PowerShell FAQ ============== What is PowerShell? ------------------- PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language. Why use PowerShell? ------------------- ✔️ It's **powerful** - fully control your computer ✔️ It's **easy to learn** - see the tutorial at: https://www.guru99.com/powershell-tutorial.html ✔️ It's **cross-platform** - available for Linux, Mac OS and Windows ✔️ It's **open-source and free** - see the Github repository at: https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell ✔️ It's **fully documented** - see the PowerShell documentation at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/ How to install PowerShell? -------------------------- **On Windows** it's preinstalled, **but** the execution policy is *restricted* by default! Change the execution policy as follows: open the *Windows PowerShell (Administrator)* console and enter: ``` PS> Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope CurrentUser ``` NOTE: in case this fails then the group policy object (GPO) settings of your organization disallows any changes. Contact your system administrator for help. **On CentOS, Debian, Docker, Fedora, macOS, openSUSE, Red Hat, Ubuntu** visit https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell for installation. **On Linux supporting Snaps** install PowerShell by executing: ``` $ snap install PowerShell $ ln -s /snap/bin/pwsh /usr/bin/pwsh ``` How to get the PowerShell Scripts? ---------------------------------- * When using **Git**, execute in a terminal window: `> git clone https://github.com/fleschutz/PowerShell` * When using **Chocolatey**, execute in *Windows PowerShell (Administrator)*: `> choco install powershell-scripts --version=0.4` * **Otherwise,** download and unzip it from: https://github.com/fleschutz/PowerShell/archive/master.zip How to execute PowerShell Scripts? ---------------------------------- 1. In the Windows desktop: right-click the script and select: *Execute with PowerShell* 2. In a command-line interface (CLI, e.g. *Windows Terminal*, either local or remote via SSH) by typing: `./`. 3. By connecting a context menu item with a script. 4. By voice control, e.g. see repo [talk2windows](https://github.com/fleschutz/talk2windows) for more information. 5. By using automation software, e.g. [Jenkins](https://www.jenkins.io). 6. Automatically on login (see AutoStart folder)/logoff/daily/etc. What about Security? -------------------- * Execute scripts only that you trust (and/or where you have checked the code before)! * Prefer SSH Remoting instead of PowerShell Remoting * More recommendations by NSA and cyber security centers in the U.S. (CISA), New Zealand (NZ NCSC), and the U.K. (NCSC-UK) can be found here: https://media.defense.gov/2022/Jun/22/2003021689/-1/-1/1/CSI_KEEPING_POWERSHELL_SECURITY_MEASURES_TO_USE_AND_EMBRACE_20220622.PDF Why do some scripts show gibberish characters? ---------------------------------------------- Those PowerShell scripts are using Unicode characters. Use a modern console supporting UTF-8 such as *Windows Terminal*, please. How to set PowerShell as default shell on Linux? ------------------------------------------------ Make sure PowerShell is installed, then execute: `chsh -s /usr/bin/pwsh `. In case you experience an "invalid shell" error, add "/usr/bin/pwsh" to /etc/shells. How to add the scripts to the search path? ------------------------------------------ Want to use the PowerShell scripts everywhere on the command-line? Then you need to add the Scripts/ subfolder to the search path: * **On Linux using Bash:** edit .profile in your home directory and add the line: PATH="$PATH:/path/to/PowerShell/Scripts" * **On Windows:** open Settings > System > About > Advanced system settings > Environment Variables, edit the user's variable "Path", and add the full path to the Scripts/ directory. How to use PowerShell in Windows context menus? ----------------------------------------------- * to enable "right-click > New > Windows PowerShell Script" execute `Add_ps1_to_New_context_menu.reg` in subfolder [Data/](../Data) * to disable this execute `Remove_ps1_from_New_context_menu.reg` in subfolder [Data/](../Data) Which editor to use for PowerShell scripts? ------------------------------------------- * **Visual Studio Code** - Supporting syntax highlighting, on-the-fly problem checking and an integrated PowerShell Console (available for free on Linux, Mac OS and Windows, now recommended by Microsoft). * **PowerShell ISE** (Integrated Scripting Environment) - Former official PowerShell development environment included with Microsoft Windows. * **PowerShell Studio** - Powerful PowerShell IDE with module, help, and user interface development tools, high DPI support and regular updates. * **PowerShell Plus** - All in one IDE. * **Atom package** - Add-on with PowerShell language support for Atom. * **SublimeText package** - Add-on with PowerShell language support for Sublime Text. * or your **favorite text editor** as an alternative. How to write good PowerShell scripts? ------------------------------------- Good PowerShell scripts are user-friendly and platform-independent. The following rules should be a good starting point: 1. Use the `-.ps1` scheme to name the script. 2. Use `UTF-8 BOM` encoding to support Unicode characters in the script. 3. Add a comment-based help at the beginning with: `.SYNOPSIS`, `.DESCRIPTION`, `.PARAMETER`, `.EXAMPLE`, `.LINK`, and `.NOTES`. 4. Check the requirements for the script, e.g. `#Requires -RunAsAdministrator`, or `#Requires -Version 3` 5. Prefer command-line options, else ask the user for help 6. Recommended is `Set-StrictMode -Version Latest` to enable additional error checking. 7. For readibility use UpperCamelCase for variables and functions, lowerCamelCase for everything else. 8. Set *execute* file permissions for Linux: `chmod a+rx ` 9. On success exit with error code 0 (`exit 0`), otherwise print the error with keyword "ERROR:" (to support log parsers) and exit the error code (mostly 1) Want to contribute or found a bug or issue? ------------------------------------------- If you find something bad (like a bug, error, or any issue), please report it here by open an Issue. Or even better: Fork the repository, add or fix the script and submit a pull request, so others can participate too. Your question is not answered here? ----------------------------------- Send your question to: markus [at] fleschutz [dot] de