Powershell on Automate everything

Automating Repository Management in Github and Azure Devops With Powershell

Sat, 22 Mar 2025 10:22:10 +1000

Working in large enterprise environments often means managing a complex landscape of repositories across multiple GitHub organizations and Azure DevOps projects. Keeping these repositories up to date—especially when working with multiple engineering teams—can be a daunting task. That’s where automation comes in.

To simplify this, I’ve developed a consolidated PowerShell script that combines the functionality of my previous scripts into one:

Update-Repos.ps1

This script helps automate the process of cloning and updating repositories, making it significantly easier to manage a large number of repos efficiently.

How to REST the Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) API

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 16:12:12 +1000

Perform REST API requests to the HIBP API to verify if your email or password have been involved in a data breach.

Understanding and Improving Your Cybersecurity Posture in 2023: The Importance of strong Passwords, 2FA and Awareness of Phishing Scams

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 15:00:26 +1000

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting internet-connected systems, including hardware, software, and data, from attack, damage, or unauthorized access. One aspect of cybersecurity is protecting personal information, such as passwords, account data but also your privacy. In this article, we revisit the basics in cyber security, as there are daily new attacks and ways hackers try to get personal data.

Fresh Development Setup within 10 Minutes using Winget

Fri, 13 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes you have to setup your Laptop/Notebook fresh and also prepare your developer environment and tools you need. I noticed this again today when I rebooted my machine and spent almost 2 hours installing the tools I need to work.

I have put together a list of commands you can use to prepare your environment using Windows Package Manager (WinGet) for you which gives you a kick start at the next reset and you can continue working directly after 10 minutes.

Automatically clean up local once remote branch is deleted

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 12:14:02 +0800

Use this nice PowerShell and Bash one-liner to automatically clean up (delete) your local branch once your remote branch is deleted (merged).

How to get a list of PowerShell Aliases

Sun, 01 Aug 2021 09:33:25 +0800

Today I learned How to get a list of PowerShell Aliases.

An alias is an alternate name for a cmdlet, function, executable file, including scripts. PowerShell includes a set of built-in aliases. You can add your own aliases to the current session and to your PowerShell profile.

How to install and update Azure PowerShell 7

Sat, 06 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Let’s keep it easy with these one-liner’s you can use for Windows as well as Linux.

Azure Pipelines Container Agents for Azure Devops

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 14:06:02 +0800

Create self-hosted Azure Pipelines Container Agents for Azure Devops.

Github Action for Project Bicep (ARM DSL)

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 17:52:23 +0800

All ARM enthusiasts among us will now probably cry out and be happy. Microsoft announced a new ARM DSL, called Bicep. I won’t go into too much detail here, as I’m more into how to use a GitHub Action to use Bicep to generate an ARM template out of a .bice file. But let me give you some context to Bicep.

Azure Github Actions and Workflows

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 17:52:07 +0800

Let me give you an introduction how to use the power of GitHub Actions and Workflows to deploy resources into Azure. I’m going to explain you the basics of GitHub Actions, Workflows, runners and how to deploy resources into Azure. At the end of this post you should have understood how GitHub Actions and Workflows work together to give you a kickstart to run your own.

Programmatically Create Azure Pipelines

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 13:10:29 +0800

This script New-AzPipeline lets you programmatically create Azure Pipelines based on your folder structure.

Function Lock-Workstation locally and remotely

Sun, 04 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000

You can do everything with PowerShell, as well as locking your workstation with one simple function call.

Get Azure VM Cores (vCPUs) per Region

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

If you need a script which outputs you the overall VMCore amount per region, there you go.

Get Local Account Memberships

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Okay, yeah there are plenty of scripts out which give you local accounts via WMI or ADSI and yes scripts exist also which give you all local groups but there is not one which gives you both (of course there are also some) but what if you’re looking to implement this as a CustomScriptExtension to your Azure VM?

Get Azure Active Directoy Tenant ID and Subscription ID

Thu, 09 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Get and Set Timezones via PowerShell remotely

Thu, 28 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

As published in my Technet Gallery Script Center here, you can get current timezones remotely via PowerShell with Get-Timezones. Get-Timezones is using WMI to communicate with your servers.

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Function Get-Timezones {
 <#
 .SYNOPSIS
 Retrieves timezones of local or remote computers via WMI.

 .DESCRIPTION
 Retrieves timezones of local or remote computers via WMI.

 .PARAMETER ComputerName
 A single Computer or an array of computer names. The default is localhost ($env:COMPUTERNAME).

 .PARAMETER Credentials
 Commit Credentials for a different domain.

 .PARAMETER Verbose
 Run in Verbose Mode.

