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 examples:

PS C:\> New-LabADUser


DistinguishedName : CN=BStevens,CN=Users,DC=south,DC=lab
Enabled           : True
GivenName         : Bonnie
Name              : BStevens
ObjectClass       : user
ObjectGUID        : 33319b1b-bf93-4647-8e8d-d193be91043d
SamAccountName    : BStevens
SID               : S-1-5-21-4025744032-3205137867-863233111-1711
Surname           : Stevens
UserPrincipalName : 




PS C:\> New-LabADUser -NumberOfUsers 3 | select Name

Name   
----   
DAustin
JTaylor
WOrtiz 



PS C:\> $UsersCreated = New-LabADUser -NumberOfUsers 10 | select DistinguishedName

PS C:\> $UsersCreated

DistinguishedName                      
-----------------                      
CN=FDavis,CN=Users,DC=south,DC=lab     
CN=MDixon,CN=Users,DC=south,DC=lab     
CN=RNichols,CN=Users,DC=south,DC=lab   
CN=ABailey,CN=Users,DC=south,DC=lab    
CN=TRose,CN=Users,DC=south,DC=lab      
CN=ECarter,CN=Users,DC=south,DC=lab    
CN=TGonzales,CN=Users,DC=south,DC=lab  
CN=KWashington,CN=Users,DC=south,DC=lab
CN=JHunter,CN=Users,DC=south,DC=lab    
CN=DGray,CN=Users,DC=south,DC=lab      

Users are created with Organization = “LabUser” to make them easy to find:

PS C:\>  Get-ADUser -Filter "Organization -EQ 'LabUser'" | select Name

Name       
----       
BStevens   
DAustin    
JTaylor    
WOrtiz     
FDavis     
MDixon     
RNichols   
ABailey    
TRose      
ECarter    
TGonzales  
KWashington
JHunter    
DGray

And the cmdlet…

function New-LabADUser
 {
 [CmdletBinding()]
 Param
 (
 # Param2 help description
 [int]$NumberOfUsers = 1
 )

