DOWST.DEV | PowerShell Weekly – Your weekly round up of all things PowerShell

August 18, 2023

Announcements!

PSResourceGet Preview 24 is Now Available (devblogs.microsoft.com)
Microsoft.PowerShell.PSResourceGet is a continuation of the PowerShellGet 3.0 project. The latest

preview release of this module under the new name is now available on the PowerShell Gallery. This release contains improved publish support, new aliases and many bug fixes. This is the last planned preview release before we release a "Release Candidate (RC)"

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By: Sydney Smith submitted:Aug 18 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

How and where to properly define classes and enums in your PowerShell modules (blog.danskingdom.com)
I recently created a PowerShell script module that defines classes and enums. Everything worked fine

locally, but broke when I tested the module on a build server. This was odd, as the module did not have any dependencies.

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By: Daniel Schroeder submitted:Aug 18 2023

Microsoft PowerShell Gallery vulnerable to spoofing, supply chain attacks (bleepingcomputer.com)
Lax policies for package naming on Microsoft's PowerShell Gallery code repository allow threat

actors to perform typosquatting attacks, spoof popular packages and potentially lay the ground for massive supply chain attacks.

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By: Bill Toulas submitted:Aug 18 2023

The case for PowerShell On macOS and Linux (deusinmachina.net)
Often dismissed as an eccentric and verbose scripting language from Microsoft, PowerShell frequently

finds itself relegated to the background when it comes to shell languages on non-Windows platforms. Mocked as a lackluster corporate attempt at mimicking a genuine shell scripting language, it rarely receives the attention it deserves. However, after leveraging PowerShell across various operating systems I've come to recognize its value.

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By: Diego Crespo submitted:Aug 18 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

POSH (github.com)
Posh is a PowerShell module that makes PowerShell more fun to work with.
By: James Brundage submitted:Aug 18 2023

PSKubernetesSecretsManagement v 0.5.0 (powershellgallery.com)
This PowerShell module contains functions that facilitate the creation, rotation, auditing, and

viewing the metadata of Kubernetes secrets.

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By: Tony Guimelli submitted:Aug 18 2023

PWSHUpdater (github.com)
GitHub action and Azure DevOps task to update the cloud runner version of PowerShell to latest,

nightly, static, or any other version of PowerShell.

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By: Bjorn Sundling submitted:Aug 18 2023

Books, Media, and Learning Resources

Data Alchemy: Unlocking GPT-4 Insights from Your Own Data (youtube.com)
Venture with us into the realm of AI as we draw intriguing insights from a humble CSV, powered by

the advanced GPT-4 model. Learn how to elevate everyday transaction data into an intelligent engine for your business decisions. Without sending your data to the cloud!

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By: Visual Studio Code submitted:Aug 18 2023

PowerShell for Beginners eBook (alexandrumarin.com)
I have been working on this for while but I am truly happy to announce that I have released a new

book. PowerShell for Beginners. In our day and age, working as an IT Pro or even a developer, PowerShell is not a subject that can be missed. I encourage all IT Pros to dive into PowerShell, trust me you will love it.

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By: Alexandru Radu Marin submitted:Aug 18 2023

Community

Shaun Lawrie: Procrastination, Pixels and PowerShell (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
In this episode of the PowerShell Podcast, we dive deep into conversation with Shaun Lawrie, an

enthusiast who's made waves in the PowerShell community. We discover Shaun's love for defaults, and this makes Jordan's day. He also gives us a sneak peek into his PwshPaint project, illustrating the versatility of PowerShell beyond conventional uses. From making his first GitHub PR to earning recognition from Jeffrey Snover, Shaun's journey is all about growth, persistence, and innovation. We also explore the unconventional topic of 'weaponizing procrastination' where Shaun spills his strategies of turning downtime into productive outputs. Wrapping up with some exciting insights into the PwshSpectreConsole project, this episode is packed with intelligence, creativity, and awesome PowerShell projects!

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Aug 18 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

August 11, 2023

Announcements!

Desired State Configuration (DSC) Planning Update (devblogs.microsoft.com)
A fun and informative blog post sharing the exciting plans and roadmap for Desired State

Configuration (DSC), including plans for compatibility, transparency, cross-platform support, and more.

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By: Michael Greene submitted:Aug 11 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Find enabled local Group Policy settings with rsop.msc and PowerShell (4sysops.com)
When it comes to GPO troubleshooting, you might want to find settings that are configured by local

Group Policy. With rsop.msc, a graphical tool is available for this purpose. However, it is generally more efficient to generate a report using gpresult.exe and evaluate it with PowerShell.

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By: Wolfgang Sommergut submitted:Aug 11 2023

How to optimize and speed up your PowerShell scripts (baswijdenes.com)
My best practices, tips and tricks working with PowerShell This is a blog post that is not deeply

technical. I will not go deep into the tips and tricks, because you will learn this automatically when you have more experience & when you are ready. I have a seperate blog post about best practices, tips ... Continue reading How to optimize and speed up your PowerShell scripts

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By: Bas Wijdenes submitted:Aug 11 2023

PowerShell Advanced Functions: Cmdlet Bindings and Parameters (itprotoday.com)
Part 1 of this series on advanced PowerShell functions introduces the key concepts, including cmdlet

bindings and common parameters like ErrorAction.

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By: Brien Posey submitted:Aug 11 2023

Your Getting Started Guide to PowerShell Approved Verbs (adamtheautomator.com)
Discover how to get started with PowerShell Approved Verbs to make sure your scripts and code is

top-notch in this ATA Learning tutorial!

