To learn more about this book, visit Microsoft Learning at http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/10329.aspx Table of Contents Acknowledgments . xi About This Book . xiii 1 Overview of Windows PowerShell . .1 Understanding Windows PowerShell. 1 Using Cmdlets . 3 Installing Windows PowerShell . 3 Deploying Windows PowerShell . 4 Using Command Line Utilities. 5 Security Issues with Windows PowerShell . 7 Controlling Execution of PowerShell Cmdlets. 7 Confirming Commands . 8 Suspending Confirmation of Cmdlets . 10 Working with Windows PowerShell . 11 Accessing Windows PowerShell . 11 Configuring Windows PowerShell . 12 Supplying Options for Cmdlets. 13 Working with the Help Options . 14 Exploring Commands: Step-by-Step Exercises . 16 One Step Further: Obtaining Help . 18 2 Using Windows PowerShell Cmdlets . 21 Understanding the Basics of Cmdlets . 21 Using the Get-ChildItem Cmdlet . 22 Using the Format-Wide Cmdlet . 24 Leveraging the Power of Get-Command . 27 Using the Get-Member Cmdlet . 31 Using the New-Object Cmdlet . 36 What do you think of this book? We want to hear from you! Microsoft is interested in hearing your feedback so we can continually improve our books and learning resources for you. To participate in a brief online survey, please visit: www.microsoft.com/learning/booksurvey/ vii viii Table of Contents Creating a PowerShell Profile . 38 Working with Cmdlets: Step-by-Step Exercises . 40 One Step Further: Working with New-Object . 42 3 Leveraging PowerShell Providers . 45 Identifying the Providers . 45 Understanding the Alias Provider . 46 Understanding the Certificate Provider . 48 Understanding the Environment Provider . 53 Understanding the File System Provider. 56 Understanding the Function Provider. 60 Understanding the Registry Provider . 62 Understanding the Variable Provider . 64 Exploring the Certificate Provider: Step by Step Exercises. 67 One Step Further: Examining the Environment Provider . 68 4 Using PowerShell Scripts . 73 Why Write Windows PowerShell Scripts . 73 Enabling Script Support. 75 Running Windows PowerShell Scripts . 77 Understanding Variables and Constants . 80 Use of Variables. 80 Use of Constants . 84 Looping Through Code . 85 Using the For Each-Object Cmdlet. 86 Using the For Statement . 88 Using Do … While . 89 Using Do … Until . 90 Making Decisions . 92 Using If … Elseif … Else . 92 Using Switch. 93 Creating Multiple Folders: Step-by-Step Exercises . 94 One Step Further: Deleting Multiple Folders . 95 Table of Contents ix 5 Using WMI . 97 Understanding the WMI Model . 98 Working with Objects and Namespaces . 98 Listing WMI Providers. 102 Working with WMI Classes . 103 Querying WMI . 111 Obtaining Service Information: Step-by-Step Exercises . 113 One Step Further: Working with Printers . 116 6 Querying WMI. 119 Alternate Ways to Connect to WMI . 119 Tell Me Everything About Everything! . 125 Selective Data from All Instances . 127 Selecting Multiple Properties . 128 Choosing Specific Instances . 131 Utilizing an Operator . 133 Where Is the Where?. 136 Working with Software: Step-by-Step Exercises . 136 One Step Further: Windows Environment Settings . 139 7 Working with Active Directory . 145 Creating Objects in Active Directory . ..