Begin
 {
# build the names lists
 $GivenName = ("Aaron", "Adam", "Alan", "Albert", "Alice", "Amanda", "Amy", "Andrea", "Andrew", "Angela", "Ann", "Anna", "Anne", "Annie", "Anthony", "Antonio", "Arthur", "Ashley", "Barbara", "Benjamin", "Betty", "Beverly", "Billy", "Bobby", "Bonnie", "Brandon", "Brenda", "Brian", "Bruce", "Carl", "Carlos", "Carol", "Carolyn", "Catherine", "Charles", "Cheryl", "Chris", "Christina", "Christine", "Christopher", "Clarence", "Craig", "Cynthia", "Daniel", "David", "Deborah", "Debra", "Denise", "Dennis", "Diana", "Diane", "Donald", "Donna", "Doris", "Dorothy", "Douglas", "Earl", "Edward", "Elizabeth", "Emily", "Eric", "Ernest", "Eugene", "Evelyn", "Frances", "Frank", "Fred", "Gary", "George", "Gerald", "Gloria", "Gregory", "Harold", "Harry", "Heather", "Helen", "Henry", "Howard", "Irene", "Jack", "Jacqueline", "James", "Jane", "Janet", "Janice", "Jason", "Jean", "Jeffrey", "Jennifer", "Jeremy", "Jerry", "Jesse", "Jessica", "Jimmy", "Joan", "Joe", "John", "Johnny", "Jonathan", "Jose", "Joseph", "Joshua", "Joyce", "Juan", "Judith", "Judy", "Julia", "Julie", "Justin", "Karen", "Katherine", "Kathleen", "Kathryn", "Kathy", "Keith", "Kelly", "Kenneth", "Kevin", "Kimberly", "Larry", "Laura", "Lawrence", "Lillian", "Linda", "Lisa", "Lois", "Lori", "Louis", "Louise", "Margaret", "Maria", "Marie", "Marilyn", "Mark", "Martha", "Martin", "Mary", "Matthew", "Melissa", "Michael", "Michelle", "Mildred", "Nancy", "Nicholas", "Nicole", "Norma", "Pamela", "Patricia", "Patrick", "Paul", "Paula", "Peter", "Philip", "Phillip", "Phyllis", "Rachel", "Ralph", "Randy", "Raymond", "Rebecca", "Richard", "Robert", "Robin", "Roger", "Ronald", "Rose", "Roy", "Ruby", "Russell", "Ruth", "Ryan", "Samuel", "Sandra", "Sara", "Sarah", "Scott", "Sean", "Sharon", "Shawn", "Shirley", "Stephanie", "Stephen", "Steve", "Steven", "Susan", "Tammy", "Teresa", "Terry", "Theresa", "Thomas", "Timothy", "Tina", "Todd", "Victor", "Virginia", "Walter", "Wanda", "Wayne", "William", "Willie")
 $Surame = ("Smith", "Johnson", "Williams", "Jones", "Brown", "Davis", "Miller", "Wilson", "Moore", "Taylor", "Anderson", "Thomas", "Jackson", "White", "Harris", "Martin", "Thompson", "Garcia", "Martinez", "Robinson", "Clark", "Rodriguez", "Lewis", "Lee", "Walker", "Hall", "Allen", "Young", "Hernandez", "King", "Wright", "Lopez", "Hill", "Scott", "Green", "Adams", "Baker", "Gonzalez", "Nelson", "Carter", "Mitchell", "Perez", "Roberts", "Turner", "Phillips", "Campbell", "Parker", "Evans", "Edwards", "Collins", "Stewart", "Sanchez", "Morris", "Rogers", "Reed", "Cook", "Morgan", "Bell", "Murphy", "Bailey", "Rivera", "Cooper", "Richardson", "Cox", "Howard", "Ward", "Torres", "Peterson", "Gray", "Ramirez", "James", "Watson", "Brooks", "Kelly", "Sanders", "Price", "Bennett", "Wood", "Barnes", "Ross", "Henderson", "Coleman", "Jenkins", "Perry", "Powell", "Long", "Patterson", "Hughes", "Flores", "Washington", "Butler", "Simmons", "Foster", "Gonzales", "Bryant", "Alexander", "Russell", "Griffin", "Diaz", "Hayes", "Myers", "Ford", "Hamilton", "Graham", "Sullivan", "Wallace", "Woods", "Cole", "West", "Jordan", "Owens", "Reynolds", "Fisher", "Ellis", "Harrison", "Gibson", "Mcdonald", "Cruz", "Marshall", "Ortiz", "Gomez", "Murray", "Freeman", "Wells", "Webb", "Simpson", "Stevens", "Tucker", "Porter", "Hunter", "Hicks", "Crawford", "Henry", "Boyd", "Mason", "Morales", "Kennedy", "Warren", "Dixon", "Ramos", "Reyes", "Burns", "Gordon", "Shaw", "Holmes", "Rice", "Robertson", "Hunt", "Black", "Daniels", "Palmer", "Mills", "Nichols", "Grant", "Knight", "Ferguson", "Rose", "Stone", "Hawkins", "Dunn", "Perkins", "Hudson", "Spencer", "Gardner", "Stephens", "Payne", "Pierce", "Berry", "Matthews", "Arnold", "Wagner", "Willis", "Ray", "Watkins", "Olson", "Carroll", "Duncan", "Snyder", "Hart", "Cunningham", "Bradley", "Lane", "Andrews", "Ruiz", "Harper", "Fox", "Riley", "Armstrong", "Carpenter", "Weaver", "Greene", "Lawrence", "Elliott", "Chavez", "Sims", "Austin", "Peters", "Kelley", "Franklin", "Lawson")
 }
 Process
 {
 for ($i = 1; $i -le $NumberOfUsers; $i++)
 {
 $gn = $GivenName | Get-Random
 $sn = $Surame | Get-Random
 $AccountName = $gn.Substring(0,1) + $sn

# create a password to fit most requirements
$pw = ""
 do {$pw += (33..126) | foreach {[char]$_} | Get-Random}
 until ($pw.Length -ge 16)
 $AccountPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $pw -AsPlainText -Force

New-ADUser -AccountPassword $AccountPassword -GivenName $gn -Surname $sn -Name $AccountName -Organization "LabUser" -Enabled $true -PassThru
 }
 }

 }

 

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 and don’t want to manually format it.

