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# This code requires Windows 10 professional/Enterprise or Windows Server 2016 $vmname = read-host "VMName" $key = read-host "Windows Key" Invoke-Command -VMName $vmname -ScriptBlock { param($key) Write-Verbose -Message "Attempting to inject Windows key: $key" Cscript.exe $env:SystemRoot\System32\slmgr.vbs -ipk $key Write-Verbose -Message "Attempting to activate Windows key" Cscript.exe $env:SystemRoot\System32\slmgr.vbs -ato } -ArgumentList $key |
I just bumped into the issue where I needed to import a certificate to a server before I could use it in a DSC resource. Since there was no DSC Resource available yet to import or remove certificates from a certain store from a computer I had to create one myself.
The result can be found here: https://github.com/DdenBraver/cManageCertificates
This resource is pretty simple, and it uses the powershell cmdlet Import-PfxCertificate to import a certificate, and the Remove-Item “Cert:\Storetype\Store\Thumbprint” to remove a certificate if required.
One of the new great features of WMF5, included in Windows 10 RTM is Powershell Packagemanager (previously called OneGet).
I will not go into the details on how it works or what it is (that you can find here!) I do want to show you how you can use it to simply install some packages from the powershell gallery, or from chocolatey which is basically a community based package source that already includes alot of applications and tools.
Lets take a look at the basic command sets:
Find-Package: find the package you are looking for in the registered package sources in powershell packagemanager
Get-Package: finds the packages on your system that have been installed using powershell packagemanager
Install-Package: installs a package on your system using powershell packagemanager
Uninstall-Package: removes a package from your system that was installed using powershell packagemanager
When you first kick off find-package you may get the request that the package provider nuget has not been installed and needs to be downloaded and installed.
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The provider 'nuget v2.8.5.127' is not installed. nuget may be manually downloaded from https://oneget.org/nuget-anycpu-2.8.5.127.exe and installed. Would you like PackageManagement to automatically download and install 'nuget' now? [Y] Yes [N] No [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): |
If you select Yes, you will now (by default) get a list of available packages -from the powershell gallery only-.
Lets now install the chocolatey package provider so that we can use PowerShell Packagemanager to install available community packages.
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PS C:\Users\Administrator> get-packageprovider -name chocolatey The provider 'chocolatey v2.8.5.130' is not installed. chocolatey may be manually downloaded from https://oneget.org/ChocolateyPrototype-2.8.5.130.exe and installed. Would you like PackageManagement to automatically download and install 'chocolatey' now? [Y] Yes [N] No [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is "Y"): |
If you now once again do a find-package you will suddenly see alot of additional packages that are available from the source ‘chocolatey’. Please be aware however that not all of these packages can be trusted (please read the chocolatey FAQ)
You can install simply the packages by using the install-package, or pipe the install package behind the find-package to also install the dependencies (if any). For example:
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Install-package -Name 'GoogleChrome' Find-Package 'GoogleChrome' -IncludeDependencies | Install-Package |
After the software has been installed you can review the installed software by using get-package
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Get-Package -Name 'GoogleChrome' Name Version Source Summary ---- ------- ------ ------- GoogleChrome 45.0.2454.101 C:\Chocolatey... |
Here is an example script that you can use for installing some software to your local desktop with powershell packagemanager: oneget_example.ps1
I hope you can enjoy this new functionality as much as myself. This new functionality could greatly help with package deployment and management in the future. You could for example set up your own package repository and deploy your own internal packages using Nuget Server.
I have always missed the option in windows to just easily see the uptime from a server.
Ofcourse we have the uptime.exe available from Microsoft, but I wanted to have something available directly from powershell.
For starters we could get the last bootuptime from WMI with the following query
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(Get-WmiObject -Class win32_operatingsystem).lastbootuptime 20151005150834.490241+120 |
Since this is not really in a nice format, lets change it into something we can read
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[System.Management.ManagementDateTimeconverter]::ToDateTime((Get-WmiObject -Class win32_operatingsystem).lastbootuptime) Tuesday, October 6, 2015 10:37:14 AM |
Now that we have the bootup time/date in a readable format we can substract this date from our current time/date to get our actual uptime.