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By: Nicholas Xuan Nguyen submitted:Aug 11 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

About Colors.md (gist.github.com)
When I'm having a bad day, I can spend hours just fiddling with colors and recursion. Today I wrote

an HslEnumerator class which is fun because if you output it to the PowerShell terminal it just goes on producing colors forever:

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By: Joel Bennett submitted:Aug 11 2023

Announcing PowerShell Crescendo 1.1.0-RC1 (devblogs.microsoft.com)
This RC contains several community requested features and fixes including improved support for

PSScriptAnalyzer, improvements to error handling, and the addition of `ExcludeAsArgument` property.

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By: Jason Helmick submitted:Aug 11 2023

Get-AadJoinInformation.ps1 (gist.github.com)
Get Azure AD (Entra ID) Join Information without dsregcmd
By: Marc-André Moreau submitted:Aug 11 2023

ServerCertificateValidationCallback (or rather, collector) for .NET Core (gist.github.com)
ServerCertificateValidationCallback (or rather, collector) for .NET Core - Get-WebCertificate.ps1
By: Joel Bennett submitted:Aug 11 2023

Using the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK to Generate a Mailbox Traffic Report (practical365.com)
Microsoft 365 makes it easy for administrators to get mail activity usage data for users. However,

if you want to know which domains are sending most mail, you need to do some work. In this article, we cover how to use cmdlets from the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK to create reports about user mail activity over time and the traffic sent by different domains.

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By: Tony Redmond submitted:Aug 11 2023

Books, Media, and Learning Resources

From Cloud to Console: Harm Veenstra’s PowerShell Perspectives (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
We had a cool chat with Harm Veenstra, the guy behind powershellisfun.com. We got into some neat

PowerShell stuff like Out-ConsoleGridView and the -PassThru parameter. Harm also gave us the lowdown on when to quit the cloud and spilled the beans on running his blog. Plus, he shared how he keeps up with the quick mojo of the tech world. Tune in for a fun and laid-back tech talk!

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Aug 11 2023

Community

Simplifying Creation of Empty PowerShell PSCustomObjects using Custom Functions (hcritter.devdojo.com)
Creating an empty PSCustomObject in PowerShell is a common task, but the traditional approach can be

verbose and repetitive. In this blog post, I'll walk you through a more structured and efficient way to achieve this using functions and property definitions.

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By: Christian Ritter submitted:Aug 11 2023

Unlocking PowerShell Magic: Different Approach to Creating ‘Empty’ PSCustomObjects (evotec.xyz)
Today I saw an article from Christian Ritter, "PowerShell: Creating an "empty" PSCustomObject" on X

that got me curious. Do people create empty objects like Christian proposes? I want to offer an alternative to Christian's article, which uses OrderedDictionary and converts to PSCustomObject.

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By: Przemyslaw Klys submitted:Aug 11 2023

Fun

PSQuizMaster (github.com)
A module for creating and running quizzes to learn PowerShell - GitHub -

jdhitsolutions/PSQuizMaster: A module for creating and running quizzes to learn PowerShell

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By: Jeff Hicks submitted:Aug 11 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

August 4, 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Ask Jeff July 2023 (jeffhicks.substack.com)
Well, this has been a whirlwind month. I hope you accomplished much and still had time to learn a

thing or two. As has been the custom here, let's wrap up with grab bag of tips and suggestions.

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By: Jeff Hicks submitted:Aug 4 2023

Create a Hyper-V VM to run pfSense with a PowerShell script (wmatthyssen.com)
In this blog post, you'll learn how to use a PowerShell script to create a Hyper-V virtual machine

(VM) toContinue Reading

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By: Wim Matthyssen submitted:Aug 4 2023

Find Who Created a User Account in Microsoft 365 | Audit User Creations (o365reports.com)
In Microsoft 365, user accounts act as gateways to access resources. Unauthorized or suspicious user

creations can lead to severe consequences, such as data breaches and compromises in sensitive information. Admins play a critical role in safeguarding organizational data by [...]

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By: Kavya submitted:Aug 4 2023

Function cannot be created because function capacity 4096 has been exceeded for this scope (evotec.xyz)
I had a long day today when my long-running script (10 hours) gave me weird errors with Microsoft

Graph for Teams. Finally, I solved my mistakes and reran the hand to see if the report would be complete this time. Surprisingly, it gave me an error I'd never seen before. "Function cannot be created because function capacity 4096 has been exceeded for this scope". The error is at least weird because it's shown on a production server where I've just a handful of PowerShell modules installed, and I've never seen it on my development machine where I've over 200 modules.

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By: Przemyslaw Klys submitted:Aug 4 2023

Things I use most in my PowerShell scripts (powershellisfun.com)
Looking back at the scripts I created the last year, certain things always come back in most of

them. In this blog post, I will show you a few and explain them.

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By: Harm Veenstra submitted:Aug 4 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

Azure Blob Storage Archive and Rehydration Management (github.com)
I've developed a PowerShell Module for managing the rehydration process of archived blobs in Azure.

This script allows you to verify the status of blobs listed in a given file, determine whether they are in an 'Archive' state, and provides visibility on their rehydration status.

