Download SysInternals with PowerShell

Like many IT Pros, I'm a big fan of the utilities that make up the Sysinternals suite. A number of years ago, Microsoft created a "live" web directory (http:\\live.sysinternals.com\tools) that allowed you direct access to each utility. While this is very handy, personally I prefer to keep a local version. I used to periodically check the site and update my local folder, but now I can use PowerShell.

#requires -version 3.0

<#
Download Sysinternals tools from web to a local folder.

  ****************************************************************
  * DO NOT USE IN A PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT UNTIL YOU HAVE TESTED *
  * THOROUGHLY IN A LAB ENVIRONMENT. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.  IF   *
  * YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS SCRIPT DOES OR HOW IT WORKS, *
  * DO NOT USE IT OUTSIDE OF A SECURE, TEST SETTING.             *
  ****************************************************************
#>

[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]

Param(
[Parameter(Position=0)]
[ValidateScript({Test-Path -Path $_})]
[string]$Destination = "G:\SysInternals"
)

#start the WebClient service if it is not running
if ((Get-Service WebClient).Status -eq 'Stopped') {
     Write-Verbose "Starting WebClient"
     #always start the webclient service even if using -Whatif
     Start-Service WebClient -WhatIf:$false
     $Stopped = $True
}
else {
    <#
     Define a variable to indicate service was already running
     so that we don't stop it. Making an assumption that the
     service is already running for a reason.
    #>
    $Stopped = $False
}

#get current files in destination
$current = dir -Path $Destination -File

Write-Host "Updating Sysinternals tools from \\live.sysinternals.com\tools to $destination" -ForegroundColor Cyan

foreach ($file in $current) {
  #construct a path to the live web version and compare dates
  $online = Join-Path -path \\live.sysinternals.com\tools -ChildPath $file.name
  Write-Verbose "Testing $online"
  if ((Get-Item -Path $online).LastWriteTime.Date -ge $file.LastWriteTime.Date) {
    Copy-Item $online -Destination $Destination -PassThru
  }
}

Write-Host "Testing for online files not in $destination" -ForegroundColor Green

#test for files online but not in the destination and copy them
dir -path \\live.sysinternals.com\tools -file | 
Where {$current.name -notcontains $_.name} |
Copy-Item -Destination $Destination -PassThru

<#
alternative but this might still copy files that haven't
really changed
Robocopy \\live.sysinternals.com\tools $destination /MIR
#>

if ( $Stopped ) {
    Write-Verbose "Stopping web client"
    #always stop the service even if using -Whatif
    Stop-Service WebClient -WhatIf:$False
}

Write-Host "Sysinternals Update Complete" -ForegroundColor Cyan
#end of script

My version requires PowerShell 3.0. You need to have the WebClient service running in order to list the Internet files. My script has code to start and stop the service as needed. Although if it detects the service is already running, the script won't stop it under the assumption that you probably had it running for a reason.

The logic behind the script is pretty simple, if the date of the online version is greater than the local version, copy the file. One thing I ran into though is that there can be a discrepancy with the time stamps due to time zones and/or daylight savings time. I couldn't find an easy way to take those things into account so I opted to simply test the date and ignore the time.

The next thing I should do is set up a PowerShell scheduled job to run the script on a monthly basis. I hope you'll let me know how this works out for you.

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