The function is below, along with an example usage and example output.

function ArrayAssignment ($MyArray) {
    $ArrayContent = "`$Array = @("
    # Output elements except the last
    $MyArray[0..$($MyArray.Count-2)] | foreach {$ArrayContent += "`"$_`","}
    # Output the last element
    $ArrayContent += "`"$($MyArray[$MyArray.Count-1])`")"
    $ArrayContent
    }

# Create an array of the first 20 services names for an example
$Example = (Get-Service).DisplayName[0..19]

# Use the function
ArrayAssignment $Example

# Example Output:
PS C:\>
$Array = @("Adobe Flash Player Update Service","AllJoyn Router Service","Application Layer Gateway Service","AMD External Events Utility","AMD FUEL Service","Application Identity","Application Information","Apple Mobile Device Service","Application Management","App Readiness","AppX Deployment Service (AppXSVC)","ASP.NET State Service","Windows Audio Endpoint Builder","Windows Audio","ActiveX Installer (AxInstSV)","BitLocker Drive Encryption Service","Base Filtering Engine","Background Intelligent Transfer Service","Bonjour Service","Background Tasks Infrastructure Service")

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 to get to the IPAddresses property.

This will list all IP addresses for each VM:

Get-VM | select Name, State, @{Name="IP";Expression={$_.NetworkAdapters.IPAddresses}}

This next variation displays only the first IP address for each VM. Note the “[0]”. It addresses the first element of “IPAddresses” array.

Get-VM | select Name, State, @{Name="IP";Expression={$_.NetworkAdapters.IPAddresses[0]}}

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 here. My script is based partially on ideas presented in the Microsoft TechNet article “Getting Started with Nano Server“.

You will need to have Hyper-V on your computer, have a Hyper-V switch on a network that has DHCP running somewhere (if you have a switch in Hyper-V defined as “External”, this should work fine). You will also need to supply a working directory.

New-Nano copies the required files from the ISO, runs Microsoft’s cmdlet New-NanoServerImage to build a Hyper-V disk image, creates a new VM from that disk image, starts the VM, and gets network information from the VM. The function then runs an example PowerShell Session to demonstrate connectivity to the new Nano VM. Total build time in my tests is a little over three minutes.

If you look to the bottom of the script, you will see an example of how to call the New-Nano function.

Further refinements would be to install features and packages to the Nano, and to do domain joins. Please note that this should only be used for a lab environment because the administrator password is in plaintext. If this was going into a production environment, you would want to encode it.

Enjoy. Please try it out and leave a comment.

Start-Transcript -Path "C:\Lab\NewNano.txt"
function New-Nano
{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    Param
    (
        # Path to the Windows Server 2016 ISO
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        $ImagePath,

        # Working Directory
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        $WorkingDir,

        # Admin Password
        [SecureString]
        $AdminPassword = (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText "Password1" -Force),

        # Hyper-V Switch Name
        [String]
        $NetworkSwitch = "External",

        # Nano VM Name
        [String]
        $Name = "nano" + $(Get-Random -Minimum 1000 -Maximum 9999),
        
        # Processor Count
        $ProcessorCount = 1,

        # Memory Startup Bytes
        $MemoryStartupBytes = 512MB
    )

    Process
    {
    # ref: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt126167.aspx
    
