Find Duplicate Files with PowerShell
This one-liner will find duplicate files in the current directory and all sub-directories. It uses hash values of the files, so it doesn't matter if the file names have changed.…
PowerShell: Return Debug and Verbose messages From Your Functions
Debug and Verbose let you return extra information from your scripts, for specific situations, and only when needed. Debug lets you return “programmer-level” information. Verbose lets you return more detailed information to the user. I’ll provide some examples.
Compare services of two computers in PowerShell
This function "Compare-Services" will allow you to compare the running services of two computers. The first one is called the Reference Computer, the second is the Difference Computer. The output…
PowerShell cmdlet to create lab users
So you have Active Directory in your lab and want to create a bunch of users for some reason? My PowerShell cmdlet "New-LabADUser" should be just what you need. Usage…
The Script Development Process
This script development process is an iterative process designed to help you rapidly write quality scripts. The principle is to understand and define the problem. Break up your solution into small steps. Code one small step at a time. Test each small step and get it right before moving on to the next piece. Repeat these steps until you have your solution. All while managing your time.
When is automation the solution?
The benefits of automation are primarily to save time and to decrease errors associated with manual actions. You will need to make the calculation if a script will benefit your situation. How many hours will it take for you to write these script? How many hours of manual work will the script save?
Output the PowerShell assignment command from an array
This function will take an array and output the PowerShell assignment command with the elements from the array. It would be useful if you want to hardcode a string array…
Get the IP addresses of Hyper-V VMs, part 2
A variation on my previous post. This one-liner uses an expression in a select to expose the IP addresses. The expression is necessary so we can drill down into the NetworkAdapters collection…
New-Nano: automating Windows Nano Server lab builds with PowerShell
I wrote this function to automate Nano Server lab builds into Hyper-V. You need to supply the "Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5" ISO, which you can get here or…
Get the IP addresses of Hyper-V VMs
Get all of the IP addresses of Hyper-V VMs. foreach ($vm in $(Get-VM)) { "Name = $($vm.Name); IP = $($vm.NetworkAdapters.IPAddresses)" }
Returning custom objects in PowerShell, simplified
I've stumbled upon this simplified technique to return custom objects in my PowerShell functions. My first take on it was this, but I've simplified it. In this simplified variation, you…