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By: Brian Schroeder submitted:Aug 4 2023

One-Liner Wednesday August 2, 2023 (clatent.com)
Have you ever needed to create multiple 365 Groups/Security/Distribution at one time?
By: Clayton Tyger submitted:Aug 4 2023

PowerBits (github.com)
A collection of useful, time-saving tools for working with Microsoft Power BI
By: James D. Bartlett III submitted:Aug 4 2023

Powershell Scripts for Hackers and Pentesters (github.com)
Basic of Windows Systems (history, methods , tricks) Windows Pentest Methods, Common ports/services,

Basic commands Scipts (Ping-Play, Enumeration, Silent Installer) and more

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By: Whitecat18 submitted:Aug 4 2023

PowerShell: Report On-Premises Active Directory Accounts that are Synchronized with Azure AD Connect (techbloggingfool.com)
Organizations that subscribe to Microsoft 365 and also have on-premises IT infrastructure, tend to

synchronize accounts from their local Active

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By: Kevin Trent submitted:Aug 4 2023

Programmatically generate resource names with Bicep and Azure Naming Tool V2 (markou.me)
RIf you've ever found yourself exhausted from manually using the aznaming tool through the UI to

generate resource names, fret not! I've been there, and...

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By: George Markou submitted:Aug 4 2023

Text 2 Video Narrator (github.com)
This PowerShell script allows you to create videos from specially formatted text files using Amazon

Polly for text-to-speech conversion. The script reads the input text file, generates PowerPoint slides with appropriate content, and then exports them as video files. The process involves the use of AWS Polly for voice synthesis and the AWS CLI configured with a user having rights to Polly.

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By: Matt Merchant submitted:Aug 4 2023

Community

Björn Sundling. From PowerShell Developer to MVP: An Unfiltered Journey (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
In our latest PowerShell Podcast, we invited Microsoft MVP Björn Sundling, on a riveting journey

from being a PowerShell developer to securing Azure DevOps repositories. With a passion for speaking seeded from his first year at PSConfEU 2015, his road to the podium wasn't easy. The podcast was peppered with a detailed discussion on the automated scanner project PSSecretScanner. Offering insights into development technologies, this episode is a whirlwind tour of community involvement and encompasses his love of sharing knowledge.

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Aug 4 2023

Fun

Become the TEC 2023 PowerShell Script-Off Champion (practical365.com)
The TEC 2023 PowerShell Challenge Champion will be known after three rounds of frenetic script

coding at The Experts Conference in Atlanta on September 19, 2023. Competitors will need a working knowledge of Microsoft 365 PowerShell, including Exchange Online, Teams, and Azure AD. Being able to think on your feet and come up with working solutions to problems is possibly a more important attribute than coding genius.

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By: Tony Redmond submitted:Aug 4 2023

Upcoming Events

Experts Line Australia (expertslive.au)
September 19-20 - Early bird pricing ends Aug 9th
By: Experts Live submitted:Aug 4 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

July 28, 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

10 Popular PowerShell Tips and Tricks in 2023 (itprotoday.com)
This midyear roundup of our most-read PowerShell articles contains tutorials and best practices.
By: Heiko Brenn submitted:Jul 28 2023

Automate Backups for Azure Table Storage with Azure Function App (smsagent.blog)
If you've ever used Azure Table Storage you've probably wondered - where is the backup option?!! I

mean, you can back up SQL server or NoSQL databases, and you can back up storage blobs and Azure files, so why not table storage? Microsoft do not provide any native backup solution for Azure table storage

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By: Trevor Jones submitted:Jul 28 2023

Check if TPM chip is present and enabled and retrieve version with PowerShell (alexandrumarin.com)
A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip is a specialized hardware component that provides

security-related functions and serves as a secure root of trust for a computing system. It is a microcontroller that is integrated into a computer's motherboard or added as a discrete component.

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By: marinalexandru submitted:Jul 28 2023

Implementing a Code Search: Indexing Git Repositories using PowerShell (Part 2) (bytefish.de)
This article shows how to use Elasticsearch and ASP.NET Core to implement a Code Search Service.
By: Philipp Wagner submitted:Jul 28 2023

Microsoft Office 365: How to disable the automatic creation of Online Meetings in Outlook (sid-500.com)
In this blog post I will show how to disable the automatic creation of an online meeting in Outlook.

The default behavior is the following:

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By: Patrick Gruenauer submitted:Jul 28 2023

PowerShell Out-ConsoleGridView and F7History (powershellisfun.com)
I saw these two console tools for PowerShell in my newsfeed, and I like them 🙂 This blog post will

show you what they are and how they work.

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By: Harm Veenstra submitted:Jul 28 2023

Reconnecting Pages with Language Variations After Copying Them with ShareGate (menzel.it)
Have you ever copied pages with language variations using ShareGate and ended up with a mess? Don't

worry, check out my blog post to learn how to reconnect your pages with PowerShell in a snap.

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By: Oliver Menzel submitted:Jul 28 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

One-Liner Wednesday July 26, 2023 (clatent.com)
Ever needed to check a computer or server and see how much disk space is being used?
By: Clayton Tyger submitted:Jul 28 2023

Orchestrating 1Password with PowerShell (blog.darrenjrobinson.com)
Over two years ago I authored a PowerShell Module that enabled the automation of 1Password. I

created the module because I wanted to be able to:

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By: Darren Robinson submitted:Jul 28 2023

PS Protector: PowerShell Module Builder (arsscriptum.github.io)
PS Protector is a small Windows utility that simplifies converting your PowerShell .psm module

file(s) into Windows .NET dynamic-link library (DLL) assemblies.

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By: Guillaume Plante submitted:Jul 28 2023

Unveiling a new version of M365Documentation PowerShell Module: Creating Markdown Documentation with Ease (wpninjas.ch)
The Microsoft 365 community has a reason to rejoice as a new release of the M365Documentation

PowerShell module was published PowerShellGallery.com. With the latest update, users can now create comprehensive documentation in Markdown format, complete with an intuitive table of contents. This feature has been highly anticipated and requested by Read more

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By: Thomas Kurth submitted:Jul 28 2023

Books, Media, and Learning Resources

PowerShell Automation and Scripting for CyberSecurity: Hacking and Defense for Red and Blue Teamers (amazon.com)
Take your cybersecurity skills to the next level with this comprehensive guide to PowerShell

security! Whether you're a red or blue teamer, you'll gain a deep understanding of PowerShell's security capabilities and how to use them.