    $VirtualHardDiskPath = $(Get-VMHost).VirtualHardDiskPath
    $VirtualMachinePath = $(Get-VMHost).VirtualMachinePath
    $NewNanoPath = $VirtualHardDiskPath + $Name + ".vhdx"
    $StartingDir = (Get-Location).Path
    $MountObject = Mount-DiskImage -ImagePath $ImagePath -PassThru
    $MountDriveLetter = ($MountObject | Get-Volume).DriveLetter + ":"
    $NanoMount = $MountDriveLetter + "\NanoServer\"

    # copy the NanoServer dir to the working dir
    $NanoDir = $WorkingDir + "NanoServer\"
    Copy-Item -Path $NanoMount -Destination $NanoDir -Recurse -Force

    Set-Location $NanoDir

    Import-Module .\NanoServerImageGenerator -Verbose

    # create the VHD
    $NewNanoResult = New-NanoServerImage -DeploymentType Guest -Edition Standard -MediaPath $MountDriveLetter -BasePath .\Base -TargetPath $NewNanoPath -EnableRemoteManagementPort -ComputerName $Name -AdministratorPassword $AdminPassword

    # new VM from the VHD
    New-VM -Name $Name -VHDPath $NewNanoPath -MemoryStartupBytes $MemoryStartupBytes -SwitchName $NetworkSwitch -BootDevice VHD -Generation 2 -Path $VirtualMachinePath  |
    Set-VM -DynamicMemory -ProcessorCount $ProcessorCount -Passthru -AutomaticStopAction ShutDown -AutomaticStartAction Nothing 

    # finish up.
    $MountObject | Dismount-DiskImage
    "Starting $Name"
    Start-VM $Name

    while ((Get-VM $Name).State -ne "Running")
        {Start-Sleep 5}
    "$Name is Running."

    while ((Get-VM $Name).NetworkAdapters.Status[0] -ne "Ok") 
        {Start-Sleep 5}
    "Network adapter reporting Ok."

    $vm = Get-VM $Name
    $vm.NetworkAdapters | select VMName, SwitchName, Status, IPAddresses

    "Demonstrate that PowerShell Session works"
    $AdminUser = "$Name\Administrator"
    $cred = New-Object -Typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential  -Argumentlist $AdminUser, $AdminPassword
    $pss = New-PSSession -ComputerName $Name -Credential $cred
    Invoke-Command -Session $pss -ScriptBlock {Get-Service | where Status -EQ "Running"| Format-Table} 
    Remove-PSSession $pss

    # return to original directory
    Set-Location $StartingDir
    }
}

$NewNanoParams = @{
    ImagePath = "C:\ISOs\en_windows_server_2016_technical_preview_5_x64_dvd_8512312.iso";
    WorkingDir = "C:\Lab\";
    AdminPassword =  (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText "Password1" -Force);
    NetworkSwitch = "External"
    Name = "LabNano" + (Get-Random -Minimum 100 -Maximum 999);
    ProcessorCount = 1;
    MemoryStartupBytes = 512MB
    }

New-Nano @NewNanoParams

Stop-Transcript

 

 

Get all of the IP addresses of Hyper-V VMs.

foreach ($vm in $(Get-VM)) {
    "Name = $($vm.Name); IP = $($vm.NetworkAdapters.IPAddresses)"
    }

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 just create and return the object in the same hash. For example:

[PsCustomObject]@{
    ComputerName = $ComputerSystem.DNSHostName;
    Domain = $ComputerSystem.Domain;
    ProcessCount = $ProcessCount;
    }

This is a hash, as you probably have seen before, but the [PsCustomObject] is what makes it a custom object.

