Windows PowerShell Blog

It’s Time For Another PowerShell Deep Dive!

PowerShell Team — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:30:52 GMT

The PowerShell Deep Dive is going to be at The Experts Conference USA again this year! The event is being held in San Diego, CA from April 29 - May 2.

Registration is currently open, but we wanted to provide some info on a few changes to the event structure.

The PowerShell Deep Dive is now considered an official track at TEC.
The event will last the full 3 days. This is up from 1.5 days at TEC USA 2011 and 2 days at TEC Europe 2011.
The session format will be a combination of the past two events. There is going to be a combination of

Full length 75 minute sessions
The usual 35 minute Deep Dives (this is the main focus), and
5 minute lightning rounds

As usual, we will be sending some folks (probably ~3) from the PowerShell Team to this Deep Dive and will be kicking the event off with a Keynote.

Registration Info:
Early bird registration runs through the end of January and is priced at $1575. To sign up:

Navigate to the registration page
Click “Register for TEC 2012”.
Fill out the form. No registration code is needed

Speaker Info:
Good news for speakers! Since we are now an official track on TEC, speaker packages are being covered by the TEC organizers. The standard TEC speaker package includes registration, airfare and hotel.

Please send your session proposals for all three session types to TEC2012@quest.com before Feb 15.

Cheers!

Travis Jones [MSFT]
Program Manager – Windows PowerShell
Microsoft Corporation

Another Holiday Gift from the PowerShell Team: PowerShell 3.0 CTP2 - Getting Started with Windows PowerShell Workflow

PowerShell Team — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:46:00 GMT

After delivering the Thanksgiving Gift this year, it’s time for a Holiday Gift …. No not as big as the one we had about 3 years ago …!!

Today, we published the “Getting Started with Windows PowerShell Workflow” document on the CTP2 download page, just look for “WMF3 CTP2 Windows PowerShell Workflow.pdf”. This will help you get started with the
newest addition to PowerShell functionality – Windows PowerShell Workflow.

Please continue to provide your feedback via PowerShell Connect so we can receive customer input in a timely manner.

Hemant Mahawar [MSFT]
Program Manager
Windows PowerShell

Windows Management Framework 3.0 Community Technology Preview (CTP) #2 Available for Download

PowerShell Team — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 23:22:00 GMT

I’m pleased to announce that the Community Technology Preview #2 (CTP2) is available for download.

Windows Management Framework 3.0 CTP2 makes some updated management functionality available to be installed on Windows 7 SP1 & Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Windows Management Framework 3.0 contains Windows PowerShell 3.0, WMI & WinRM.

IMPORTANT: If you have WMF3.0 CTP1 installed, you must uninstall it before installing CTP2.

Overview of changes since WMF 3.0 CTP1
1. Customer Reported Bug Fixes
Many customer reported bugs have been fixed since the WMF 3.0 CTP1. The release notes contains a list of bug titles, but please check Connect for full details.

2. Single Command Pane in Windows PowerShell ISE
The Command and Output panes in Windows PowerShell ISE have been combined into a single Command pane that looks and behaves like the Windows PowerShell console.

3. Updatable Help
The WMF 3.0 CTP1 release notes described a new Updatable Help system in Windows PowerShell 3.0 and included a copy of the help content. The Updatable Help system is now active on the Internet. To download and update help files, type: Update-Help.

4. Windows PowerShell Workflows
A number of enhancements have been made in the scripting experience for Windows PowerShell Workflows, including new keywords: Parallel, Sequence & Inlinescript. A document describing these changes will be published to the download page shortly.

5. Remote Get-Module
The Get-Module cmdlet now supports implicit remoting. You can now use the new PSSession and CIMSession parameters of the Get-Module cmdlet to get the modules in any remote session or CIM session. A number of other module enhancements are listed in the release notes.

Feedback & Bugs
We welcome any feedback or bug submissions to the Windows PowerShell Connect site: http://connect.microsoft.com/PowerShell

Additional Information:
This software is a pre-release version. Features and behavior are likely to change before the final release.

This preview release is designed to enable the community to experience and review the preliminary designs and direction of key features Windows PowerShell 3.0 and to solicit feedback before features are finalized.

For an interesting post describing what to expect with a CTP, read this very old post from Jeffrey

Travis Jones [MSFT]
Program Manager – Windows PowerShell
Microsoft Corporation

Recordings from the First PowerShell Deep Dive

PowerShell Team — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:41:00 GMT

If you’re wondering what to expect at the upcoming PowerShell Deep Dive in Frankfurt, Germany or you just plain love PowerShell, then you may enjoy these recordings taken from the first PowerShell Deep Dive. Many thanks to Dmitry Sotnikov for making them available.

Proxy Functions – Jeffrey Snover

Little Known PowerShell Tips and Tricks – Lee Holmes

WMI: Gems and Gotchas – Richard Siddaway

Defining domain-specific vocabularies using Windows PowerShell – Kirk Munro

It’s not too late to sign up for the October 17 & 18 Deep Dive either.

Go to the TEC registration page
Create an account. You need to do this again for TEC Europe, even if you attended TEC USA earlier this year.
Enter registration code: ATGNJR6E
Select “PowerShell Deep Dive” for the “Which conference do you plan to attend” question.