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((Get-Date)-([System.Management.ManagementDateTimeconverter]::ToDateTime((Get-WmiObject -Class win32_operatingsystem).lastbootuptime))) Days : 0 Hours : 0 Minutes : 16 Seconds : 8 Milliseconds : 736 Ticks : 9687365862 TotalDays : 0.0112122290069444 TotalHours : 0.269093496166667 TotalMinutes : 16.14560977 TotalSeconds : 968.7365862 TotalMilliseconds : 968736.5862 |
And there you go, you can now see the uptime for your server. I took this along a bit and created a powershell function to make it more usable for everyone in the company.
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Function Get-Uptime { <# .SYNOPSIS Get uptime for Server(s) .DESCRIPTION This script will provide you the uptime for your servers in easy format .PARAMETER Servers One or multiple servers .EXAMPLE Get-Uptime -Server "computername" Request the uptime for a server #> [CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess = $true)] param( [parameter(Mandatory = $true, HelpMessage = 'Please enter a computername.')] [alias('Computernames','Computername','Server','Computer')] [string[]]$servers ) ForEach ($server in $servers) { Write-Verbose -Message "Retrieving information from $server" $uptime = ((Get-Date )-([System.Management.ManagementDateTimeconverter]::ToDateTime((Get-WmiObject -Class win32_operatingsystem -ComputerName $server -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue ).lastbootuptime))) $server | Select-Object -Property @{ Name = 'Computername' Expression = { $server } }, @{ Name = 'Days' Expression = { $uptime.Days } }, @{ Name = 'Hours' Expression = { $uptime.Hours } }, @{ Name = 'Minutes' Expression = { $uptime.Minutes } }, @{ Name = 'Seconds' Expression = { $uptime.Seconds } }, @{ Name = 'Milliseconds' Expression = { $uptime.Milliseconds } } } } |
Now you only need to type Get-Uptime “servername” to get the uptime for the server you wish 🙂
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PS C:\> get-uptime localhost | FT Computername Days Hours Minutes Seconds Milliseconds ------------ ---- ----- ------- ------- ------------ localhost 0 19 49 32 478 |
When you are setting up a DSC Pull scenario, you will have to zip your DSC Resources in a correct format and by using proper tooling.
At first you need to zip your primary directory, and you have to give your zip file the correct naming. This should be Resourcename_versionnumber.zip (see screenshot below), and then placed in the “C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\DscService\Modules directory”.
Please be aware that even though its ‘just a zip file’ not all programs zip the same way, if you for example use 7zip or winrar you could bump into eventid 4104: Failed to extract the module from zipfile. 
If you however use the windows native compressing engine, everything will work out fine.
Last week I blogged about an issue with the DSC resource folder versioning in a DSC Pull scenario. DSC Resource folder versioning issue in a DSC-Pull scenario.
This week Microsoft released a new version of WMF 5.0 which fixes a whole range of issues.
While you still have to zip your DSC Resource without the version folder, the DSC engine now extracts the ZIP file to the corresponding folder version!
DSC Resource zip structure:
DSC Resource client structure:
:
This means that now, we can use multiple versions of a DSC Resource on the same client. This will help when for example you only want to update 1 partial configuration on a server that uses a newer resource, while not having to update dependent others.
Recently a minor discussion started with one of my Facebook friends, where people found the new data collecting engines from Microsoft a bit annoying. Personally I find that Windows 10 has alot more features and stability to offer, and that these settings should not be the reason for you to hold back on a better operating system. However I do understand some people’s concerns.
Example article: http://lifehacker.com/what-windows-10s-privacy-nightmare-settings-actually-1722267229
This made me think, there should be a way to just quickly disable all those annoyances. Below you can find the result of a quick Posh script that takes care this for you.
