How to suspend an script activity Temporarily ?

There are situations where the script execution needs to be suspended or paused for few milliseconds or seconds.

PowerShell Syntax

Start-Sleep    [-Seconds]

Start-Sleep -Milliseconds

If the activity needs to be paused for 15 seconds

Start-Sleep 15

If the same needs to be given in milliseconds, then we should use the Milliseconds

Start-sleep -milliseconds 15000

Basics of PowerShell Session

#Create a new Powershell Session to the computer

New-PSSession -ComputerName client7-1

Id Name            ComputerName    State         ConfigurationName     Availability

 -- ----            ------------    -----         -----------------     ------------

 12 Session12       client7-1       Opened        Microsoft.PowerShell     Available

#It gets the PS Session details

# Like Id, Name, ComputerName, State, ConfigurationName, Availability

Get-PSSession

                                                                       

#enter the powershell Session

Enter-PSSession -ID 12

PS C:\Windows\system32> Enter-PSSession -ID 12                                           

[client7-1]: PS C:\Users\Administrator\Documents> echo $env:ComputerName              

#To know which computer we are logged into

echo $env:ComputerName

CLIENT7-1

# Exit the powershell session

Exit-PSSession

echo $env:ComputerName

DCNUGGET

#To see the list of PS Session

Get-PSSession

Id Name            ComputerName    State         ConfigurationName     Availability

 -- ----            ------------    -----         -----------------     ------------

 12 Session12       client7-1       Opened        Microsoft.PowerShell     Available

#To remove the PSSesion, then we will not be able to connect back

Remove-PSSession -id 12

Get-PSSession

                         

How to find the size of a folder using PowerShell?

You can use the  Get-ChildItem to get the list of files and directories.

Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name                                  

----                -------------         ------ ----                                  

d-----       2019-08-19  10:42 AM                APPDATA output                        

d-----       2019-08-12   3:18 PM                AWS                                   

-a----       2019-08-16  12:35 PM          15806 AppDataSize.csv                       

-a----       2019-08-28   3:39 PM          15358 Appwiz.txt                            

The Length object gives the size of the file, however that to get the size of the folder, we can use the  -Recurse to dive deep into the folder to get the details

PowerShell Code: 

Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Temp\APPDATA output' 

Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name                                  

----                -------------         ------ ----                                  

-a----       2019-08-16  12:35 PM          15806 AppDataSize.csv                        

-a----       2019-08-16   1:12 PM           3909 AppDataSize2.csv                      

-a----       2019-08-16   3:33 PM           2744 AppDataSize2_User2.csv                

-a----       2019-08-16   5:18 PM          10737 AppDataSize_User.csv                   

-a----       2019-08-15  10:42 AM           2745 finalappdata.ps1                      

-a----       2019-08-16   1:12 PM          34616 output.txt 

PowerShell Code:

Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Temp\APPDATA output'| Measure-Object -Property Length -sum

Count    : 6

Average  :

Sum      : 70557

Maximum  :

Minimum  :

Property : Length

PowerShell Code: 

#Get the folder size and store it in the $Folder Variable

$Folder=Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Temp\APPDATA output'| Measure-Object -Property Length -sum | Select sum

#Converting them to a decimal number with the Size in MB

$FolderSize="{0:N2}" -f ($Folder.Sum / 1MB) + " MB"

Echo "Folder Size = $FolderSize"

Folder Size = 0.07 MB

To get the size of a folder in remote location we can use the same command and give the path of the location

PowerShell Code: 

#Get the folder size and store it in the $Folder Variable

$Folder=Get-ChildItem -Path '\\server1\Temp\APPDATA output'| Measure-Object -Property Length -sum | Select sum

#Converting them to a decimal number with the Size in MB

$FolderSize="{0:N2}" -f ($Folder.Sum / 1MB) + " MB"

Echo "Folder Size = $FolderSize"

How to get the list of hard disk on the computer using PowerShell?