Travis Jones
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

PowerShell Deep Dive Lineup

PowerShell Team — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:42:00 GMT

We’re less than two weeks away from the PowerShell Deep Dive at The Experts Conference in Frankfurt, Germany and the schedule for the two day event is looking great!

There’s even going to be a bit of PowerShell V3 content during the Keynote (we’ll reiterate some of what was shown at BUILD last month) and in Dmitry’s “Get your jobs done” session.

Monday

Time	Session Title	Speaker
09:00 – 10:15	PowerShell Deep Dive Keynote	Kenneth Hansen
10:15 – 10:30	Break
10:30 – 11:05	Get your jobs done!	Dmitry Sotnikov
11:10 – 11:45	PowerShell Events	Richard Siddaway
11:45 – 12:20	Notes from the Field - PowerShell in the Enterprise	Brandon Shell
12:25 – 13:00	Delegated Administration with PowerShell Remoting	Aleksandar Nikolic
13:00 – 14:00	Lunch
14:00 – 14:35	Evolution of the PowerShell Language	Jason Shirk
14:40 – 15:15	How to build custom type adapters	Peter Monadjemi
15:15 – 15:50	PowerShell Anywhere How to embed PowerShell in C#, build UI around Powershell, and deploy PowerShell as a web application in Azure.	James Brundage
15:55 – 16:30	How Do They Do That – Formatting with PowerShell	Thomas Lee
16:30 – 17:00	Break
17:00 – 17:35	Lightning Round
17:40 – 18:15	Production Module Design for the IT Pro	Brandon Shell

Tuesday

Time	Session Title	Speaker
09:00 – 09:30	Concurrent scripting in PowerShell	Bruce Payette
09:40 – 10:15	Get your game on! Leveraging proxy functions in Windows PowerShell	Shay Levy and Kirk Munro
10:15 – 10:30	Break
10:30 – 11:45	Problem Solving session
11:45 – 12:20	PowerShell - 6 things to avoid	Richard Siddaway
12:25 – 13:00	WMI Query Langauge - The language of systems monitoring and management via WMI	Ravikanth Chaganti
13:00 – 14:00	Lunch
14:00 – 14:35	Lightning round
14:40 – 15:15	How-To Turn CLI Tools into PowerShell Tools	Jeffery Hicks
15:15 – 15:50	PowerShell SWAT - Guerilla Tactics From The Field	Tobias Weltner
15:55 – 16:30	Maximize the reuse of your PowerShell	James O'Neil

The Lightning Rounds are going to be a series of ~5 minute discussions around whatever attendees suggest.

The Problem Solving sessions can be thought of as mini Script Clubs. Bring something you’re working on or have struggled with recently and get some stuff done!

Abstracts for sessions can be found on the TEC site.

Travis Jones [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

Cmdlet Help Editor is now released on CodePlex

PowerShell Team — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:37:12 GMT

I published the source code for the Cmdlet Help Editor on CodePlex here: http://cmdlethelpeditor.codeplex.com/ . Please feel free to contribute.

for more information on the Cmdlet Help Editor, please check out the following post: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/powershell/archive/2007/09/01/new-and-improved-cmdlet-help-editor-tool.aspx

Wassim Fayed [MSFT]

Windows Management Framework 3.0 Community Technology Preview (CTP) #1 Available for Download

PowerShell Team — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 23:56:26 GMT

Windows Management Framework 3.0 CTP1 makes some updated management functionality available to be installed on Windows 7 SP1 & Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Windows Management Framework 3.0 contains Windows PowerShell 3.0, WMI & WinRM.

Windows PowerShell 3.0
Some of the new features in Windows PowerShell 3.0 include:

Workflows
Workflows that run long-running activities (in sequence or in parallel) to perform complex, larger management tasks, such as multi-machine application provisioning. Using the Windows Workflow Foundation at the command line, Windows PowerShell workflows are repeatable, parallelizable, interruptible, and recoverable.
Robust Sessions
Robust sessions that automatically recover from network failures and interruptions and allow you to disconnect from the session, shut down the computer, and reconnect from a different computer without interrupting the task.
Scheduled Jobs
Scheduled jobs that run regularly or in response to an event.
Delegated Administration
Commands that can be executed with a delegated set of credentials so users with limited permissions can run critical jobs
Simplified Language Syntax
Simplified language syntax that make commands and scripts look a lot less like code and a lot more like natural language.
Cmdlet Discovery
Improved cmdlet discovery and automatic module loading that make it easier to find and run any of the cmdlets installed on your computer.
Show-Command
Show-Command, a cmdlet and ISE Add-On that helps users find the right cmdlet, view its parameters in a dialog box, and run it.

WMI
WMI in Windows Management Framework 3.0 CTP1 introduces:

A new provider development model
This new model brings down the cost of provider development and removes the dependency on COM.
A new MI Client API to perform standard CIM operations.
The API can be used to interact with any standard WsMan + CIMOM implementation, allowing management applications on Windows to manage non-Windows computers.
The ability to write Windows PowerShell cmdlets in native code
The new WMI Provider APIs supports an extended Windows PowerShell semantics API allowing you to provide rich Windows PowerShell semantics. e.g., Verbose, Error, Warning, WhatIf, Confirm, Progress

WinRM
With Windows Management Framework 3.0 CTP1:

Connections are more robust
Session disconnect and reconnect, with or without client session reconstruction, allows long-running tasks to continue even when the session in which they were started is closed and the client computer is shut down. This feature also allows administrators to reconnect from different computers to check the status of remote running tasks and get results.
Connections are more resilient
In Windows PowerShell 3.0 CTP1, connections can survive short-term network failures; the client-server connection is not severed at the first sign of trouble. If network problems persist, the client is safely disconnected and can reconnect by using the Connect-PSSession or Receive-PSSession cmdlets.

