt

Get-childitem -recurse 2>> C:\temp\errors.txt

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Open another powershell window as admin:

Start-Process powershell -Verb runAs

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Get location of exe running proces:

get-process <process name> | fl path

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Delete contents of folder

 Get-ChildItem C:\LocationOfFolder\Folder -Recurse | ForEach { Remove-Item $_.FullName -Force -Recurse }

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Change to environment locations:

cd $Env:<vairable>

cd $Env:userprofile

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Show all environment vairables:

dir env:

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Show path to PS modules:

$env:PSProfilepath

Add To PATH

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", $env:PATH + ";<full path to binaries>", [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)

eg:

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", $env:PATH + ";C:\Program Files\OpenSSL-Win64\bin", [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)

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Restart computer remotely:

restart-computer -Computername [hostname] -Credential [domain\username] -force

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Send a message to a user on a remote host:

msg /server:<server name> /v <user name> <message>

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Powershell Remoting

Connect to remote powershell session:

$cred=Get-Credential
$sess = New-PSSession -Credential $cred -ComputerName <remotemachinename>
Enter-PSSession $sess

<Run commands in remote session>

Exit-PSSession
Remove-PSSession $sess

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If you are getting an error when remoting like "WinRM cannot process the request." use Windows PowerShell to add each server to the Trusted Hosts list on your management computer:

Set-Item WSMAN:\Localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value Server01 -Force

Note: the trusted hosts list supports wildcards, like Server*

To view your Trusted Hosts list:

Get-Item WSMAN:\Localhost\Client\TrustedHosts

To empty the list:

Clear-Item WSMAN:\Localhost\Client\TrustedHost

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If errors show run the following command to check on the winrm service+config:

winrm quickconfig

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Services with Powershell

Get services running on computer and display in a pauseable list:

Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq "Stopped"} | More

gsv | where {$_.Status -eq "running"} | more

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Output Command History to text file:

Get-History | ForEach-Object { $_.CommandLine } > $env.USERPROFILE\testoutput.txt

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Get Powershell to display all output in the case that output is displayed truncated:

Pipe to "out-string -width 500" to display in a sting of set number of characters:

<command> | out-string -width 500

In the case of an array change the vairable $FormatEnumerationLimit to -1

$FormatEnumerationLimit=-1

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Script to ping IP address and log time and status of ping:

https://github.com/AleksPish/NetworkPingTest/blob/master/NetworkDownTest.ps1

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Download file from internet:

 Invoke-WebRequest <URL> | out-file <File Pathway>

Also can use Download method of WebClient

$client = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$client.DownloadFile($url, $path)
(new-object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile( '$url, $path)

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Get public IP address of device:

(Invoke-RestMethod ipinfo.io/json).ip

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Add Exclusions to security check from downloaded programs:

add-mppreference -exclusionpath "<full filepath - eg C:\users\downloads>"

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Get members of ad group:

get-adgroupmember -identity "<name of adgroup>" | select-object name

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Get Computer / Server Uptime - last boot time

‎

(get-date) - (Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).LastBootUpTime‎

 Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object OsUptime    - can also use OsLastBootUpTime to work it out

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Get detailed information on server / computer operating system

 Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem | FL *

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Add exception to windows defender for downloads in default user location:

add-mppreference -exclusionpath "C:\Users\*\Downloads\noActiveX-*.exe"

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Get time between two dates:

New-TimeSpan -start <date> -end <date>

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Powershell Modules and comms errors

Install PS module

Install-Module <name of module>

If there is an error the issue may be with TLS - run the following command first:

[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12

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Resolve TLS problems for good by updating PowershellGet:

Install-PackageProvider Nuget -force -Verbose

Install-Module -Name PowershellGet -Force -Verbose

File Admin Powershell

List folders‎

Get-childitem‎

Move all files of a specified extension from the current directory to another directory, move recursively‎

Move-Item -Path .\*.txt -Destination <path>

‎

Get-ChildItem -Path ".\*.txt" -Recurse | Move-Item -Destination "C:\TextFiles"‎

Move registry keys and values to another key‎

Move-Item "HKLM:\software\mycompany\*" "HKLM:\software\mynewcompany"‎

</syntaxhighlight> Display errors that were seen when accessing files:‎

$Error | ForEach-Object { Write-Host $_.TargetObject }

Active Directory Powershell

Export details of users in a specific OU:‎

$OUpath = '<place OU path here distinguished name of ou in attribute editor>'
$ExportPath = '<place where to put output>'
Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase $OUpath | Select-object DistinguishedName,Name,UserPrincipalName,sAMAccountName | Export-Csv -NoType $ExportPath

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Get all groups a user is assigned to

Get-ADPrincipalGroupMembership username | select name

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Get group:

Get-ADGroup -Identity <groupname>

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Get members of group:

Get-ADGroupMember -identity <groupname>

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Change password expiry setting on ad accounts by OU Import-Module ActiveDirectory

Get-ADUser -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=TestOU,DC=TestDomain,DC=Local" | Set-ADUser -PasswordNeverExpires:$True

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Search for adusers using powershell:

Can be used with various options: DistinguishedName, Enabled, GivenName, Name, ObjectClass, Object GUID, SamAccountName, SID, Surname, UserPrincipalName.

