I'm using VSCode for all of my PowerShell development at this point. I reloaded my system from scratch on March 13th of this year. Yesterday was the first time I've opened the PowerShell ISE since then and it was only to determine if something worked differently between the two (I tweeted this out yesterday).
One of the common problems I hear about and have experienced myself with VSCode (Visual Studio Code) is that tabbed expansion of command and parameter names doesn't work like it does in the Read more [...]
One of the ways I practice the principal of least privilege is by logging into my computer as a domain user who is also a standard local user. I typically run PowerShell as a domain user who is a local admin and elevate on a per command basis using a domain account with more access only when absolutely necessary. The problem I've run into is neither the account I'm logged into my computer as or the one I'm running PowerShell as has the ability to execute SQL queries that I need to run against various Read more [...]
Recently, I needed to make sure that specific accounts were members of the local administrators group on several servers along with making sure that no other users were members of it.
PowerShell version 5.1 introduced a module named Microsoft.PowerShell.LocalAccounts that contains the following commands for managing local users and groups.
Checking the group membership is as easy as running Get-LocalGroupMember within the script block of Invoke-Command and Read more [...]
1 | Get-Command -Module Microsoft.PowerShell.LocalAccounts |
Earlier this year, I watched a recording of the January 2019 Arizona PowerShell User Group meeting where Tim Warner presented a session on "Easing your transition from the PowerShell ISE to Visual Studio Code". One of the things Tim demonstrated was a VSCode extension named "Settings Sync" where you can synchronize your VSCode settings to and from a GitHub Gist. While it seems to be designed to synchronize your settings between multiple computers, I recently found out that it can also be a lifesaver Read more [...]
I recently came across an article on "Running PowerShell Core in a Container". This article tweaked my interest because it was a simple way to run PowerShell in a clean and isolated environment that could be used for testing without the need to spin up an entire VM. It could also be recreated much easier than an entire VM.
The examples in the previously referenced article use a command (docker.exe) which I didn't have on my machine so the first order of business was to figure out how to run Docker Read more [...]
As many of you know, I've been working on some module building tools. One of the things I needed was to retrieve a list of PowerShell modules that each function required (a list of dependencies). This seemed simple enough through PowerShell's AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) as shown in the following example.
The modules that are retrieved by the AST are simply the ones specified in a functions Requires statement. What if someone forgot to add a required module to Read more [...]
1 2 3 | $File = 'U:\GitHub\PowerShell\MrToolkit\Public\Find-MrModuleUpdate.ps1' $AST = [System.Management.Automation.Language.Parser]::ParseFile($File, [ref]$null, [ref]$null) $AST.ScriptRequirements.RequiredModules.Name |
Anyone who has competed in the scripting games before knows that I'm always looking for a challenge when it comes to writing PowerShell code. While the scripting games haven't been held in the last several years, they've somewhat been replaced by the Iron Scripter competition at the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit and 2019 is shaping up to be no different. Think you've got skills? Bring them on! and Get-Involved.
Whether you've previously competed or not, you should definitely head over to IronScripter.us Read more [...]
Earlier this week, I saw a tweet from a fellow PowerShell community member who mentioned PowerShell was returning inaccurate results. The command shown in the tweet was similar to the one in the following example.
Why would results be returned where "IsFramework" is true when the command is filtering them down to only the ones that are false?
I knew exactly what the problem was because I've been bit by it more times than I care to remember. Piping the Get-AppxPackage Read more [...]
1 2 3 | Get-AppxPackage | Where-Object -Property IsFramework -eq 'False' | Select-Object -Property Name, SignatureKind, IsFramework |
Lately, I've seen a few examples of commands that aren't PowerShell one-liners being passed off as such by people in the PowerShell community who "should" know better. If I were interviewing someone who claimed to be a PowerShell expert with more than five years of experience, I would definitely ask these types of questions.
Example 1 - The following command is a PowerShell one-liner? (True or False)
Example 2 - The following command is a PowerShell one-liner? Read more [...]
1 | $Process = 'notepad.exe'; Start-Process $Process -PassThru -OutVariable NoteProc; Stop-Process -Id $NoteProc.Id -Force |
In my quest to build a PowerShell module to convert a non-monolithic PowerShell module from development to a monolithic one for production, I wanted some way to validate that all of the functions were indeed migrated. While I'm pointing my tools to the public and private sub-folders within my development module and that should get them all, how can you be sure especially when a module may not have any private functions?
Determining the publicly accessible functions for a module is easy enough Read more [...]
Recently, a fellow IT Pro contacted me and stated they were unable to login to one of their SQL Servers using Windows Authentication. The following error was generated when attempting to login to SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).
Their exact words were "I think we have a permissions problem". Clicking on the "Show technical details" icon at the bottom of that error message showed the following information.
You can work around this problem by clicking on the "Options >>" button:
Then Read more [...]
If you follow my blog, then I'm sure you're aware that earlier this year I embarked on a project to help others get started with PowerShell. I leveraged the contacts I'd made over the years in the PowerShell community and created a book with many of them, named "The PowerShell Conference Book". We all donated our time as 100% of the royalties go towards funding scholarships for the OnRamp track at the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit.
So far, we've fully funded three scholarships ($4,000 Read more [...]
There's never been a better time to purchase my PowerShell 101: The No-Nonsense Beginner’s Guide to PowerShell eBook. It's currently on sale for $4.99 using this link which automatically includes a coupon code that's good from now until the end of the year or for the first 50 redemptions, whichever comes first. Not sure whether or not this book is for you? Download the free sample which includes the first two chapters.
About the Book
Before PowerShell, I spent the first third of my career Read more [...]
You need to have an Active Directory domain in place. I'm picking up where I left off in my previous blog article "Use PowerShell to Create a New Active Directory Forest on Windows 2019 Server Core Installation (no-GUI)".
The procedure shown in this blog article is for demonstration purposes only.
Install the DHCP server feature.
1 | Install-WindowsFeature -Name DHCP |
Add the DHCP scope to the server.
1 | Add-DhcpServerv4Scope -Name '192.168.129.x' -StartRange 192.168.129.101 -EndRange 192.168.129.199 -SubnetMask 255.255.255.0 |
Options can either be set at the scope level.
1 | Set-DhcpServerv4OptionValue -ScopeID '192.168.129.0' -DNSServer 192.168.129.100 -DNSDomain mikefrobbins.com -Router 192.168.129.1 |
You have a fresh installation of Windows Server 2019 that was installed using the default installation type of server core installation (no-GUI). This server will be the first domain controller in a brand new Active Directory forest. You've completed the following configuration prior to attempting to turn this server into a domain controller:
Install all the available Windows Updates
Set the time zone
Set the computer name
Set a static IP address
Log into the server and launch PowerShell Read more [...]
You've probably heard, as I have, that Visual Studio Code (VSCode) is the latest whiz-bang editor that you should be using for PowerShell (and I am for development of PowerShell code on my primary workstation). One word of caution though is to make sure to put things into perspective and not be so quick to shun people away from using the PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE), depending on how they're using it.
I recently received a comment about my choice of editors for a particular Read more [...]