Windows PowerShell Web Service
Windows PowerShell Web Service enables an administrator to expose a set of PowerShell cmdlets as a RESTful web endpoint accessible via the Open Data Protocol (OData). This provides remote access to invoke cmdlets from both Windows and non-Windows clients.

Prerequisites

Windows Management Framework 3.0 CTP1 can be installed on the following supported operating systems:

Windows 7 with Service Pack 1
Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1

Windows PowerShell 3.0 requires version 4.0 of the common language runtime (CLR). CLR 4.0 is includes with the Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.0.

To install WMF 3.0 CTP1:

Download and extract the correct package for your architecture from the Microsoft Download Center
1. For 64-bit systems, download WMF3-CTP1-x64.cab
2. For 32-bit systems, download WMF3-CTP1-x86.cab
Extract the contents of the downloaded CAB file by typing: expand <<package name>> -F:* <<destination you want for extracted files>>
Close all Windows PowerShell 2.0 windows.
Run the WINDOWS6.1-KB2506143 MSU.

NOTES:

You do not have to uninstall or remove any programs before installing the WMF 3.0 CTP1.
This package requires Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows 7. If you receive a “This update does not apply” message when trying to install, verify that SP1 is installed.

To uninstall the WMF 3.0 CTP1:

Locate and uninstall the following installed Windows Update: KB2506143

Additional Information:

This software is a pre-release version. Features and behavior are likely to change before the final release.

Travis Jones
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

8 Abstracts for the PowerShell Deep Dive in Frankfurt

PowerShell Team — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:41:25 GMT

We’re super excited about the upcoming PowerShell Deep Dive in Frankfurt on October 17 & 18.

The agenda is starting to shape up nicely, so I wanted to share a number of abstracts submitted by members of the PowerShell Community that we’ve already accepted. You can also find this info on The Experts Conference website.

Cheap registration of 850 Euros is coming to an end on September 6. If you’re sitting on the fence, hopefully these abstracts will encourage you register while you can still save 150 Euros.

And now for the abstracts…

Delegated Administration with PowerShell Remoting
Speaker: Aleksandar Nikolic

In this session you will learn how to set up a fan-in PowerShell endpoint, and then use it to assign specific administrative tasks to the appropriate users and groups without changing the membership of local Administrators group. By using just the IIS configuration files and PowerShell scripts we will enable dynamic creation of customized automation environments.

Get Your Game On! Leveraging Proxy Functions in Windows PowerShell
Speakers: Shay Levy & Kirk Munro

Join Shay Levy and Kirk Munro in this session as they take a deep dive into proxy functions in PowerShell. Shay and Kirk have been working together on PowerShell Proxy Extensions, a powerful module that leverages proxy functions and makes it easier than ever to create these powerful extensions to PowerShell. They will demonstrate what proxy functions are and why they are important, and then show how a little scripting savvy (and a really long script) can make your life easier by allowing you to create everything from very simple proxy functions that extend PowerShell to more complex proxy functions that override existing commands, fixing bugs and adding missing features at the same time, all while leveraging inline help as much as possible.

How to Turn CLI Tools into PowerShell Tools
Speaker: Jeffery Hicks

PowerShell is everywhere but there are still many command line tools in the IT Pro’s toolbox, In this session we’ll look at how to turn just about any command line based tool into a PowerShell tool so that you can incorporate it into your PowerShell scripts and daily management tasks. The power of objects in the pipeline is amazing and there’s no reason not to include tools like NETSTAT.EXE or NBTSTAT.EXE.

The Challenge of CLI Tools
Console Text to PowerShell Objects Techniques
Putting It All Together

PowerShell: 6 Things to Avoid
Speaker: Richard Siddaway

PowerShell is a complex tool that provides many ways to accomplish the same task. Some of these ways are better than others. This session supplies some ideas of things to avoid. It builds on the presenter’s experience of:

Using PowerShell
Writing and answering questions in the forums
Judging the PowerShell scripting games

The things to avoid are:

Not using the pipeline
Not using advanced functions
Not creating objects for output
Not using string substitution and multiplication
Not using the built in constants
Not using remoting sessions

Not using these options will make your PowerShell code longer, harder to maintain and you will spend a lot of time inventing functionality that already exists. The session will be mainly code demonstrations.

PowerShell Anywhere
Speaker: James Brundage

Learn how to host PowerShell anywhere. This deep dive covers how to embed PowerShell in C#, build UI around Powershell, and deploy PowerShell as a web application in Azure.

PowerShell SWAT – Guerilla Tactics from the Field
Speaker: Tobias Weltner

In this session, Tobias Weltner shares plenty of “special PowerShell weapons and tactics” that emerged from numerous trainings and PowerShell projects over the past five years. Learn how little things can make huge differences: speed up code, turn plain folders into self-discovery modules, tap into the Windows API and easily read/write INI files, change screen resololution or dim your video display. Regardless of the area you are managing with PowerShell, this session will provide plenty of tricks, fun and inspiration to enhance and improve existing code.