get-aduser -filter "name -eq '<name of user>'"

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Unlock user account:

Get-ADuser -identity <username> | unlock-ADaccount

Check for lock status:

Get-ADuser -Identity <username> -properties Lockedout

Local Accounts commands

Use for managing local accounts:

New-localUser -name "<name>"

Change details of local user

Set-localuser

Change password:

$Password = Read-Host -AsSecureString

$UserAccount = Get-LocalUser -Name "<name>"

$UserAccount | Set-LocalUser -Password $Password

Add to group:

Add-localgroupmember -group "<Groupname>" -member "<username>"

Powershell for Admin

Get powershell update

iex "& { $(irm https://aka.ms/install-powershell.ps1) } -UseMSI"

Get FSMO roles on which domain controllers at domain level:

Get-ADDomain | Select-Object InfrastructureMaster,PDCEmulator,RIDMaster | Format-List

Get FSMO roles on which domain controllers at forest level:

Get-ADForest | Select-Object DomainNamingMaster,SchemaMaster | Format-List

Get all current logged in sessions:

(Get-CimInstance Win32_LoggedOnUser)

Installing packages in powershell

Use winget to install packages:

winget install <package name>

You may need to specify the source:

winget install <package name> --source winget

Upgrade/update packages with winget:

winget upgrade --all

Chocolatey is now pretty much depreciated with the introduction of winget - install with MS store

Can use chocolatey to get packages:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
iwr https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1 -UseBasicParsing | iex

For SSH connections:

Putty:

choco install putty

OpenSSH:

choco install openssh                # installs open ssh
refreshenv                           # reloads the environment variables
ssh remoteClient -i "MyKeyPair.pem"  # connects to remoteClient via ssh

poshSSH:

Install-Module Posh-SSH                                   # installs the posh-ssh module
Get-Command -Module Posh-SSH                              # shows all posh-ssh commandlets
New-SSHSession myclient -KeyFile "c:\data\MyKeyPair.pem"  # connect to my client with the give keyfile
Invoke-SSHCommandStream "ifconfig" -SessionId 0           # send ifconfig to the ssh session with id 0
Invoke-SSHCommand -SessionId 0 -Command "ifconfig"        # send ifconfig to the ssh session with id 0 
Invoke-SSHCommand -SessionId 0 -Command "logout"          # send logout to the ssh session with id 0
Remove-SSHSession 0                                       # removes and closes the ssh session

For firefox:

choco install firefox -y

Issue with psrepository

try to fix psrepository:

Register-PSRepository -Default

If this fails use the following:

Install the PSRepository using the following settings:

$Repository = @{
    Name = 'PSGallery'
    SourceLocation = 'https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/'
    PublishLocation = 'https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/package/'
    ScriptSourceLocation = 'https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/items/psscript'
    ScriptPublishLocation = 'https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/package/'
    InstallationPolicy = 'Untrusted'
}

Register-PSRepository @Repository

Powershell Alias

gsv Get-Service

spsv Stop-Service

sasv Start-Service

Powershell for Services and Processes

Get all properties of a service and display specific properties of the service:

get-service | get-member

get-service wuauserv | select Displayname,Status,ServiceName,Can*

Display list of only running services:

Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Status -EQ "Running"}

Remotely Check Service:

get-service wuauserv -ComputerName remotePC1

Get Service PID to kill process:

$ServicePID = (get-wmiobject win32_service | where { $_.name -eq 'service name'}).processID

Stop-Process $ServicePID -Force

Get top 10 processes by memory usage

Get-Process | Select-Object name,workingset64 | Sort-Object -Property workingset64 -Descending | Select-Object

-First 10

Get User Process with an active GUI (no background processes will be displayed:

Get-Process | Where-Object {$_.mainWindowTitle}

Encrypt Passwords for use in Powershell scripts - scheduled tasks

Use Export-Clixml

Easiest way is to export the user credentials as an xml object using export-clixml then import with import-clixml:

$credential = Get-Credential
$credential | Export-Clixml <file path to export file to>

Then import the user credentials from the exported file (the credentials are stored encrypted in the xml file):

$credential = Import-Clixml <path to file to import>

Use convertfrom/to-securestring method

Use the convertfrom-securestring command to take a secure string (password) then store as a file eg:

$SecurePassword = Read-host -AsSecureString | ConvertFrom-SecureString

$SecurePassword | Out-File -FilePath "C:\Encrypted.key"

To use the the passwords in a script use the get-content:

$username = "Administrator"

$password = Get-Content "C:\Encrypted.key" | ConvertTo-SecureString

$credential = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PsCredential($username,$password)

If you want to encrypt the username and password you can do the following:

$securecred = Get-Credential

$securecred.UserName | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force | ConvertFrom-SecureString | set-content "C:\Username.key"

$securecred.Password | ConvertFrom-SecureString | set-content "C:\Password.key"

They are stored in separate files

If you want to get the password back as plain text you can use the following:

$password = Get-Content "C:\Encrypted.key" | ConvertTo-SecureString
$plainpassword = [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto([Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($password))

Script Writing Info

Find out what escape character to use for special characters:

[Regex]::Escape("<special character>")