 .EXAMPLE
 PS C:\&amp;amp;amp;gt; Get-Timezones -ComputerName (gc 'C:\computers.txt') -Credentials Get-Credential

 ComputerName TimezoneName DaylightSaving TimezoneCaption
 ------------ ------------ -------------- ---------------
 SERVER01 W. Europe Standard Time yes (UTC+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna
 SERVER02 W. Europe Standard Time yes (UTC+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna

 .NOTES
 Author: Sebastian Gräf
 Website: https://graef.io
 Email: ps@graef.io
 Date: June 27, 2017
 PSVer: 3.0/4.0/5.0
 #>

 [Cmdletbinding()]
 Param (
 [Parameter(ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)]
 $ComputerName = $Env:COMPUTERNAME,
 [Parameter(ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)]
 [ValidateNotNull()]
 [System.Management.Automation.PSCredential][System.Management.Automation.Credential()]
 $Credentials = [System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]::Empty
 )

 Begin {
 Write-Verbose " [$($MyInvocation.InvocationName)] :: Start Process"
 $Results = @()
 $ProgressCounter = 0
 }

 Process {
 foreach ($Computer in $ComputerName) {
 $ProgressCounter++
 Write-Progress -activity "Running on $Computer" -status "Please wait ..." -PercentComplete (($ProgressCounter / $ComputerName.length) * 100)
 if (Test-Connection $Computer -Count 1 -Quiet) {
 Write-Verbose " [$($MyInvocation.InvocationName)] :: Processing $Computer"
 try {
 $win32_timezone = Get-WmiObject -Class win32_timezone -ComputerName $Computer -ErrorAction Stop -Credential $Credentials
 if ($win32_timezone.DaylightBias -eq 0) { $daylightsaving = "no" } else { $daylightsaving = "yes" }
 $obj = New-Object -Type PSCustomObject -Property @{
 ComputerName = $Computer
 TimezoneCaption = $win32_timezone.Caption
 TimezoneName = $win32_timezone.StandardName
 DaylightSaving = $daylightsaving
 }
 $Results += $obj
 }
 catch {
 Write-Verbose " Host [$Computer] Failed with Error: $($Error[0])"
 }
 }
 else {
 Write-Verbose " Host [$Computer] Failed Connectivity Test"
 }
 }
 $Results | select ComputerName, TimezoneName, DaylightSaving, TimezoneCaption
 }
 End {
 Write-Progress -activity "Running on $Computer" -Status "Completed." -Completed
 Write-Verbose " [$($MyInvocation.InvocationName)] :: End Process"
 }
}

This will give you following output:

Set primary IP address order with multiple IP addresses on a NIC

Sun, 26 Nov 2017 11:29:53 +0800

If you’re running a webserver it may be you have to run different services on the same port and need to use multiple IP addresses on the same network interface. This can happen for SMTP or Exchange Servers using several connectors.

Expired Azure credentials

Thu, 26 Oct 2017 15:00:50 +0800

In case you get this error below, this error is mostly due to outdated Modules or at least in this case the AzureRM module.

Get-LogonHistory: Who was logged on to my server?

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 11:26:46 +0800

Every System Administrator comes into a situation where you want to see who and how many users were logged on to your servers either via Remote Desktop or via script.

Get-PSVersions: Retrieve Powershell version remotely

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 11:51:06 +0800

Okay at the end it’s a simple $PSVersion wrapped in an Invoke-Command but hey these simple things are needful in case you need to run it against of 100s of servers and not just locally. With the help of Invoke-Command via WinRM and $PSVersionTable.psversion wrapped in a foreach you can retrieve PowerShell version of your remote computers indifferent if you need to use credentials to run it against a different domain than you currently reside. Just use the below function Get-PSVersions, simple but good.

Resolve-DnsNames: Resolve DNS or IP for multiple Computers

Sun, 10 Sep 2017 11:47:24 +0800

Respective Microsoft’s Technet article regarding Resolve-DnsName I have created a function with the ability to run it against more than only one computer. Resolve-DnsNames performs a DNS name query resolution for the specified name.

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Function Resolve-DnsNames
{
<#
.SYNOPSIS
 Resolves IP or DNS name for one or more computers.

.DESCRIPTION
 Resolves IP or DNS name for one or more computers.

.PARAMETER ComputerName
 A single Computer or an array of computer names. The default is localhost ($env:COMPUTERNAME).

.PARAMETER IPAddress
 Commit IPAddress to resolve.

.PARAMETER Verbose
 Run in Verbose Mode.

.EXAMPLE
 PS C:> Resolve-DnsNames graef.io

 Name Type TTL Section IPAddress
 ---- ---- --- ------- ---------
 graef.io AAAA 86336 Answer 2a01:488:42:1000:50ed:84e8:ff91:1f91
 graef.io A 86336 Answer 80.237.132.232


.EXAMPLE
	PS C:> Resolve-DnsNames 80.237.132.232

 Name Type TTL Section NameHost
 ---- ---- --- ------- --------
 232.132.237.80.in-addr.arpa PTR 40292 Answer graef.io

.EXAMPLE
 PS C:> Resolve-DnsNames -ComputerName (Get-Content C:ServerList.txt)