Production Module Design for the IT Pro
Speaker: Brandon Shell

In this session we will deep dive into the thought process behind production module design. The presenter will explain the reason for choices made for the Splunk Module and his own BSonPosh module.

WMI Query Language – The Language of Systems Monitoring and Management Via WMI
Speaker: Ravi Chaganti

This session will include an introduction to WMI Query Language, including:
Concepts of WMI Query Language

Keywords and Operators
Demo on using PowerShell to execute basic WQL queries

Building Complex WMI queries for advanced systems monitoring and management

Working with WMI associations
WQL for event queries
Building Permanent WMI consumers
Demo

Real-world examples of WQL and PowerShell

Demo (Working with performance counters using WQL and PowerShell)
Demo (Building Complex scheduling tasks using WQL and PowerShell)

Travis Jones [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

Get-Help -Online Fails in German

PowerShell Team — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:02:00 GMT

The Online parameter of the Get-Help cmdlet opens the online version of the help topic for a command in your default Internet browser. If you don't use this feature regularly, you should. Online help topics are typically the most up-to-date version of the help topics, because module authors can update them at any time without redistributing the module. Online help topics are especially critical for modules in the $pshome directory ($env\SystemRoot\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0) which cannot be updated easily, because they are part of Windows.

PS C:\> Get-Help -Online Get-Command
-or-
PS C:\> Get-Help -on Get-Command

Sadly, the Online parameter does not work on German versions of Windows. Get-Help gets the URI (Internet address) of the online help topic from the first link in the Related Links section of each in-box help topic. In our German help topics, the URI is followed by what was intended to be a helpful note. However, Get-Help interprets the note as a part of the URI and the command fails.

RELATED LINKS
Online version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113324 (möglicherwei se auf Englisch)

Ironically, the helpful note says that the online topic might be in English, although it is truly in German.

To notify users, I've added a note to the description of the Online parameter in U.S. English (en-US) and German (de-de) versions of the Get-Help topic explaining that the parameter does not work in German.

TROUBLESHOOTING NOTE: The Online parameter of the Get-Help cmdlet does not work correctly with German (de-DE) versions of Windows PowerShell help topics. This parameter is reserved for future use in German versions of Windows PowerShell. (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd347639.aspx)

HINWEIS ZUR PROBLEMBEHANDLUNG: Der Onlineparameter des Cmdlets "Get-Help" funktioniert mit deutschen Versionen (de-DE) der Windows PowerShell-Hilfethemen nicht ordnungsgemäß. Dieser Parameter ist für eine künftige Verwendung in deutschen Versionen von Windows PowerShell reserviert. (http://technet.microsoft.com/de-de/library/dd347639.aspx)

To view the entire set of Windows PowerShell help topics from Microsoft in German, start at http://technet.microsoft.com/de-de/library/bb978526.aspx. You can also open a help topic on TechNet in any language, and then replace the language code in the URI.

For example, the URI for the Add-Computer topic in U.S..English (en-US) is:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd347556.aspx

And the URI for the Add-Computer topic in German (de-de) is:

http://technet.microsoft.com/de-de/library/dd347556.aspx

Our non-English help topics are not updated as frequently as the English topics. However, we're experimenting with many different way to improve our localized help, including our Community Translation Pilot Project (http://blogs.technet.com/b/tonyso/archive/2009/11/17/technet-community-machine-translation-pilot.aspx). If you have suggestions, please comment on this post or send feedback directly to me through Connect (http://connect.microsoft.com/PowerShell) or e-mail (juneb@microsoft.com).

June Blender [MSFT]
Senior Programming Writer
Windows PowerShell Documentation

Extending Discounted Registration & Session Proposal Deadline

PowerShell Team — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:03:40 GMT

The deadline for discounted registration of 850 Euros is going to be moved out to Tuesday, September 6. This is just over a month before the conference date and a little more in line with what we did for the first PowerShell Deep Dive.

To sign up:

Go to the TEC registration page
Create an account. You need to do this again for TEC Europe, even if you attended TEC USA earlier this year.
Enter registration code: ATGNJR6E
Select “PowerShell Deep Dive” for the “Which conference do you plan to attend” question.

Beginning September 7, registration will go up to the full price of 1000 Euros.

We’re also going to give everyone a little more time to submit proposals. We’ll be accepting proposals until Thursday August 18 and responding to folks the following week.

Travis Jones [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

PowerShell Deep Dive Registration Info & Call for Session Proposals

PowerShell Team — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:25:00 GMT

Here’s some more info on the 2nd PowerShell Deep Dive that will be at TEC Europe 2011 in Frankfurt on October 17 & 18.

Registration Info

Registration is now open for the PowerShell Deep Dive! The cheaper registration fee of 850 Euros is available until August 12. After that, registration will go up to 1000 Euros.

To sign up:

Go to the TEC registration page
Create an account. You need to do this again for TEC Europe, even if you attended TEC USA earlier this year.
Enter registration code: ATGNJR6E
Select “PowerShell Deep Dive” for the “Which conference do you plan to attend” question.

Event Structure

We’re extending this PowerShell Deep Dive by a half day based on feedback we received after the last event. This Deep Dive will offer two full days of sessions (Monday & Tuesday), with some sort of Script Party at the end of each day.