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By: Miriam C. Wiesner submitted:Jul 28 2023

Community

Culture, Mentoring, and Tech: A Talk with Glen Sarti (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
In this episode of the PowerShell Podcast, Glen leads us on the journey of his wide-ranging career,

sharing stories about his beginnings in the Powershell world and addressing his brave decision to move across the globe for his dreams. He unravels the complex world of DevOps, recounts experiences from his first talk on "DevOps, Desktop, and Odd Socks," and offers valuable insights into building effective mentoring relationships. At the heart of the episode is his take on driving cultural change within organizations and his compelling comparison of technical versus social skills in the tech industry. This episode encapsulates numerous nuggets of wisdom from Glen, adding value and insights for listeners at all stages of their tech career.

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Jul 28 2023

Fun

Posh v0.1.1 (github.com)
Posh is a PowerShell module that makes PowerShell more fun to work with.
By: James Brundage submitted:Jul 28 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

July 21, 2023

Announcements!

Microsoft.PowerShell.TextUtility module updates (devblogs.microsoft.com)
We have recently released another preview of the TextUtility module. This module is a collection of

tools that are meant to help with working with text content.

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By: The PowerShell Team submitted:Jul 21 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Connect to Exchange Online with PowerShell and certificate-based authentication (4sysops.com)
Connecting to Exchange Online with PowerShell to automate tasks was made slightly more challenging

when Microsoft discontinued basic authentication for Microsoft 365 tenants, making certificate-based authentication mandatory.

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By: Robert Pearman submitted:Jul 21 2023

Hunting for Indicators with PowerShell: New Files (bakerstreetforensics.com)
When analyzing the impact of malware execution on a system, it's important to identify what

additional files the malware has introduced to the system.

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By: Doug Metz submitted:Jul 21 2023

Learning PowerShell Sort-Object with Examples (adamtheautomator.com)
Learn all of the ins-and-outs of the PowerShell Sort-Object cmdlet in this example driven tutorial

by ATA Learning!

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By: Nicholas Xuan Nguyen submitted:Jul 21 2023

Remove Readonly Attribute from All Files in a Folder using PowerShell (deploymentresearch.com)
When working with content copied from an ISO file, like the Hydration Kit ISO, you'll find that the

files are being marked as read only after being copied from the ISO to a folder. Like the CustomSettings_DC01.ini shown in the below example. The Script To remove the Readonly attribute on all the files, you can [...]

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By: Johan Arwidmark submitted:Jul 21 2023

Reporting External Domain Capabilities with PowerShell (practical365.com)
Whether your organization sees external collaboration as a risk or a benefit, it's important to

understand exactly what you have configured. Therefore, Sean McAvinue has created a PowerShell Script to control and report External Domains.

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By: Sean McAvinue submitted:Jul 21 2023

Reporting Microsoft Entra ID Administrative Units (practical365.com)
Microsoft Entra administrative units are gaining in popularity. Restricted administrative units are

now available and many Purview solutions support administrative units. In this article, we explain how to use Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK cmdlets to create a report about administrative units, role assignments for their management, and their membership.

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By: Tony Redmond submitted:Jul 21 2023

Retrieve synopsis and help URLs for all PowerShell cmdlets/functions in your Modules (powershellisfun.com)
Sometimes you search for cmdlets in your Modules and don't know what they do. You can use Get-Help

*something* to find them and Get-Help afterward for more information on those results. That or using Google for more information... In this blog post, I will show you a way to create a report with all that information in one overview 🙂

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By: Harm Veenstra submitted:Jul 21 2023

Search for Application and get Uninstall Info with PowerShell GUI (alexandrumarin.com)
In my first post regarding this topic I have constructed a simple PowerShell script that exports all

the available software on the machine. In the second post I have modified the script so that you can search for a particular application and get the necessary information without having to pass through the whole list. But [...]

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By: marinalexandru submitted:Jul 21 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

Entra ID Tenant ID & Custom Domains PowerShell Module (blog.darrenjrobinson.com)
Buried in my PowerShell Snippets Vol 4 post from 2021 is the PowerShell script and a link to a

PowerShell Module I authored named AzureADTenantID. Its sole purpose was to take a domain name (e.g., darrenjrobinson.com) and lookup return any associated Azure AD (now Entra ID) TenantID.... keep reading

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By: Darren Robinson submitted:Jul 21 2023

PowerShell HTML Server Racks Cabinet Live Diagram maker Demo (vcloud-lab.com)
This is test code I built to create dynamic Server / Racks cabinet live diagram on HTML as frontend

from provided input inside Excel CSV using PowerShell script.

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By: Janvi submitted:Jul 21 2023

PowerShell Universal in Docker (hub.docker.com)
We are now publishing our nightly PowerShell Universal builds as preview tags in docker.
By: Adam Driscoll submitted:Jul 21 2023

The Ultimate PowerShell Profile (scottmckendry.tech)
Using a combination of symbolic links and a custom function, I've added automatic updates using git,

which allows me to seamlessly sync my profile across multiple machines.

