I saw a question on Facebook about how to get Test-WsMan to return a simple Boolean result. The Test-Connection cmdlet has a -Quiet parameter that makes this possible. But Test-Wsman does not. Certainly, you could script a comparable outcome. Here’s one way:
Category: Scripting
Memory Reporting with PowerShell
I’ve started a new project and I’m hoping a few of you will give it a spin and let me know how it works for you. I’ve created a PowerShell module called MemoryTools that uses a few WMI classes and performance counters to provide insight into memory utilization and configuration on your servers. The module…
Creating New PowerShell Projects
I’ve been writing scripts since the early days of DOS batch files. Like many of you I simply stick them all in a folder and move on to the next project. Most of my work is just for me or writing projects so this methodology worked just fine for me. But I need to live…
Converting Text to HTML Revised
A few years ago I published a PowerShell function to convert text files into HTML listings. I thought it would be handy to convert scripts to HTML documents with line numbering and some formatting. Turns out someone actually used it! He had some questions about the function which led me to revisit it and realize…
PowerShell Toolmaking Dos and Don’ts
During the last Microsoft MVP Summit, Channel 9 invited MVPs into their studios to record short presentations on anything they wanted. This was too good a deal to pass on, so my friend Greg Shields and I jumped into the studio to talk about PowerShell Toolmaking. To be more accurate, Greg, who knows a little…
Creating Class Based PowerShell Tools Demos
During my recent trip to Sweden, I had an opportunity to do a presentation for the PowerShell User Group Sweden. It was a big turn out and I appreciate everyone who attended. My talk was on using the new class feature in PowerShell 5.0 to create new types of PowerShell tools. Classes were introduced to…
The Power of Custom Properties
The other day fellow PowerShell MVP Adam Bertram published an article about using custom properties with Select-Object. It is a good article in that it gets you thinking about PowerShell in terms of objects and not simple text. But I want to take Adam’s article as a jumping off point and take his ideas a…
Get Local Group Members Revisited
The other day I posted an article and function that used ADSI and PowerShell to list members of a local group. I had a few people report an unusual error that I couldn’t replicate. During the course of troubleshooting, I made a few changes to the original function to at least better handle the mysterious…
Get Local Group Members with PowerShell
Recently I posted a function to get information about local user accounts. I received a lot of positive feedback so it seemed natural to take this the next step and create a similar function to enumerate or list members of a local group, such as Administrators. The function, Get-LocalGroupMember, also relies on ADSI and is…
Friday Fun: A SysInternals PowerShell Workflow
Over the years I’ve come up with a number of PowerShell tools to download the SysInternals tools to my desktop. And yes, I know that with PowerShell 5 and PowerShellGet I could download and install a SysInternals package. But that assumes the package is current. But that’s not really the point. Instead I want to…
Getting Local User Accounts the PowerShell Way
It seems I’m always seeing requests and problems on getting local user accounts using PowerShell. However, even though we are at PowerShell 5.0, Microsoft has never released a set of cmdlets for managing local user accounts. So many of us have resorted to creating our own tools. I now have my latest iteration of a…
Friday Fun: Improved PowerShell Napping
So I had some fun with my post last week on taking a nap with PowerShell. I got some great feedback on Twitter and a new comments on the blog. My initial effort was a relatively simple PowerShell script which certainly got the job done. But I there were a number of areas where I…
Friday Fun: Number Crunching
Earlier this week I was looking at the GoFundMe website in the midst of debating a new project. One of the considerations I have for sites like this is the expense involved. Certainly I don’t expect this type of service to be free. But I started wondering about what net donations might look like. According…
Testing PowerShell HashTables
So I’ve been watching the PowerShell Toolmaking Fundamentals course on Pluralsight authored by Adam Bertram. You may be surprised that I watch other PowerShell related courses, but I always pick up something I didn’t know about, find a new teaching technique or something else that makes me say, “that was cool.” I have found a…
Updating Open Live Writer Auto Links with PowerShell
I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that I do a fair bit of blogging and writing. This means I am always on the look out for tools and tricks to make the process easier. Recently Scott Hanselmen and others announced a resurrection of the old Microsoft Live Writer tool into an open…