Posh Tips

Check RDP availability using Watch-RebootStatus script

xb90 — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 07:52:58 +0000

I must have done this a thousand times. Reboot a remote machine, wait a minute or so and then try to get back in via RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol). Sometimes that fails and next I’ll start pinging the machine to determine when it goes back online. After getting a ping response I attempt RDP again. [...]

The post Check RDP availability using Watch-RebootStatus script appeared first on Posh Tips.

Working With Powershell Console Colors

xb90 — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:42:37 +0000

Using colors in your console output is a great way to make text more readable and can also be used to highlight areas to which you want to bring special attention. The write-host cmdlet with its -backgroundcolor and -foregroundcolor parameters support this nicely albeit with a somewhat limited palette of sixteen colors. The colors can [...]

The post Working With Powershell Console Colors appeared first on Posh Tips.

New And Improved Powershell Profile (startup) Script

xb90 — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:57:32 +0000

Here’s a Powershell profile (startup script) that I use on several machines on a daily basis. If you use Powershell to any significant extent, I highly recommend customizing your environment to utilize a profile script. I depend on this script SO MUCH! The script itself utilizes a script template that I developed which has some [...]

The post New And Improved Powershell Profile (startup) Script appeared first on Posh Tips.

Access Amazon S3 Data with Powershell

xb90 — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 06:54:22 +0000

Amazon Web Services Simple Storage Services, also known as AWS S3 is Enterprise-Class online data storage at unbelievably reasonable prices.Were talking about storing GigaBytes for pennies a month. No exaggeration – it’s incredible. There’s just one catch. This service is not geared toward the consumer market so you might have to jump through a few [...]

The post Access Amazon S3 Data with Powershell appeared first on Posh Tips.

The Number One Best PowerShell Script on this site

xb90 — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:29:52 +0000

I haven’t posted anything new in a while, but I just wanted to draw attention to what I consider to be my Number One, Most Useful, Best Script on this site. Why am I bothering to do this? Because, as I analyze the traffic to this site, I see a lot of people are finding [...]

The post The Number One Best PowerShell Script on this site appeared first on Posh Tips.

Generate Complex Passwords with PowerShell

xb90 — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 02:06:05 +0000

Here we have a simple function to generate a complex password in Windows Powershell. To Add this to YOUR script, include: The system.web assembly (add this somewhere in your script (where it will only get called once) The GenPwd function That’s all there is to it. Passwords will be 8 characters long; change the $pwdLen [...]

The post Generate Complex Passwords with PowerShell appeared first on Posh Tips.

HowTo Make Menus in PowerShell

xb90 — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:49:22 +0000

If you have ever developed a user-interactive script then you are well aware of the need to provide user choices and validate input. It seems that I’ve done this hundreds of times, continuously re-inventing code that performs three simple functions: Present the user with choices Accept input from the user Validate the user’s choice To [...]

The post HowTo Make Menus in PowerShell appeared first on Posh Tips.

Selectively Create Program Shortcuts

xb90 — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 22:17:18 +0000

…or stated differently: How To create a PowerShell Alias that can be used to launch a Windows program from the PowerShell command prompt. I often find it convenient to run various programs directly from the PowerShell command line. In particular, I often need to run a text editor or Microsoft Excel. Using alias short-cuts, I [...]

The post Selectively Create Program Shortcuts appeared first on Posh Tips.

Filtering File Listings with PowerShell

xb90 — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:51:29 +0000

I’ve got a real quick tip for today to demonstrate how to filter a file list using Windows PowerShell. Sample ONE: Here I want to list all *.log files that were created before today: [crayon-51982571b869d/] Note, you can replace “get-childitem” with a provided shortened alias such as “gci” or “dir” (that’s what I do anyway) [...]

The post Filtering File Listings with PowerShell appeared first on Posh Tips.

List WSUS Target Group Members with PowerShell

xb90 — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 20:40:35 +0000

Here’s a sample script that demonstrates how to use the WSUS 3.0 API to (1) list all defined computer Target Groups and (2) list of all computers subscribed to a group. Note: This script is written to utilize the default (local) WSUS server. If you wish to run it against a remote server, find the [...]

The post List WSUS Target Group Members with PowerShell appeared first on Posh Tips.