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By: Scott McKendry submitted:Jul 21 2023

Community

Powershell 7 installed on machines in your environment or not? (programming.dev)
Come join the discussion on c/powershell
By: Tovervlag@feddit.nl submitted:Jul 21 2023

PowerShell Saturday Hanover (pssat.de)
Samstag, 16.09.2023
By: PowerShell Saturday Hannover submitted:Jul 21 2023

The Lowdown on PSResourceGet: An Exclusive with Sydney Smith (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
In our latest PowerShell Podcast episode, guest Sydney Smith shared her unique journey to the

PowerShell team and her insights on open-source work. The episode also uncovers exciting updates about PSResourceGet and upcoming events like a bug bash and the community call. Plus, for those wondering about the correct pronunciation of 'nupkg', we've got you covered.

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Jul 21 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

July 14, 2023

Announcements!

Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK V2.0 Reaches General Availability (office365itpros.com)
The Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK V2 attained general availability on July 4, 2023. Microsoft did a

horrible job of announcing the news, but now that the SDK V2 is available, it's time to migrate scripts from earlier versions. Splitting the V1.0 and beta cmdlets into different modules is a big difference, as is renaming the beta cmdlets. But other points exist to consider as you migrate from the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK V1 to V2.

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By: Tony Redmond submitted:Jul 14 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Changing your console window title (devblogs.microsoft.com)
This post shows how to change the title of your console terminal window.
By: Francisco Nabas submitted:Jul 14 2023

Configure Remote SSH Connections in Visual Studio Code (woshub.com)
Visual Studio Code is a very feature-rich and versatile text editor that can benefit both developers

and system administrators. You can use VS Code to edit your PowerShell scripts, configuration...

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By: Windows OS Hub submitted:Jul 14 2023

Disable Automatic Logon using PowerShell (alexandrumarin.com)
Microsoft Windows can be set up to automatically logon using a pre-defined user account without

prompting the user for logon credentials at boot time. Windows retrieves login account information from the registry, specifically three registry values: DefaultPassword,DefaultUserName,sDefaultDomainName. Anyone who has physical access to the computer can access the computer's contents, programs, and files, as well

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By: Alexandru Radu Marin submitted:Jul 14 2023

Get Installed Language from Domain Computers/Servers (nielskok.tech)
This is a quick short blog about how to get the installed language from domain
By: Niels Kok submitted:Jul 14 2023

JSON Adapter Feedback Provider (devblogs.microsoft.com)
This blog outlines a new feedback provider developed by the PowerShell Team to inform users of

native executables that can output JSON.

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By: Steven Bucher submitted:Jul 14 2023

PowerShell Execution Policy: Unblock Files | Security Zones (sid-500.com)
PowerShell's execution policy is a safety feature that controls the conditions under which

PowerShell loads configuration files and runs scripts. This feature helps prevent the execution of malicious scripts.

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By: Patrick Gruenauer submitted:Jul 14 2023

PowerShell Profile (powershellisfun.com)
It's being used in every PowerShell session, the PowerShell Profile. In this blog post, I will show

you what it does, what you can use it for, and how I use it.

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By: Harm Veenstra submitted:Jul 14 2023

QuickFix: Cannot Start Microsoft Outlook. The set of Folder cannot be opened, using PowerShell (powershellcenter.com)
Outlook users may face an issue when trying to connect to Exchange Server, where Outlook won't start

and instead shows the following error message "Cannot Start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook Window. The set of folders cannot be opened. The attempt to log on to Microsoft Exchange has failed"

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By: Faris Malaeb submitted:Jul 14 2023

Translating Windows Update Driver Names to Friendly Driver Names (smsagent.blog)
The Windows Driver Update management capability in Intune is a welcome new feature providing greater

control of driver updates. One frustration I've long had with drivers in Windows Update though is the naming - sometimes the names are quite indescript and it can be difficult to know which driver (or driver software) it actually is.

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By: Trevor Jones submitted:Jul 14 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

AOVPNTools v 1.7.0 (powershellgallery.com)
PowerShell module for configuring and optimizing Windows Server Routing and Remote Access Service

(RRAS) for Always On VPN.

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By: Richard M. Hicks submitted:Jul 14 2023

LogicApp Docs (github.com)
Generate technical Markdown documentation for your Azure Logic Apps.
By: Stefan Stranger submitted:Jul 14 2023

PowerShell Functions to Invoke an Intune Remediation Script on Demand and View Remediation States (smsagent.blog)
!! Updated 2023-07-13 - added additional versions of the functions using the Microsoft Graph

PowerShell SDK (v2), as well as adding paging support to the original two functions. Microsoft recently released a preview capability in Intune to run Remediations (formerly Proactive remediations - stop changing the name of things, Microsoft, really!!) on demand, which is ... Continue reading PowerShell Functions to Invoke an Intune Remediation Script on Demand and View Remediation States ?

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By: Trevor Jones submitted:Jul 14 2023

PowerShellAI v 0.8.2 (powershellgallery.com)
The PowerShell AI module integrates with the OpenAI API and let's you easily access the GPT models

for text completion, image generation and more.

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By: Douglas Finke submitted:Jul 14 2023

PowerType v 0.1.0 (powershellgallery.com)
Module providing recommendations for common tools - This module requires PowerShell 7.2 and

PSReadLine 2.2.0.

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By: Peter Andersson submitted:Jul 14 2023

RoughDraft (github.com)
RoughDraft is a fun PowerShell Module for Multimedia. It provides pipeline-aware command to create,

convert, query, edit, and join multimedia files.

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By: James Brundage submitted:Jul 14 2023

WinGetPosh 0.9.7 (github.com)
A set of functions to help using winget.
By: Yves848 submitted:Jul 14 2023

Books, Media, and Learning Resources

Delving into Pester, Profiler, and PSConfEU with Jakub Jares (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
In the latest episode of the PowerShell podcast, we had an insightful chat with Jakub Jares, the

lead maintainer of Pester and a software engineer at Microsoft. The talk circled around the history, growth, and importance of Pester, Jakub's role in the organization and delivery of PSConfEU this year, as well as Profiler, a beneficial PowerShell project for unraveling performance hurdles. The episode concluded on a personal note, discussing Jakub's journey within the PowerShell community and his ascension to his current position at Microsoft.