We are also doing away with the longer 75 minute sessions. This PowerShell Deep Dive will consist solely of 35 minute Deep Dive sessions.

Session Proposals

We’re accepting session proposals for Deep Dive sessions through August 3. That’s two weeks from now, so you should start thinking about your session…

To submit a session proposal, fill out the attached form & return it to tec2011@quest.com. Make sure to select “The Experts Conference PowerShell Deep Dive” in the "Speaking Event Preference” section.

Travis Jones [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

PowerShell Deep Dive @ The Experts Conference Europe 2011

PowerShell Team — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:36:00 GMT

Based upon the excellent reviews received at the first PowerShell Deep Dive, we're pleased to announce a PowerShell Deep Dive will be coming to The Experts Conference 2011 in Germany.

The PowerShell Deep Dive provides a deep technical and strategic engagement within the PowerShell Community. Attendees interact one-on-one with presenters, team members and other key members of the PowerShell Community.

Deep Dive sessions take on a shorter and more technical format than the standard conference (35 minutes versus the usual 75 minutes). As with the first PowerShell Deep Dive, registration will limit the number of attendees to encourage a deeper engagement during the event.

This time around, the PowerShell Deep Dive has been extended to run for two full days: October 17 & 18.

Additional information (e.g., how to submit proposals, deadlines & registration details) will be available in the next week, but we figured everyone could use a couple days to craft the request for money & time off to their bosses.

Travis Jones [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

Invoke-Expression considered harmful

PowerShell Team — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:43:00 GMT

The PowerShell team frequently gets questions that start out “how do I get the quoting right for…” and the answer turns out to usually be – there is a simpler way – don’t use Invoke-Expression.

The problem arises when trying to run some command external to PowerShell. Some common reasons people try Invoke-Expression:

running some command with a space in the path
some command takes an argument with characters that have special meaning in PowerShell, e.g. curly braces (‘{‘ and ‘}’)
some command argument needs to use a PowerShell variable, perhaps as part of a quoted argument

If you’re just running some command external to PowerShell (exe, cmd, etc.) and you’re using Invoke-Expression, you are just making things more difficult than you need to.

So what’s wrong with Invoke-Expression then?

It complicates getting quoting right
It makes maintaining your script harder
It’s slower than the alternatives
And maybe worst of all – it opens up a script to code injection attacks

If Invoke-Expression isn’t the right way – then what is?

If you’re running some command and the command path has spaces in it, then you need the command invocation operator ‘&’ (see help about_operators, look for “call operator”).

If your command runs, but your arguments are wrong, then there is a good chance you are getting the quotes wrong. Invoke-Expression doesn’t help at all in this case, it just makes the problem more complicated.

The bottom line: Invoke-Expression is a powerful and useful command for some scenarios such as creating new scripts at runtime, but in general, if you find yourself using Invoke-Expression, you should ask yourself, or maybe a respected colleague if there is a better way.

Jason Shirk
Windows PowerShell Team

Download the Updated Core Help CHM

PowerShell Team — Mon, 16 May 2011 23:09:00 GMT

The best way to get updated help for Windows PowerShell core commands is to type "Get-Help –Online <cmdletname>," but that works only when you're online and your firewall permits Internet access. For all of those other times, there's the new Windows PowerShell 2.0 Core Help – May 2011 Update in CHM format.

The newly released CHM includes Windows PowerShell Core cmdlet help, provider help, and conceptual "About" help topics as of May 1, 2011. It’s digitally signed and packaged in an executable file to ward off the meanies. You can get it from the Microsoft Download Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=219058.

It doesn't include help for all of the wonderful modules that you can use with Windows PowerShell, but it might get you through the next long airplane ride, dentist visit, or power outage.

Thanks to everyone who suggested and requested an update in CHM format, and to Simon Farr, Angela Patnode, and Craig Landis who helped to get it out the door. And who should you thank for the more than 100 updated files? Pat yourself on the back. More than 75% of the updates were generated in response to bugs filed on Connect, or e-mailed, sent on Facebook, or tweeted to me.

Who writes Windows PowerShell Help? We all do.

June Blender [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell Documentation
Connect: Connect.Microsoft.com\PowerShell
Twitter: juneb_get_help

PowerShell at TechEd 2011

PowerShell Team — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:58:36 GMT

We’re just a couple weeks away from TechEd (May 16-19) and there’s going to be a ton of great PowerShell content again this year!

Kirk Munro just made a post over at Poshoholic with an easy-to-read list of all the PowerShell related sessions for the conference. Thanks to Kirk for his effort in compiling all of this in a single place.

Link: http://poshoholic.com/2011/04/28/learn-more-about-powershell-at-teched-2011/

For those who will be attending, you can expect to see some of the usual suspects from the PowerShell Team and our group of MVPs.

Travis Jones
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

Keeping Help Helpful: Use -Online and Redirectable Links

PowerShell Team — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:33:00 GMT

When you refer to Windows PowerShell help topics, such as in tools and blog posts, be sure to refer to the most recent version of the help topics. Few things are less helpful or more confusing than sending a reader to a topic that is missing a parameter or includes an example that doesn't work.

To be sure that you're always referring to the newest help topics, refer to the online help topics in the TechNet library.

In tools, use a Get-Help -Online command.
In web pages, use the redirectable "forwarding" links (also known as "FWLinks") to the help topics.