And in context of a function:

# Example Function
function Get-SystemInfo {

    # Prepare the info
    $OS = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem # for FreePhysicalMemory, Caption, PSComputerName, SystemDrive
    $LoadPercentage = (Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_Processor).LoadPercentage
    $ProcessCount = (Get-Process).Count
    $SystemDrive = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_LogicalDisk -filter "Name = '$($OS.SystemDrive)'" 
    $ComputerSystem = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComputerSystem

    # Return the properties in a custom object
    [PsCustomObject]@{
        ComputerName = $ComputerSystem.DNSHostName;
        Domain = $ComputerSystem.Domain;
        FreePhysicalMemory = "{0:n0}" -f ($OS.FreePhysicalMemory /1KB) + " MB";
        OS = $OS.Caption;
        LastBootUpTime = $OS.LastBootUpTime;
        LoadPercentage = $LoadPercentage;
        ProcessCount = $ProcessCount;
        SysVolFree = "{0:n1}" -f ($SystemDrive.FreeSpace /1GB) + " GB"
        }
     
    }

# Example Usage

# Using the results, put them into an object "$Result"
$Result = Get-SystemInfo

# Access the values inside the object
$Result.LastBootUpTime

I wrote a PowerShell advanced function “Get-Subnet” to return a subnet mask for a given bit or bit range.

The cmdlet, with embedded help, including examples:

<#
.Synopsis
   Returns a subnet mask for a given bit or bit range.
.DESCRIPTION
   For a given number of bits, or range of bits, returns the equivilant subnet mask(s) and number of available hosts in that subnet.
   Returns NetworkBits, SubnetMask, NumberOfHosts for each bit.
   NetworkBits is provided for completeness, in the case of multiple objects returned. 
   SubnetMask string is useful for situations where you know network bits and want to set a subnet mask on a network card. 
   NumberOfHosts is useful for understanding implications of using a selected number of bits.
.EXAMPLE
   PS C:\>Get-Subnet

Returns:
>   NetworkBits SubnetMask      NumberOfHosts
>   ----------- ----------      -------------
>             8 255.0.0.0            16777214
>             9 255.128.0.0           8388606
>            10 255.192.0.0           4194302
>            11 255.224.0.0           2097150
>            12 255.240.0.0           1048574
>            13 255.248.0.0            524286
>            14 255.252.0.0            262142
>            15 255.254.0.0            131070
>            16 255.255.0.0             65534
>            17 255.255.128.0           32766
>            18 255.255.192.0           16382
>            19 255.255.224.0            8190
>            20 255.255.240.0            4094
>            21 255.255.248.0            2046
>            22 255.255.252.0            1022
>            23 255.255.254.0             510
>            24 255.255.255.0             254
>            25 255.255.255.128           126
>            26 255.255.255.192            62
>            27 255.255.255.224            30
>            28 255.255.255.240            14
>            29 255.255.255.248             6
>            30 255.255.255.252             2

   With no parameters, the command lists subnet masks for bit range 8 to 30.
.EXAMPLE
   PS C:\>Get-Subnet -MinBits 20 -MaxBits 24

Returns:
>   NetworkBits SubnetMask    NumberOfHosts
>   ----------- ----------    -------------
>            20 255.255.240.0          4094
>            21 255.255.248.0          2046
>            22 255.255.252.0          1022
>            23 255.255.254.0           510
>            24 255.255.255.0           254
   
   Return a specific range of subnet masks.
.EXAMPLE
   PS C:\>$a = (Get-Subnet -Bits 20).SubnetMask
   PS C:\>Write-Host "20 bit Subnet mask is $a"

   Returns:
>  20 bit Subnet mask is 255.255.240.0

   Store a specific subnet mask to a variable.
#>

function Get-Subnet

{
              [CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName='Parameter Set 1')]
              Param
              (
                [Parameter(ParameterSetName='Parameter Set 1')]
                $Bits,
          
                [Parameter(ParameterSetName='Parameter Set 2')]
                $MinBits,

                [Parameter(ParameterSetName='Parameter Set 2')]
                $MaxBits

              )
    if ($Bits -ne $null) {
        $MinBits = $Bits
        $MaxBits = $Bits
        }
        else {
            if ($MinBits -eq $null) {
                $MinBits = 8
                }
            if ($MaxBits -eq $null) {
                $MaxBits = 30
                }
            }

    foreach ($i in ($MinBits..$MaxBits)) 
    {
        $binary = ([string]"1" * $i).PadRight(32,"0")