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Jul 14 2023

PSConfEU 2023 Video Available Now (youtube.com)
PowerShell Conference EU 2023 videos are now available on YouTube
By: PSConfEU submitted:Jul 14 2023

Fun

Code Golf with PowerShell Support (code.golf)
Code Golf is a game designed to let you show off your code-fu by solving problems in the least

number of characters.

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By: Code Golf submitted:Jul 14 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

July 7, 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Check for Open (Listening) Ports with PowerShell (woshub.com)
In PowerShell, you can use the Test-NetConnection cmdlet to check whether a port is available (open)

on a remote computer. You can use this cmdlet to check the response and...

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By: woshub.com submitted:Jul 7 2023

How to configure Azure PowerShell global settings with the *-AzConfig cmdlets (mikefrobbins.com)
This article is a brief introduction designed to raise awareness about the *-AzConfig cmdlets in

Azure PowerShell. These cmdlets, introduced in the Az PowerShell module version 9, are used to configure your global settings for Azure PowerShell.

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By: Mike F Robbins submitted:Jul 7 2023

Searching Windows Event Logs using PowerShell (powershellisfun.com)
For many people, it's the last place you check while troubleshooting, but the Windows Event Log is

always a good start to pinpoint issues on your system. In this blog post, I will show you how to search, find easily, and export Windows Event Log information.

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By: Harm Veenstra submitted:Jul 7 2023

What are Feedback Providers? (devblogs.microsoft.com)
This is an introduction to the concept of feedback providers in PowerShell. What they are, how to

use them and why we are implementing them.

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By: Steven Bucher submitted:Jul 7 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

Export Office 365 External User Reports for Secure External Collaboration (o365reports.com)
Microsoft has provided an expansive platform that facilitates both internal and external

collaboration in Office 365. While allowing collaboration with external users can enhance productivity, it also introduces security risks.

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By: Sudha submitted:Jul 7 2023

PSWorkItem (github.com)
A PowerShell 7 module for managing work and personal tasks or to-do items. This module uses a SQLite

database to store task and category information. The module is not a full-featured project manag...

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By: Jeff Hicks submitted:Jul 7 2023

Books, Media, and Learning Resources

Copilot Chat – Create a PowerShell Workspace (youtube.com)
You can ask Copilot to create workspaces for popular project types with the /createWorkspace slash

command. Copilot will first generate a directory structure for your request.

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By: Doug Finke submitted:Jul 7 2023

PowerShell for Oracle DBAs (youtube.com)
How to use PowerShell to connect to Oracle databases. Based on my talk at the DOAG Conference +

Exhibition 2022 in Nuremberg

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By: Andreas Jordan (ORDIX AG) submitted:Jul 7 2023

Community

Speaking, Mentorship, and Growth with Emrys MacInally (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
On our latest PowerShell podcast, we chatted with first-time PSConfEU speaker and all-around cool

guy Emrys MacInally. He filled us in on his conference experience and mentorship program insights. We dove into the techie stuff - getting the 411 on Windows Docker containers and using Chocolatey in offline deployments. We even picked Emrys's brain on the journey that led him to where he is today and his approach to brewing beer. We look forward to seeing what Emrys does next! Emrys has been having fun with PowerShell since 2007 and loves to deploy software.

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Jul 7 2023

Virtual PowerShell User Group (poshcode.org)
Sign up for PowerShell.Slack.com
By: Joel Bennett submitted:Jul 7 2023

Fun

Cats on the terminal titles (gist.github.com)
Cats on the terminal titles. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
By: mdgrs submitted:Jul 7 2023

Get-NearbyLocales (github.com)
Gets a list of nearby locales/cities within a certain driving distance.
By: Frank Lesniak submitted:Jul 7 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

June 30, 2023

Announcements!

PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit 2023 (youtube.com)
Come check out all the great presentation for this summits.
By: PowerShell.org submitted:Jun 30 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Ask Jeff June 2023 (jeffhicks.substack.com)
Here we are again, wrapping up another month. I hope you learned a few new things. As usual, I have

a potpourri of tips and tricks that you can use to improve your console experience and add a little pizzazz to your PowerShell scripts and functions.

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By: Jeff Hicks submitted:Jun 30 2023

Creating an Array of Dates within a Date Range with PowerShell (sympmarc.com)
Today I needed to create an array of all the dates in a data range in PowerShell. It's a simple

little thing. Maybe I should have asked Github Copilot, but I'm old skool, so I wrote it myself. (I also haven't gotten used to having a virtual assistant!)

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By: Marc D Anderson submitted:Jun 30 2023

How to create and use your own PowerShell GitHub Repository (powershellisfun.com)
I use GitHub to store all my scripts and projects. In this blog post, I will show you how to create

and use your GitHub repository.

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By: Harm Veenstra submitted:Jun 30 2023

Measuring average download time (devblogs.microsoft.com)
This post shows how to measure average download time with PowerShell
By: Francisco Nabas submitted:Jun 30 2023

OneDrive Personal Gets File Exclusions (office365itpros.com)
Microsoft 365 tenants have long been able to define file type exclusions for the OneDrive for

Business sync client through the SharePoint Online admin center, PowerShell, or GPO. A change in the client now exposes the excluded file types to user view for the first time. Meantime, the OneDrive Personal client also gains support for file type exclusions.