The redirectable links will always be current. Even if a help topic page moves or changes, the redirectable link always connects to the newest version of the help topic.

You can find redirectable links to all Windows PowerShell 2.0 core help topics in the CSV file that is attached to the following blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/powershell/archive/2009/07/21/urls-for-powershell-core-help-topics.aspx.

All redirectable links have the format: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=<LinkID>, where only the LinkID varies. If you see a raw URL link, such as http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd819454.aspx, or worse, a help topic that is copied so it isn't updated, please notify the author that their topics are likely to be obsolete and point them to the redirectable links.

To make it easy to find the redirectable link to any topic, create a function that reads the CSV file and displays the redirectable link. Here's the one I use:

function get-fwlink
{
param ([string]$title)

    $a = import-csv -path .\PowerShellHelpURLs.csv -Header Type, TopicName, URL
    $b = $a | where {$_.TopicName -like "*$title*"}
    foreach ($match in $b)
    {
        write-host ""
        $match.TopicName
        $match.URL
    }
}

PS C:\ps-test> get-fwlink keyword

about_Language_Keywords
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=136588

Even if you're getting old and obsolete, your links will always be current.

June Blender [MSFT] Windows PowerShell Documentation Twitter: juneb_get_help

PowerShell Language now licensed under the Community Promise

PowerShell Team — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 00:13:00 GMT

The PowerShell team is excited to announce that starting today we are licensing the language specification for Windows PowerShell 2.0 under the Microsoft Community Promise.

This means that now anyone can implement PowerShell on any platform they want to. We know some of our most passionate customers sometimes work on platforms that can’t run PowerShell today, so when writing this specification, we wrote it in a platform neutral manner.

We hope to see implementations on all of your favorite platforms. This would benefit the industry, our partners, and our customers. We told you that you should learn PowerShell and we would do everything we could to make it the best investment you ever made. Specifying the language and enabling the community to implement it is yet another step in that direction.

Wait, did I just hear you ask: “what language specification?” Grab it here - hot off the press:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=509b77d0-5e5f-4194-a2d0-61648abfd093

Even if you aren’t planning on implementing the language, you might still find the specification to be an interesting read. Some reviewers said the specification helped clear up some aspects of the language.

If you’re a language geek like me, love implementing languages, and love PowerShell, then this news and documentation should give you plenty of incentive to get started. Be sure to check out the community promise before getting started:

http://www.microsoft.com/interop/cp/default.mspx

Jason Shirk
Windows PowerShell SDE
Microsoft Corporation

Using Get-WinEvent –FilterXml to process Windows Events

PowerShell Team — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 18:17:00 GMT

Introduction

Windows Events can be extremely useful for debugging. Administrators often use events to diagnose problems in complex systems. However, Event Viewer is time-consuming and difficult to automate. Luckily, there is a simple way to fully automate the process.

The FilterXml Parameter

The FilterXml parameter allows you use a simple XML document to filter events quickly. You can use the "Create Custom View" and "Filter Current Log" features in Event Viewer to create a valid XML query. The exact query schema can be found here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=143685.

An Example

In Event Viewer, select a log, and then click "Filter Current Log"...

Select the items to filter and then click the XML tab.

Now you can use the XML query in Windows PowerShell.

PS C:\Windows\system32> $filterXml = '<QueryList>

<Select Path="Windows PowerShell">*[System[(Level=4 or Level=0)]]</Select>

</Query>

</QueryList>’

PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-WinEvent –FilterXml $filterXml

TimeCreated ProviderName Id Message

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

4/14/2011 10:48:01 AM PowerShell 600 Provider "WSMan" is Starte...

4/14/2011 10:48:00 AM PowerShell 600 Provider "Variable" is Sta...

4/14/2011 10:48:00 AM PowerShell 600 Provider "Registry" is Sta...

4/14/2011 10:48:00 AM PowerShell 600 Provider "Function" is Sta...

4/14/2011 10:48:00 AM PowerShell 600 Provider "FileSystem" is S...

4/14/2011 10:48:00 AM PowerShell 600 Provider "Environment" is ...

4/14/2011 10:48:00 AM PowerShell 600 Provider "Alias" is Starte...

4/14/2011 10:47:58 AM PowerShell 400 Engine state is changed fr...

This query retrieves all Windows PowerShell events. You can then pipe the results to downstream cmdlets for further processing.

James Wei
SDE
MSFT

Scaling and Queuing PowerShell Background Jobs

PowerShell Team — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:30:58 GMT

A couple of months ago I had asked the PowerShell MVPs for suggestions on blog topics. Karl Prosser, one of our awesome MVPs, brought up the topic of scaling and queuing background jobs.

The scenario is familiar: You have a file containing a bunch of input that you want to process and you don’t want to overburden your computer by starting up hundreds of instances of PowerShell at once to process them.

After playing around for about an hour on Friday afternoon, here is what I came up with… This example assumes you have a text file containing the names of many event logs and you want to get the content of each log.

