August, 2009

(Note: This post by Ed Wilson originally appeared on the Microsoft Press Blog .) I finished writing my Windows PowerShell Best Practices book for Microsoft Press. I do not have all of the statistics available (number of words, number of figures, number...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I know this may sound like a strange question, but I would like to create a graphical user interface for a Windows PowerShell script. I could do these kinds of things using a HTML Application (HTA) file, but I like writing Windows...

Troubleshooting the Use of a WMI Class Hey, Scripting Guy! When we try to work with the Win32_OperatingSystem WMI class on either Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista, we run into a problem with our WMI script because of the way we were connecting...

Hey Scripting Guy! We are currently beta testing Microsoft Office 2010. It is awesome by the way, and I need to figure out what version of Word we have installed on our computers. I know there are different versions, and I would like to get some kind...

Hey Scripting Guy! I need to generate a list of hotfixes that are installed on my servers. I have 100 servers on the network for which I am responsible. Each of the server names is listed in a text file called servers.txt. I need a way to read the text...

Hey Scripting Guy! I am wondering about something. I was looking on the Script Center Script Gallery, and I came across a pretty cool script that lists items that are in the user's profile. It is in VBScript. Can you translate it to Windows PowerShell...

(Note: This post by Ed Wilson originally appeared on the Microsoft Press Blog .) As we have been busy at the TechNet Script Center with our migration to the blog and bringing the Script Gallery online, I have been giving a lot of thought to organizing...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I am looking for a script that will list program identifiers on my computer. Have one of those? -- CG Hello CG, Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. It is interesting you ask for a script that will list program identifiers...

(This post was initially made on the Microsoft Press Blog .) Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. At long last we have a real Script Gallery for the Script Center . This was a project that was in the planning stages for nearly a year. The great...

Hey Scripting Guy! I am working on a Windows PowerShell script, and I would like to pause the script for three minutes and then resume it. I know I can use the Start-Sleep cmdlet to halt script execution, but I would like to give a visual indication that...

Hey Scripting Guy! I have a bunch of data in a tab-separated value (TSV) file that I need to sort based upon one of the columns. If you could help me it would be great. We are using Windows PowerShell 2.0 if that is of any importance to your solution...

Hey Scripting Guy! I have a laptop that I bought last year with Windows Vista installed on it. I love it. However, I have been reading all the positive reviews surrounding Windows 7, and I think I am going to install Windows 7 as soon as it is available...

Hey Scripting Guy! I am trying to convert a number of text files that have been used to create old Web pages to a Web site that uses a new format. The problem is that the text files are not in a standard format. I need to identify the shortest lines in...

Hey Scripting Guy! I have a log file that is produced by an application. The file is simply text, and is not really formatted in any discernable way. I can open the log in Notepad and use the <ctrl-f> (control –f) command to search the text file...

Great news: The TechNet Script Center Gallery launched Thursday afternoon, August 13! What’s new? · You can now submit your own scripts on the site. Click Upload on the right side of the Script Gallery home page and follow the simple process...

Hey Scripting Guy! Internet Explorer used to be limited to only downloading two items at a time. I found a script that would increase it to 10, but that script does not work on Windows 7. I got accustomed to being able to download 10 things at the same...

Hey Scripting Guy! I have a Microsoft Access database that I need to query from a Windows PowerShell script. I have seen a number of VBScript examples, but I cannot find any Windows PowerShell samples. Can you point me in the right direction? I do not...

Hey Scripting Guy! I really enjoyed participating in the 2009 Summer Scripting Games. The events were really cool, and I learned a lot. One minor criticism is in order: I thought the shot put beginner event 3 was too hard. I think it would have been better...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I am interested in working with WMI and I would like to query for information from the CPU class. Do you have a script that will show me information about my CPU? I am particularly in need of processor speed and memory because we are...

Hey Scripting Guy! Whatever happened to the Summer Scripting Games? There was all the build up to the games, and then the games were over, and that was it. It would be nice to know what happened. Can you do a recap or something? -- ZQ Hello ZQ...

Does Windows PowerShell Let Me Trap Errors? Hey Scripting Guy! Does Windows PowerShell have the ability to trap errors? -- JP Hello JP, Yes, it does. Here is an example of using the trap statement in a script. DemoTrapSystemException...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Using the Get-Member cmdlet with Windows PowerShell is pretty cool, but the one thing I do not like is the way that Windows PowerShell hides stuff from me. When I look in MSDN for information about a WMI class, I see all of these methods...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have seen a number of methods listed for WMI classes on MSDN, but when I try to use them in Windows PowerShell, they do not work. I am wondering what the secret is to making these things actually do something. I assume they are not...

Hey Scripting Guy! I have been playing with WMI on Windows PowerShell, and I think the Get-WmiObject cmdlet is pretty cool. It makes it easy to query for information from computers on my network. But what if I want to actually do something? How do I do...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have been trying to get on the Windows PowerShell bandwagon as I feel it is essential to my career as a network administrator who works in the Windows world. At first, it seemed to be confusing, but now I am starting to get it. I...