DisablePrivacySettings_Win10.ps1
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########################################################################### ## Created by Danny den Braver @29-08-2015 ## ## I primary made this script due to a minor discussion that started on FB about the Windows 10 Privacy 'flaws' ## This script will disable most of the 'features' that microsoft uses to gain privacy sensitive data ## ## Currently this script disables Telemetry and DataCollection, Wifi Sense, SmartScreen Filter & Cortana ########################################################################## #region Disable Telemetry and Data Collection Write-Verbose -Message 'Disabling: Telemetry and Data Collection' -Verbose # Create registry key to disable Telemetry New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection" -Name AllowTelemetry -Value '0' -PropertyType DWord -Force | Out-Null # Disabling & Stopping service DiagTrack Set-Service -name DiagTrack -StartupType Disabled Stop-Service DiagTrack # Disabling & Stopping App Push Service Set-Service -name dmwappushservice -StartupType Disabled Stop-Service dmwappushservice #endregion #region Disable Wifi-Sense (Wifi Sharing) Write-Verbose -Message 'Disabling: Wifi-Sense (Wifi Sharing)' -Verbose # Create Registry key into policy to disable Wi-fi Sense New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WcmSvc\wifinetworkmanager\config" -Name AutoConnectAllowedOEM -Value '0' -PropertyType DWord -Force | Out-Null #endregion #region Disable SmartScreen Filter Write-Verbose -Message 'Disabling: SmartScreen Filter' -Verbose # Create Registry key into policy to disable Microsoft SmartScreen New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System" -Name EnableSmartScreen -Value '0' -PropertyType DWord -Force | Out-Null #endregion #region Disable Cortana # Read current user $whoami = whoami $domain = ($whoami).split("\")[0] $username = ($whoami).split("\")[1] if (Test-Path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchUI.exe') { Write-Verbose -Message 'Disabling: Cortana' -Verbose # Change permissions on Cortana folder & executable $objUser = New-Object System.Security.Principal.NTAccount($domain, $username) $objFile = Get-Acl 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchUI.exe' $objFile.SetOwner($objUser) Set-Acl -aclobject $objFile -path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchUI.exe' Set-Acl -aclobject $objFile -path 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy' icacls 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchUI.exe' /grant "$($whoami):(OI)(CI)F" icacls 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy' /grant "$($whoami):(OI)(CI)F" # Rename Cortana Executable so it no longer starts Rename-Item 'C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchUI.exe' 'Disabled.SearchUI.exe' } else { Write-Verbose -Message 'Check: Cortana was already disabled' -Verbose } #endregion Write-Warning -Message 'Please be aware that you will need to restart your computer for settings to take effect' |
Please be aware of the following if you are using DSC Pull with folder versioning in your DSC Resources
In my case, I have a custom DSC Resource named cDNSRecord with the following directory structure: .\cDnsServer\1.1.0.0\DSCResources\cDNSRecord.
It seems that currently as in WMF 5.0 (April 2015 Preview) it is not supported to have resources with folder versioning in a DSC Pull scenario and will most likely end you up with error 4104 in the event log:
ErrorId is 0x1. ErrorDetail is The PowerShell DSC resource % not contain the corresponding MOF file %.
A Work-around to this solution is simple:unzip your resource, and remove the folder versioning to for example: .\cDnsServer\DSCResources\cDNSRecord
While you can now use your DSC Resource in a Pull scenario, this does mean that you cannot use multiple versions of a DSC Resource on 1 sever if you use DSC Pull. This also means that if you want to upgrade to a newer version for this DSC Resource you will first need to remove the old version from the C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules directory on this specific server.
If you forget to remove the old folder you will most end up with another errorid 4252 in the event log:
Error Message: Installation of module % failed since the module directory already exists at %.Message ID: ModuleDirectoryAlreadyExists
This can be resolved by using the AllowModuleOverwrite = $true value in your LCM configuration.
Hopefully this issue will be resolved in a future release of WMF5.
I created this function some time ago already when we did not have the SCOM Management Pack for Windows Clusters imported yet.
This script basically scans a Cluster, to scan its current CSV State, and report you the current size/usage/freespace available.
The output of this script can be used to filter out unhealthy volumes, or volumes that are filling up!
