PowerShell FAQ
==============

<details><summary>What is PowerShell?</summary>
 
**PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language.**
 
</details>

<details><summary>Why use PowerShell?</summary>
 
✔️ **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/
</details>

<details><summary>How to install PowerShell?</summary>

▶️ **On Windows** it's preinstalled, **but** the script execution policy is *restricted* (forbidden) by default! To change this: open the *Windows PowerShell (Administrator)* console and enter:
```
 PS> Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope CurrentUser
```
NOTE: the group policy object (GPO) settings of your organization might disallow changes. In that case 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** execute:
```
 $ snap install PowerShell
 $ ln -s /snap/bin/pwsh /usr/bin/pwsh
```
</details>

<details><summary>How to get the PowerShell scripts?</summary>
 
* When using **Git**, execute in a terminal window: `> git clone https://github.com/fleschutz/PowerShell`
* **Otherwise,** download and unzip it from: https://github.com/fleschutz/PowerShell/archive/master.zip
</details>

<details><summary>How to execute PowerShell scripts in Windows?</summary>

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: `./<FILENAME_OF_SCRIPT>`.
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.
 </details>
 
<details><summary>How to execute PowerShell scripts in Windows context menus?</summary>
   
* 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)
</details>

 
<details><summary>How to execute PowerShell scripts in Jenkins?</summary>
 
**Install the 'PowerShell plugin' in Jenkins, it allows to invoke PowerShell as build scripts. It uses PowerShell.exe on Windows and pwsh on Linux.**
</details>

 <details><summary>What about security?</summary>

* 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
 </details>

<details><summary>Why do some scripts show gibberish characters?</summary>
  
**Your current terminal application doesn't support Unicode characters used by those PowerShell scripts. Use a modern one such as *Windows Terminal*, please.**
</details>

<details><summary>How to configure PowerShell as my default shell on Linux?</summary>
  
**Make sure PowerShell is installed, then execute: `chsh -s /usr/bin/pwsh USERNAME`. In case you experience an "invalid shell" error, add "/usr/bin/pwsh" to /etc/shells.**
</details>

<details><summary>How to install a custom PowerShell profile?</summary>
   
**Execute: `./set-profile.ps1` in the *Scripts* subfolder, this will install **my-profile.ps1** as your PowerShell profile. It's a nice looking base profile, but can easily be changed to your needs.**
</details>

 <details><summary>How to add the scripts to the search path?</summary>

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.
   </details>

<details><summary>Which editor to use for PowerShell scripts?</summary>

* **Visual Studio Code** - it supports 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) - the former official PowerShell development environment included with Microsoft Windows.
* **PowerShell Studio** - a powerful PowerShell IDE with module, help, and user interface development tools, high DPI support and regular updates.
* **PowerShell Plus** - an all in one IDE.
* **Atom package** - an add-on with PowerShell language support for Atom.
* **SublimeText package** - an add-on with PowerShell language support for Sublime Text.
* or your **favorite text editor** as an alternative.
</details>

<details><summary>How to write good PowerShell scripts?</summary>
 
**Good PowerShell scripts are both user-friendly and platform-independent. As a starting point I recommend the following:**

* As filename use the `<verb>-<object>.ps1` scheme. Approved verbs can be found here: [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/developer/cmdlet/approved-verbs-for-windows-powershell-commands](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/developer/cmdlet/approved-verbs-for-windows-powershell-commands)
* Use `UTF-8 BOM` encoding to support Unicode characters in the script.
* Add a comment-based help at the beginning with: `.SYNOPSIS`, `.DESCRIPTION`, `.PARAMETER`, `.EXAMPLE`, `.LINK`, and `.NOTES`.
* Check the requirements for the script, e.g. `#Requires -RunAsAdministrator`, or `#Requires -Version 3`
* Prefer command-line options, else ask the user for help
* Recommended is `Set-StrictMode -Version Latest` to enable additional error checking.
* For readibility use UpperCamelCase for variables and functions, lowerCamelCase for everything else.
* Set *execute* file permissions for Linux: `chmod a+rx <filename>`
* 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)
 </details>

<details><summary>Where's the Star History of this repo?</summary>
    
[![Star History Chart](https://api.star-history.com/svg?repos=fleschutz/PowerShell&type=Date)](https://star-history.com/#fleschutz/PowerShell&Date)
</details>

<details><summary>How to contribute or how to report a bug?</summary>

**If you find something bad (like a bug, error, or any issue), please report it here by opening an Issue. Or even better: Fork the repository, add or fix the script and submit a pull request, so others can participate too.**
</details>

<details><summary>How to donate to this project?</summary>

**Just follow this link: [https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/Fleschutz](https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/Fleschutz). Thank you very much!**
</details>

<details><summary>What if my question is not answered here?</summary>
 
**Just send your question by e-mail to: markus.fleschutz [at] gmail.com**
</details>