# How many jobs we should run simultaneously

$maxConcurrentJobs = 3;

# Read the input and queue it up

$jobInput = get-content .\input.txt

$queue = [System.Collections.Queue]::Synchronized( (New-Object System.Collections.Queue) )

foreach($item in $jobInput)

{

$queue.Enqueue($item)

}

# Function that pops input off the queue and starts a job with it

function RunJobFromQueue

{

if( $queue.Count -gt 0)

{

$j = Start-Job -ScriptBlock {param($x); Get-WinEvent -LogName $x} -ArgumentList $queue.Dequeue()

Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $j -EventName StateChanged -Action { RunJobFromQueue; Unregister-Event $eventsubscriber.SourceIdentifier; Remove-Job $eventsubscriber.SourceIdentifier } | Out-Null

}

# Start up to the max number of concurrent jobs

# Each job will take care of running the rest

for( $i = 0; $i -lt $maxConcurrentJobs; $i++ )

{

RunJobFromQueue

}

The English version of this script is:

Given a file input.txt containing the name of many event logs, queue up each line of input
Kick off a small number of jobs to process one line of input each. Each job just gets the content of a particular log.
When a job finishes (determined by the StateChanged Event), start a new job with the next piece of input from the queue
Clean up the jobs corresponding to the event subscription so at the end we only have jobs containing event data

The “Synchronized” code you see when defining the queue is just for good measure to make sure that only one job can access it at a time.

Have something you want to see on the PowerShell blog? Leave a comment… Can’t promise we’ll get to everything but it’s nice to see what everyone is interested in.

Travis Jones
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

Only 2 days left to save $1000 on PowerShell Deep Dive registration

PowerShell Team — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:59:45 GMT

There are still a few seats open for the first ever PowerShell Deep Dive Conference and tomorrow is the last day of cheap registration! In case you haven’t already been doing it, now would be a good time to start camping out in your boss’ office begging him/her for the money and time off.

Register today or tomorrow for only $850. The price will be going up to the full Experts Conference rate of $1825 on Friday April 1. To register, follow this link to create your profile and use code “ATGNJR6E”.

The detailed session schedule has also been posted on The Experts Conference website over here. There’s going to be some awesome talks by Jeffrey, Lee, Bruce & many popular folks from the PowerShell Community!

Travis Jones
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

More Deep Dive Info, Including Abstracts from the PowerShell Team

PowerShell Team — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 01:35:42 GMT

Seats are filling up for the PowerShell Deep Dive and cheap registration is almost over. Remember: Registration during the month of March is only $850, but quickly jumps to the full conference price of $1825 on April 1.

To register, follow this link to create your profile and use code “ATGNJR6E”.

Just a few more names of people that we’re very excited to have joining us:

Richard Giles from Idera, the makers of PowerShell Plus
Kirk Munro, of many things PowerShell such as PowerGUI
Andy Schneider from Get-Powershell.com
Steven Murawski from UsePowerShell.com

Here are the abstracts for a few Deep Dives that will be led by members of the PowerShell Team.

Proxy Function Party
Speaker: Jeffrey Snover
One of our goals with PowerShell is to give you the tools and capabilities so that you never have to wait on us to deliver you what you need.
Proxy functions are one of my favorite V2 features because just as PowerShell gives you a crazy level of control over your environment, Proxy Functions give you a crazy level of control over your functions.

Didn’t get what you wanted/needed in the PowerShell V2 cmdlets? Don’t wait to see if they get fixed in V3, take control of the situation with Proxy Functions. Add parameters, Remove parameters, tweak parameter attributes, add your own semantics and have party doing it.

If you don’t walk away thinking “who needs those PowerShell developers anymore”, you weren’t paying attention

Why does it work that way? A look inside the PowerShell runtime
Speaker: Bruce Payette
PowerShell is a unique environment, combining features from shell languages, scripting languages and object-oriented programming languages. In this talk, I will explore some of the trade-offs and design decisions we made to produce a workable system.

The cliffs of PowerShell
Speaker: Kenneth Hansen & Don Jones
Everyone knows that Windows PowerShell has more than a few eccentricities that can trip up newcomers - which "gotchas" have you run across? How do you explain them to people? Join this discussion on what makes PowerShell difficult to teach or learn, trade analogies and explanations, and help establish standards and best practices that can be disseminated to gurus, trainers and evangelists worldwide!

Travis Jones [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

Four more reasons to come to the PowerShell Deep Dive

PowerShell Team — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:56:32 GMT

Videos from the PowerShell team and Don Jones…

Jeffrey Snover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-6SrEpSfVs

Don Jones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev3mexiAw1k

Dan Harman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBbmXYd8VRM

Hemant Mahawar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bpOFicYMOg

Travis Jones [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell PM
Microsoft Corporation

A Few Deep Dive Abstracts

PowerShell Team — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 00:26:00 GMT

We received a lot of session proposals for the PowerShell Deep Dive conference. Thank you to everyone who sent one or more in.

I wanted to share the abstracts for a handful of the sessions that have already been selected. Stay tuned, details on more sessions will be available soon…

Defining domain-specific vocabularies using Windows PowerShell
Speaker: Kirk Munro

PowerShell was built from the ground up to be a rich, extendible scripting language. While it is of paramount importance to keep commands you add to PowerShell consistent with the rest of the scripting language, there are domains where great elegance and simplicity can be achieved by stepping away from this model and creating domain-specific vocabularies instead.

What is a domain-specific vocabulary and how is it an important extension point for Windows PowerShell?
What domain-specific vocabularies come with PowerShell?
What are some examples of domain-specific vocabularies that can add great value to PowerShell?
How do you go about creating a domain-specific vocabulary?
How do you create a domain-specific vocabulary of commands while maintaining consistency with the rest of PowerShell commands?