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Function GetClusterVolumeState{ <# .SYNOPSIS Retrieve information about the Cluster Volume Health .DESCRIPTION The GetClusterVolumeState function retrieves information about the cluster volumes on a certain cluster. This information will show the Cluster, Volume, Health and Disk space. .PARAMETER Clusters One or multiple clusters you would like to retrieve information from .EXAMPLE Retrieve information about the Clustervolumes for Cluster01 RI-GetClusterVolumeState -clusters "Cluster01" .NOTES This script was written by Danny den Braver @2013, for questions please contact danny@denbraver.com #> [CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess=$true)] param([array][Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]$Clusters) foreach ($Cluster in $Clusters){ # Test Connection availability and continue if $true $testconnection = Test-Connection $Cluster -Quiet if ($testconnection -eq $true){ Write-Verbose -Message "Scanning: $Cluster for clusterdisk information" # Get CSV Volumes $CSVDisks = Get-ClusterSharedVolume -Cluster $Cluster foreach ($CSVDisk in $CSVDisks){ # Get CSV VolumeInformation $CSVVolumeInfo = $CSVDisk | Select -Expand SharedVolumeInfo $CSVFriendlyName = $CSVVolumeInfo.FriendlyVolumeName $CSVVolume = ($CSVFriendlyName.Split("\")[2]).ToLower() $CSVState = $CSVDisk.State # Get CSV free space [int]$CSVDiskDriveFreeSpace = ([math]::round((($CSVVolumeInfo | Select -Expand Partition).FreeSpace / 1GB), 0)) # Get CSV total space [int]$CSVDiskSpace = ([math]::round((($CSVVolumeInfo | Select -Expand Partition).Size / 1GB), 0)) # Get CSV used Space [int]$CSVDiskDriveUsedSpace = [int]$CSVDiskSpace - [int]$CSVDiskDriveFreeSpace # Get CSV Health if ($CSVState -eq "Online"){ if ($CSVVolumeInfo.MaintenanceMode -eq $False){ if ($CSVVolumeInfo.RedirectedAccess -eq $True){ $CSVHealth = "Warning" $CSVHealthDetails = 'Volume is in redirected mode.' } else { $CSVHealth = "Healthy" $CSVHealthDetails = 'Volume is healthy.' } } else { $CSVHealth = "Maintenance" $CSVHealthDetails = 'Volume is in maintenance mode."' } } else { $CSVHealth = "Critical" $CSVHealthDetails = 'Volume is in offline state.' } # CSV Output $clustername = $cluster -replace ".eu.rabonet.com","" $clustername | select @{l="Clustername";e={$Clustername}}, @{l="Volume"; e={"$CSVVolume"}}, @{l="DiskSpaceGB"; e={"$CSVDiskSpace"}}, @{l="UsedSpaceGB"; e={"$CSVDiskDriveUsedSpace"}}, @{l="FreeSpaceGB"; e={"$CSVDiskDriveFreeSpace"}}, @{l="Health"; e={"$CSVHealth"}}, @{l="Health Description"; e={"$CSVHealthDetails"}} } } else { Write-Warning "Could not connect to $Cluster" } } } |
Ever needed to connect to a hardware or unix interface from a windows box? For example to manage HP Servers / Interfaces, or to run some code on a Linux appliance?
Over at Powershelladmin.com they have an answer to this: SSH-Sessions powershell module.
Copy the SSH-Sessions folder to your C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules directory and then unblock the SSH.Net library using Unblock-File C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\SSH-Sessions\Renci.SshNet.dll
After that you can just Import-module the SSH-Sessions and you’re on your way:
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get-help *ssh* Name Category Synopsis ---- -------- -------- Get-SshSession Function Shows all, or the specified, SSH sessions in the global $SshSessions var... Remove-SshSession Function Removes opened SSH connections. Use the parameter -RemoveAll to remove a... New-SshSession Function Creates SSH sessions to remote SSH-compatible hosts, such as Linux... Invoke-SshCommand Function Invoke/run commands via SSH on target hosts to which you have already op... Enter-SshSession Function Enter a primitive interactive SSH session against a target host.... |