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By: Tony Redmond submitted:Jun 30 2023

PowerShell Polish, Part 1: Perfecting Your Scripts (colincogle.name)
Here's how to take your PowerShell script and turn it into the best version of itself.
By: Colin Cogle submitted:Jun 30 2023

PowerShell: Playing with Background Jobs (sid-500.com)
In this blog post, I'd like to give you a few examples related to PowerShell Background Jobs to

build upon. Let's jump in. Let's say I want to ping a few computers.

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By: Patrick Gruenauer submitted:Jun 30 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

Capture Videos from Hyper-V VMs using PowerShell (deploymentresearch.com)
In a recent project I was deploying hundreds of VMs across a large set of Hyper-V Hosts, and I

needed to capture the screen output of each VM for documentation and troubleshooting purposes. Long story short, here is a PowerShell script that will capture still images from the screen of each Hyper-V VM

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By: Johan Arwidmark submitted:Jun 30 2023

Graph PowerShell Samples Community (github.com)
This forum is a place where you can find community contributed Microsoft Graph PowerShell samples.
By: msgraph submitted:Jun 30 2023

Start-MultiJob (github.com)
Just released my latest script: Start-MultiJob! It executes multiple Scriptblocks concurrently,

effortlessly tracking their outputs while dynamically updating the same line with the latest information stream from each script block.

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By: Christian Ritter submitted:Jun 30 2023

Community

NTLM to Cloud Security: Insights from National MSP Director Mike Soule (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
In this episode of the PowerShell Podcast, we delve into a range of topics with Mike Soule, National

Director for a Managed Services Provider (MSP). From exploring the pitfalls of NTLM and discussing alternatives to learning the ins and outs of Jupyter and .NET interactive notebooks, we cover it all. We also compare major cloud providers and uncover untapped security features in Office 365 that you could be leveraging right now. Join us for an insightful conversation packed with valuable information and actionable advice for IT professionals navigating the ever-changing landscape of the industry.

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Jun 30 2023

Who are some users that write really awesome PowerShell code? (programming.dev)
A great question with some great answers. Come add your own.
By: Greg Tate submitted:Jun 30 2023

Upcoming Events

PowerShell on the River (powershellchatt.com)
Don't miss PowerShell on the River August 11-12, 2023 in Chattanooga, TN
By: Chattanooga PowerShell user group submitted:Jun 30 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

June 23, 2023

Announcements!

Azure AD Graph Retirement and PowerShell Module Deprecation Updates (techcommunity.microsoft.com)
tl;td you have until March 30, 2024. But still read the article to get full details on the

deprecation of the Azure AD and MS Online modules.

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By: Kristopher Bash submitted:Jun 23 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Automating Microsoft Planner Plan Creation with PowerShell (practical365.com)
Creating a Planner plan from a template allows a team working on a project to start working with the

plan without creating a new plan from scratch. This is particularly useful when the same basic plan is used on multiple occasions. In this article, Sean Mcavinue shows you how to do this with some PowerShell Automation!

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By: Sean McAvinue submitted:Jun 23 2023

Creating an Array of Dates within a Date Range with PowerShell (sympmarc.com)
Today I needed to create an array of all the dates in a data range in PowerShell. It's a simple

little thing. Maybe I should have asked Github Copilot, but I'm old skool, so I wrote it myself. (I also haven't gotten used to having a virtual assistant!)

(+)
By: Marc D Anderson submitted:Jun 23 2023

PowerShell Automatic Variables (powershellisfun.com)
They are there for you, but sometimes you forget they are there... Automatic Variables! In this blog

post, I will show you some examples and why they are so helpful!

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By: Harm Veenstra submitted:Jun 23 2023

Running Multiple Instances of SqlBulkCopy in Parallel from PowerShell (techcommunity.microsoft.com)
Today, we encountered an interesting service request of attempting to reduce the load times for

100,000 records from a table with 97 varchar(320) fields in an Azure SQL HyperScale database. Following, I would like to share my lessons learned here.

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By: Jose Manuel Jurado Diaz submitted:Jun 23 2023

Using Get-Date in PowerShell for Multiple Languages (deploymentresearch.com)
In a recent project I was collecting client health data across machines in multiple regions, all

with different cultures/languages configured. As part of the collection, I was adding in a date column in my report via PowerShell. I was using the Get-Date command to get the current date, and then applying the native format options

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By: Johan Arwidmark submitted:Jun 23 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

Azure Automation GUI (github.com)
A Web App front end for Azure Automation Runbooks. Use this project as a starting point for

developing custom interfaces to trigger automation tasks. Based on the Azure Static Web Apps (SWA) Free plan.

(+)
By: Chris Redit submitted:Jun 23 2023

Export Microsoft 365 Inactive User Report using MS Graph PowerShell (o365reports.com)
Microsoft 365 admins often check the last logon time to generate inactive users report. This report

plays a crucial role in effectively managing user accounts, optimizing licenses, enhancing security, and meeting compliance requirements. So, let's see how to check inactive users

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By: Kavya June submitted:Jun 23 2023

PowerShell-Yayaml (github.com)
Yet Another YAML PowerShell parser and writer. While there are a few other YAML modules out on the

gallery this module includes the following features:

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By: Jordan Borean submitted:Jun 23 2023

Community

My 100th post and… A PowerShellisfun logo! (powershellisfun.com)
Congrats to Harm on hitting 100 posts. I know a bunch of them have helped add content to this weekly

list.