To get the list of drives we can use the wmiobject to get the details

PowerShell Code:

Get-WmiObject -Class win32_logicaldisk

DeviceID     : C:

DriveType    : 3

ProviderName :

FreeSpace    : 43298725888

Size         : 255073447936

VolumeName   : OSDisk

We can select the information that we want to display  by using the Select-object

PowerShell Code:

Get-WmiObject -Class win32_logicaldisk | select DeviceID,FreeSpace, Size

DeviceID     FreeSpace          Size

--------     ---------          ----

C:         43306131456  255073447936

H:       1010439315456 2582761172992

X:       2223348092928 3221088104448

Y:       1535164190720 3221088104448

Z:         17846333440   85896196096

We can modify the result to display it in MB or GB along with the decimal digit

PowerShell Code:

$Drive = Get-WmiObject -Class win32_logicaldisk | select DeviceID, FreeSpace, Size

echo "Drive Letter `t Free_Space `t Full_Space"

echo "==========================================="

foreach($Drive in $Drive)

{

$DriveName=$Drive.DeviceID

$DriveFreeSpace="{0:N2}" -f ($Drive.FreeSpace / 1GB) + " GB"

$DriveSize="{0:N2}" -f ($Drive.Size / 1GB) + " GB"

echo "$DriveName `t`t`t`t $DriveFreeSpace`t`t$DriveSize" |Format-Table

}

Drive Letter  Free_Space  Full_Space

===========================================

C:            40.33 GB            237.56 GB

H:            940.99 GB           2,405.38 GB

X:            2,070.65 GB         2,999.87 GB

Y:            1,429.73 GB         2,999.87 GB

Z:            16.62 GB            80.00 GB

You could use the invoke command to get the same details from the remote computer

Invoke-Command -ComputerName Client7-1 -ScriptBlock {

$Drive = Get-WmiObject -Class win32_logicaldisk | select DeviceID, FreeSpace, Size

echo "Drive Letter `t Free_Space `t Full_Space"

echo "==========================================="

foreach($Drive in $Drive)

{

$DriveName=$Drive.DeviceID

$DriveFreeSpace="{0:N2}" -f ($Drive.FreeSpace / 1GB) + " GB"

$DriveSize="{0:N2}" -f ($Drive.Size / 1GB) + " GB"

echo "$DriveName `t`t`t`t $DriveFreeSpace`t`t$DriveSize" |Format-Table

}

}

==============================================================

Clean and Alternative code to view the Hard disk and the free space 

Get-WmiObject -class Win32_LogicalDisk -computername localhost |

Sort-Object -property DeviceID | Format-Table -property @{label ='Drive';expression={$_.DeviceID}}, @{label='FreeSpace(MB)';expression={$_.FreeSpace / 1MB -as [int]}}, @{label='Size(GB)';expression={$_.Size / 1GB -as [int]}}, @{label='%Free';expression={$_.FreeSpace / $_.Size * 100 -as [int]}}

This Code

“@{label='FreeSpace(MB)';expression={$_.FreeSpace / 1MB -as [int]}}”

Will give the column name as for the freespace value and it converts to MB

Drive FreeSpace(MB) Size(GB) %Free

----- ------------- -------- -----

C:            39898      238    16

H:           953496     2405    39

X:          2116792     3000    69

Y:          1459925     3000    48

Z:            16941       80    21

How to check the list of programs installed on a Windows PC using PowerShell?

How to get the list of software installed on the computer using PowerShell?

All the programs that are installed in the computer are available under the following registry Hive.

HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

We could print the Subkeys from there

PowerShell Code:
Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*

AuthorizedCDFPrefix :

Comments            : DELL Command Configure 3.3 (AP12538)

Contact             : Customer Support Department

DisplayVersion      : 3.3.0.314

HelpLink            : http://support.dell.com

HelpTelephone       : 1-877-717-3355

InstallDate         : 20190628

InstallLocation     : C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\

InstallSource       : C:\WINDOWS\ccmcache\h\

ModifyPath          : MsiExec.exe

Publisher           : Dell Inc.

Readme              :

Size                :

EstimatedSize       : 59175

UninstallString     : MsiExec.exe /

URLInfoAbout        : http://www.dell.com

URLUpdateInfo       : http://support.dell.com

VersionMajor        : 3

VersionMinor        : 3

WindowsInstaller    : 1

Version             : 50528256 

You can select the properties that you want to use by using the 'Select-Object' command


PowerShell Code:

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Publisher, InstallDate  

DisplayName                                                             DisplayVersion   Publisher                         InstallDate

-----------                                                             --------------   ---------                         -----------

Adaptiva Client 5.5 Build 677                                           5.5.677.1        Adaptive Protocols Inc            20190628  

Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches, Third Edition

Here is one of the best book to start learning PowerShell

http://www.gtfo.org/temp/ebooklist/Learn_Windows_PowerShell_in_a_Month_of_L.pdf

Check the version of PowerShell

How to check the version of PowerShell Installed on the PC?


The Basic command to check the version of the Powershell installed is to use the variable $PSVersionTable

Here the version is given as 2.0 . Where 2 is the Major version and 0 is the minor version

To get the Major and Minor version use the following command