Last month I showed you how to read the registry in PowerShell. I went through a script that would read the registered owner and organization. Now I’ll show you how to change those properties in PowerShell. Here’s the script, which is also available for download from my script library. Here’s the script, then we’ll go…
Category: PowerShell
Free tool for managing local admin passwords
I’ve put together an HTA-based tool that can be used to not only report on the age of local administrator password on remote systems, but also to change it. You can either report/change on one computer at a time or you can process a list of computers. The tool is free for you to use…
Background jobs in PowerShell
The *nix world has always had the ability to run jobs in the background. Now it’s possible to do that in PowerShell. There is a terrific post on this at: http://jtruher.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!7143DA6E51A2628D!130.entry You’ll need to copy some scripts and functions from the entry and save them locally. You also might need to tweak things if you…
Reading the Registry in PowerShell
One of the great PowerShell features is that it treats the registry like any other location or directory. In PowerShell you can connect directly to the registry and navigate the key hierarchy just as if it as a logical drive with folders. I have a very brief demonstration script you can run to find the…
PowerShell RC2 Release Notes
The PowerShell team at Microsoft has released draft notes on the forthcoming RC2 of PowerShell. They still won’t publicly admit to a release date but I hope its soon. I really want to get my hands on the WMI changes. Don Jones and I need RC2 so we can update the new PowerShell book and…
Mourning Maynard
I’m taking a brief departure from the normal techie nature of the blog to note the passing of jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson. I played trumpet through my college years and have fond memories as a high schoold student seeing Maynard play in person. I can still recall seeing him at a high school jazz concert….
PowerShell TFM available for Pre-Order
Amazon now has PowerShell TFM available for pre-order. They are listing October 2nd as the release date, although don’t be surprised if it is a little later. The book is basically finished, but we’re waiting for the release of PowerShell RC2 so we can incorporate those changes into the book. We’re expecting some significant changes…
Autographed copies of Advanced VBScript
If you haven’t picked up a copy of Advanced VBScript for Microsoft Windows Administrators, you can purchase autographed copies at ScriptingOutpost.com at a great price. The books are signed by Don and myself. Visit http://www.scriptingoutpost.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BK-ADV-VBS Technorati Tags:VBScriptScripting
Search Inside Advanced VBScript for Windows
My first writing effort, Advanced VBScript for Microsoft Windows Administrators, has been very popular and I want to thank all of you who picked up a copy. I see now that Amazon has our book setup for Search Inside. Now you can read an excerpt, see the table of contents, index and more. If you…
Free PowerShell Help Viewer
The terrific people at SAPIEN have released a free PowerShell Help viewer. You obviously need the latest PowerShell release installed. If so, go to http://www.sapienpress.com/powershell.asp and grab the download. The tool will list all aliases, cmdlet help and the little “about” help files. If you’re like me you realize you want to look at the…
Free Sample PowerShell TFM Chapter
I should have mentioned this awhile ago, but you can get a free preview sample chapter from the new PowerShell book I’m co-writing with Don Jones at http://www.sapienpress.com/powershell.asp. We’ve moved into the tech editing phase and I think you’ll like the final product. It will be substantial enough to provide in-depth coverage that you need…
Get Active Directory User Information in PowerShell
One feature that PowerShell will likely be missing when it first ships is solid support for ADSI and working with Active Directory. You can use .NET DirectoryEntry objects but it feels more like programming and less like scripting. Another option for working with Active Directory in PowerShell is to use WMI. PowerShell does have a…
PowerShell podcast
Don Jones from ScriptingAnswers.com has a two part podcast with Jeffrey Snover, Microsoft’s PowerShell architect recorded at this year’s TechEd in Boston. You can hear the podcasts and subscribe to the ScriptingAnswers Audio Network feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ScriptinganswerscomAudioNetwork Technorati Tags:PowerShellScripting
Printing from PowerShell
PowerShell has a slick feature that allows you to send the output from a cmdlet or expression directly to a printer. Pipe the output to the Out-Printer cmdlet and it will print out on the default printer: get-process | out-printer If you have other printers installed you can use the printer name. For example, I…
Use Internet Explorer in PowerShell
Here’s a PowerShell Script that demonstates how to create COM objects in PowerShell, in this case an Internet Explorer instance. The script then takes the output of the Get-Service cmdlet and writes the results to the IE window. # IEServiceList.ps1# Jeffery Hicks# http://jdhitsolutions.blogspot.com# http://www.jdhitsolutions.com# May 2006#Display all running services in an Internet Explorer window new-variable…