Come to this session and join PowerShell MVP Kirk Munro in a discussion about the use of domain-specific vocabularies in PowerShell, where you will learn the answers to these questions and more.

Mastering Format and Type Extensions
Speaker: Jeffrey Hicks

Windows PowerShell is designed with administrators in mind. The goal is to present the most useful information to you with the least amount of effort. But sometimes you need something out of the box. Do you have a preferred way to view process objects that requires scripting every time? Does your script create a custom object that you would like formatted in a specific manner?

This session will explain PowerShell's formatting system and how to master it with your own formatting and type extension files, including how to incorporate these files into your scripts and modules.

WMI Gotchas and Hidden Gems
Speaker: Richard Siddaway

WMI has been around for a long time in the Windows environment. It has a reputation for being very powerful but very difficult. PowerShell has changed this to a certain degree by making it easier to use, however it is still relatively undocumented. PowerShell opens up WMI in a number of ways but introduces a number of “gotchas”.

A number of key questions will be answered during this session:

Is Invoke-WmiMethod always the answer?
How can I change WMI information?
How does WMI authentication and authorization work?
Should I use explicit remoting, implicit remoting or WMI?
WMI overlaps with some Cmdlets e.g. Get-Process and Win32_Process – which should I use when?
How do I get the best of WQL? Do I use queries or filters?

The PowerShell Library for Hyper-V: how was built, how it is used.
Speaker: James O’Neill

The “PSHyperV” PowerShell library has had over 40,000 downloads from Codeplex.com (with another 25,000 downloads of the documentation). With 120 functions and over 5,000 lines of PowerShell, 600 lines of formatting XML and a megabyte of on-line help it is one of the biggest PowerShell community projects as well as one of the most popular.

This session will look at the lessons learnt on the project, the WMI techniques used in building the library, how the monolithic V1 was broken into manageable pieces, how functions were designed to be supportive to users and prevent them from accidentally doing damage and it will show the library in use managing HyperV.

Travis Jones [MSFT]
Program Manager
Microsoft Corporation

Cmdlet Help Editor V2.0 with Module Support

PowerShell Team — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:07:02 GMT

Hi,

I have updated the Cmdlet Help Editor tool to support Modules. The V1.0 version of this tool only supported PsSnapins. The original post can be found here

Cmdlet Help Editor enables you to create help topics for Windows PowerShell cmdlets in the XML format that Windows PowerShell supports. Help text created in Cmdlet Help Editor can be displayed immediately by a Windows PowerShell get-help command without any additional transforms or formatting.

By reflecting on a Windows PowerShell snap-in (PsSnapin) assembly or Module, Cmdlet Help Editor creates a customized documentation interface that includes the cmdlets, their parameters, and parameter attributes.

Cmdlet Help Editor is designed for Windows PowerShell cmdlet developers to make it easy to create excellent cmdlet help. This tool is made available free of charge, but it is not warranted or supported by Microsoft.

You can download the tool from here:

X64: http://www.wassimfayed.com/PowerShell/CmdletHelpEditorx64.zip

X86: http://www.wassimfayed.com/PowerShell/CmdletHelpEditorx86.zip

System Requirements

Cmdlet Help Editor V1.2 requires that the following operating systems and programs be installed on the computer:

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, or a later version of Windows
Windows PowerShell 1.0 or 2.0
Microsoft .NET 2.0 (for Windows PowerShell 1.0 or 2.0)
Microsoft .NET 3.0 (for Cmdlet Help Editor)

You can download Windows PowerShell 2.0 as part of the latest Windows Management Framework from here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968929

For additional information and to report bugs/issues with the tool, please contact Wfayed@Microsoft.com

Enjoy the tool,

Wassim [MSFT]

Windows PowerShell Blog

It’s Time For Another PowerShell Deep Dive!

Another Holiday Gift from the PowerShell Team: PowerShell 3.0 CTP2 - Getting Started with Windows PowerShell Workflow

Windows Management Framework 3.0 Community Technology Preview (CTP) #2 Available for Download

More Videos from the First PowerShell Deep Dive

Recordings from the First PowerShell Deep Dive

PowerShell Deep Dive Lineup

Monday

Tuesday

Cmdlet Help Editor is now released on CodePlex

Windows Management Framework 3.0 Community Technology Preview (CTP) #1 Available for Download

8 Abstracts for the PowerShell Deep Dive in Frankfurt

Get-Help -Online Fails in German

Extending Discounted Registration & Session Proposal Deadline

PowerShell Deep Dive Registration Info & Call for Session Proposals

PowerShell Deep Dive @ The Experts Conference Europe 2011

Invoke-Expression considered harmful

Download the Updated Core Help CHM

PowerShell at TechEd 2011

Keeping Help Helpful: Use -Online and Redirectable Links

PowerShell Language now licensed under the Community Promise

Using Get-WinEvent –FilterXml to process Windows Events

Scaling and Queuing PowerShell Background Jobs

Only 2 days left to save $1000 on PowerShell Deep Dive registration

More Deep Dive Info, Including Abstracts from the PowerShell Team

Four more reasons to come to the PowerShell Deep Dive

A Few Deep Dive Abstracts

Cmdlet Help Editor V2.0 with Module Support