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By: Harm Veenstra submitted:Jun 23 2023

PowerShell Unplugged: A Symphony of Tech and Music with Jim Truher (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
In this episode of the PowerShell Podcast, we welcome special guest Jim Truher, one of the founding

fathers of PowerShell. We discuss his fascinating journey from being a professional musician to transitioning into a career in technology, the origins of PowerShell, and how he became involved in its creation. Jim shares insights into the new PowerShell Crescendo module, its benefits for developers and IT professionals, as well as the early challenges faced in bringing PowerShell to market, overcoming skepticism, and promoting its user base. We also explore the unique relationship between PowerShell and Microsoft Exchange and discuss Jim's most significant successes while working on PowerShell. Throughout the conversation, we learn more about the ongoing evolution of PowerShell and its potential future direction. Don't miss this insightful and engaging episode as we dive deep into the melodious journey of Jim Truher and the world of PowerShell.

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Jun 23 2023

Who are some users that write really awesome PowerShell code? (programming.dev)
Do any of you have a list of users in the community from which you've taken inspiration in your own

code? Who are they? Come add your recommendations to the list.

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By: Greg Tate submitted:Jun 23 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

June 16, 2023

Announcements!

New PowerShell Community (programming.dev)
c/PowerShell is now up and running on the programming.dev instance of Lemmy. What's Lemmy? Lemmy is

a federated social media platform, like Mastodon. However, while Mastodon is a Twitter clone, Lemmy is a Reddit clone. The entire programming.dev instance has been growing fast and is a very friendly and helpful community.

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By: c/PowerShell submitted:Jun 16 2023

PSResourceGet Preview is Now Available (devblogs.microsoft.com)
Microsoft.PowerShell.PSResourceGet is a continuation of the PowerShellGet 3.0 project. The first

preview release of this module under the new name is now available on the PowerShell Gallery. This release contains the module rename, and reintroduces support for Azure Artifacts, GitHub packages,

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By: The PowerShell Team submitted:Jun 16 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

How to Integrate the Linux Sudo Windows Port and PowerShell (adamtheautomator.com)
Escalate your applications with administrative privileges through the Sudo Windows port or with

gsudo and take control of your system!

(+)
By: Nicholas Xuan Nguyen submitted:Jun 16 2023

Measure Link Speed (Bandwith) with PowerShell (sid-500.com)
Recently I have been working on a script which should check the download speed. With PowerShell of

course. I would like to share it here.

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By: Patrick Gruenauer submitted:Jun 16 2023

Microsoft Sets March 2024 Date for Retirement of Old Azure AD PowerShell Modules (practical365.com)
After much humming and hawing, Microsoft reset the retirement date for several old Azure AD modules

to March 30, 2024. The nine-month extension is there to help customers convert scripts to use the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK or Graph API requests. On the upside, the extra time is good as it creates space to migrate scripts. On the downside, there's still some challenges in converting from the old Azure AD modules.

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By: Tony Redmond submitted:Jun 16 2023

Russian hackers use PowerShell USB malware to drop backdoors (bleepingcomputer.com)
The Russian state-sponsored hacking group Gamaredon (aka Armageddon, or Shuckworm) continues to

target critical organizations in Ukraine's military and security intelligence sectors, employing a refreshed toolset and new infection tactics.

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By: Bill Toulas submitted:Jun 16 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

PoshwordGenerator v 0.1.0 (powershellgallery.com)
Generates new password for manual use or in automation.
By: Daniel Ring submitted:Jun 16 2023

PowerShell HTML based Live Ping Monitor Demo (vcloud-lab.com)
This is small demo where I combined PowerShell + HTML to create a dashboard report for ping.

(Disclaimer: As with all code besure to review everything in it before running it in your local environment. I am just adding this because this is my first time linking to vcloud-lab and this project contains more than just PowerShell. However, I have reviewed the code and did not see anything unexpected, but don't just take my word for it. I'm certainly not a JavaScript expert.)

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By: vCloud-lab.com submitted:Jun 16 2023

PowerShell Universal v4.0 (blog.ironmansoftware.com)
Learn about PowerShell Universal v4.0. This includes info about the new app designer, better module

support and more.

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By: Adam Driscoll submitted:Jun 16 2023

PSConfig.Crescendo v 0.1.4 (powershellgallery.com)
PowerShell cmdlets for SharePoint PSConfig tool wrapped with MS Crescendo.
By: Dennis Lindvist submitted:Jun 16 2023

ShowDemo v 0.1.2 (powershellgallery.com)
A simple tool to showcase your scripts.
By: James Brundage submitted:Jun 16 2023

Books, Media, and Learning Resources

Copilot for PowerShell (youtube.com)
If you want to learn how to use GitHub Copilot, the AI pair programmer that helps you write code

faster and better, then this video is for you.

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By: Pierre Roman submitted:Jun 16 2023

Community

PowerShell Exposed: Security, Remoting, and More with Fred Weinmann (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
In this exciting episode of the PowerShell Podcast, we dive deep into the realm of PowerShell with

our esteemed guest, Fred Weinmann. We explore the strengths and weaknesses of VS Code and the ISE, as well as discuss crucial topics like script block logging, Windows Event Forwarding, and the importance of code signing. Fred also gives us a sneak peek of his PSConfEU topics, highlighting JEA and parameter binding while providing valuable insights on the dos and don'ts of PS Remoting. Security aficionados won't want to miss our discussion on the biggest threats to PowerShell security and PowerShell profiles. Lastly, we catch up with Fred on his latest projects and developments in the PowerShell world. Don't miss this opportunity to learn and laugh with us!

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Jun 16 2023

Fun

Show spinner on the Windows Terminal tabs for every command. (gist.github.com)
Show spinner on the Windows Terminal tabs for every command. - TerminalSpinner.ps1
By: mdgrs submitted:Jun 16 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

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