        $InvertedBinary = ([string]"0" * $i).PadRight(32,"1")

        $NumberOfHosts = [convert]::ToInt32($InvertedBinary,2) -1 

        $Oct1 = [string][convert]::ToInt32($binary.Substring(0,8),2)
        $Oct2 = [string][convert]::ToInt32($binary.Substring(8,8),2)
        $Oct3 = [string][convert]::ToInt32($binary.Substring(16,8),2)
        $Oct4 = [string][convert]::ToInt32($binary.Substring(24,8),2)

        $SubnetMask = $Oct1 + "." + $Oct2 + "." + $Oct3 + "." + $Oct4

        [PsCustomObject]@{
            "NetworkBits" = $i; 
            "SubnetMask" = $SubnetMask; 
            "NumberOfHosts" = $NumberOfHosts
            }
        } 

}

DISCLAIMER: This is presented for educational purposes only. It is not intended for use as production cryptography. The example here is not secure and is vulnerable to multiple attacks.

Inspired by my son’s recent interest in ciphers, I decided to write a basic XOR cipher in PowerShell. Given your plaintext and key, the script returns the ciphertext.

What does it do?
The plaintext and the key are strings. If the key is shorter then the plaintext, then we repeat the key until it’s as long as the plaintext. A string is made up of bytes. And bytes are made up bits. For each bit in the plaintext, we do an Exclusive Or (XOR) Operation with the coresponding bit in the repeated key. The result is stored in the ciphertext.

What is Exclusive Or? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_or

Exclusive Or is an operation that outputs TRUE when the inputs differ.
For example:

Plaintext  01010000
Key        01101011
XOR-----------------
Ciphertext 00111011

A nice feature of XOR is that it is easly reversable. If we XOR the key with the ciphertext, we get the plaintext back.

The code:

function encode($plaintext, $key)
    {
    $cyphertext = ""
    $keyposition = 0
    $KeyArray = $key.ToCharArray()
    $plaintext.ToCharArray() | foreach-object -process {
        $cyphertext += [char]([byte][char]$_ -bxor $KeyArray[$keyposition])
        $keyposition += 1
        if ($keyposition -eq $key.Length) {$keyposition = 0}
        }
    return $cyphertext
    }

I wrote some basic functions to convert a string to hexadecimal, to convert hexadecimal to a string. Also a function to dump a string to it’s component bytes, listing on each line, the character, it’s ASCII code in hexadecimal, and ASCII code in decimal. Example output:

PS C:\> StringToHex "This is an example!@#"
5468697320697320616E206578616D706C65214023

PS C:\> HexToString "4861726B212053686F77206D6520616E206578616D706C653F3F"
Hark! Show me an example??

PS C:\> HexDump "So how is this?"
S 0x53 83
o 0x6F 111
  0x20 32
h 0x68 104
o 0x6F 111
w 0x77 119
  0x20 32
i 0x69 105
s 0x73 115
  0x20 32
t 0x74 116
h 0x68 104
i 0x69 105
s 0x73 115
? 0x3F 63

The code. They are basic functions, not Advanced Functions, so nothing fancy.

function StringToHex($i) {
    $r = ""
    $i.ToCharArray() | foreach-object -process {
        $r += '{0:X}' -f [int][char]$_
        }
    return $r
    }

function HexToString($i) {
    $r = ""
    for ($n = 0; $n -lt $i.Length; $n += 2)
        {$r += [char][int]("0x" + $i.Substring($n,2))}
    return $r
    }

function HexDump($i) {
    $i.ToCharArray() | foreach-object -process {
        $num = [int][char]$_
        $hex = "0x" + ('{0:X}' -f $num)
        "$_ $hex $num"
        }
    }