PowerShell

Install Windows Updates using PowerShell

You can use PowerShell to install Windows Updates automatically, unattended and simple. Neat, right? For this, you don’t have to have an enterprise environment with WSUS, or Windows Server, but since this is Sysadmins of the North, I assume you do. In this post I’m going to show you how to install Windows Updates with PowerShell and the PSWindowsUpdate module.

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Send email with PowerShell

Easily send your DevOps reporting by email with this PowerShell function, because the Send-MailMessage cmdlet is obsolete. Of course you’ll be using StartTLS and authenticated SMTP as additional security.

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Emulate ternary operator in PowerShell

Quickly and dirty determine if a condition is true or false in PowerShell 5.1 by emulating the ternary operator. For example when determinering if the server you are servicing is a Windows Server Desktop Experience version or not (and thus Server Core):

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Working with file attributes in PowerShell

Working with PowerShell’s Get-ItemProperty to get file attributes may boost your work productivity. It’s often easier to getting things done if you have a more generic way of doing something. Here is how to use Get-Item and Get-ItemProperty in PowerShell to perform and streamline day to day tasks like installing or updating software based on file versions. I also address changing timestamps on files in short.

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How to unzip a file in PowerShell

Unzipping a file on your PowerShell command line may come in handy sometimes, even on your Windows 10 workstation. Use Expand-Archive for this, and all that is required is PowerShell 5.0+, or the .NET 4.5+ Framework to use System.IO.Compression.ZipFile.

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How to detect ethernet network speed in Windows

Detect the ethernet network speed using PowerShell or WMI is perfect for Windows Server Core. If you ever need to lookup the speed of your ethernet network card in Windows, on the command-line, use one of the following WMIC commands on your PowerShell prompt:

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AppCmd introduction and examples

The AppCmd command is your one-stop-shop for administering Windows Server IIS web servers. In combination with WinRM it’s your Swiss Army knife for your daily routine. This post introduces appcmd and provides you with a lot of helpful appcmd examples.

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