.LINK

Home


.NOTES
 Author: Sebastian Gräf
 Email: sebastian@graef.io
 Date: September 10, 2017
 PSVer: 2.0/3.0/4.0/5.0
#>

	[Cmdletbinding()]
	Param (
		[Parameter(
				 Mandatory = $false,
				 ValueFromPipeline = $true,
				 ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true)]
		[string[]]$ComputerName = $Env:COMPUTERNAME
	)

	Begin
	{
		Write-Verbose " [$($MyInvocation.InvocationName)] :: Start Process"
 $ProgressCounter = 0
 $array=@()
	}

	Process
	{
 foreach ($Computer in $ComputerName)
		{
 $ProgressCounter++
			Write-Progress -activity "Running on $Computer" -status "Please wait ..." -PercentComplete (($ProgressCounter / $ComputerName.length) * 100)
				Write-Verbose " [$($MyInvocation.InvocationName)] :: Processing $Computer"
				try
				{
 $Resolution = Resolve-DnsName $Computer -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
 $obj = New-Object PSObject
 $obj | Add-Member NoteProperty ComputerName ($Computer)
 $obj | Add-Member NoteProperty Name ($Resolution.Name)
 $obj | Add-Member NoteProperty Type ($Resolution.Type)
 $obj | Add-Member NoteProperty TTL ($Resolution.TTL)
 $obj | Add-Member NoteProperty Section ($Resolution.Section)
 $obj | Add-Member NoteProperty NameHost ($Resolution.NameHost)
 $obj | Add-Member NoteProperty IPAddress ($Resolution.IPAddress)
 $array += $obj

				}
				catch
				{
					Write-Verbose " Host [$Computer] Failed with Error: $($Error[0])"
				}
	 }
 $array | ft
 }
	End
	{
		Write-Verbose " [$($MyInvocation.InvocationName)] :: End Process"
	}
}

References

Resolve-DnsName

Get-DellTags: Get Dell Tags and Express Service Code remotely

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 11:40:27 +0800

Get DELL Tag and Express Service Code remotely for more than one computer.

Get-ScsiDisks: Combine Physicaldisk and Logicaldisk Objects

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 11:48:24 +0800

Hi there, following function Get-ScsiDisks retrieves disk details for VMWare Guests or any computer with corresponding SCSI disk details like SCSI ID and SCSI Bus. The function concatenates objects consisting of Win32_DiskDrive, Win32_LogicalDisk and Win32_DiskDriveToDiskPartition using WMI. For WinRM you can use Invoke-Command and inject the script.

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Function Get-ScsiDisks
{
<#
.SYNOPSIS
 Retrieves disk details for VMWare Guests with corresponding SCSI disk details like SCSI ID
 and SCSI Bus.

.DESCRIPTION
 Retrieves a concatenated object consisting of Win32_DiskDrive, Win32_LogicalDisk and
 Win32_DiskDriveToDiskPartition using WMI. For WinRM you can use Invoke-Command and inject the script.

.PARAMETER ComputerName
 A single Computer or an array of computer names. The default is localhost ($env:COMPUTERNAME).

.PARAMETER Credentials
 Commit Credentials for a different domain.

.PARAMETER Verbose
 Run in Verbose Mode.

.EXAMPLE
 PS C:> Get-ScsiDisks

 ComputerName Disk DriveLetter VolumeName Size FreeSpace DiskModel
 ------------ ---- ----------- ---------- ---- --------- ---------
 SERVER \.PHYSICALDRIVE1 D: Data 767 767 VMware Virtual di...
 SERVER \.PHYSICALDRIVE0 C: OS 59 39 VMware Virtual di...

.EXAMPLE
	PS C:> Get-ScsiDisks | Out-GridView

.EXAMPLE
	PS C:> Get-ScsiDisks | ft -a

.EXAMPLE
	PS C:> Get-ScsiDisks -ComputerName (gc 'C:VMs.txt') -Credentials Get-Credential

.LINK

Home


.NOTES
 Author: Sebastian Gräf
 Email: ps@graef.io
 Date: September 12, 2017
 PSVer: 3.0/4.0/5.0
#>

	[Cmdletbinding()]
	Param (
		[Parameter(ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)]
		$ComputerName = $Env:COMPUTERNAME,
		[Parameter(ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName = $true, ValueFromPipeline = $true)]
		[ValidateNotNull()]
		[System.Management.Automation.PSCredential][System.Management.Automation.Credential()]
		$Credentials = [System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]::Empty
	)

	Begin
	{
		Write-Verbose " [$($MyInvocation.InvocationName)] :: Start Process"
		$result=@()
		$ProgressCounter = 0
	}


	Process
	{
		foreach ($Computer in $ComputerName)
		{
			$ProgressCounter++
			Write-Progress -activity "Running on $Computer" -status "Please wait ..." -PercentComplete (($ProgressCounter / $ComputerName.length) * 100)
			if (Test-Connection $Computer -Count 1 -Quiet)
			{
				Write-Verbose " [$($MyInvocation.InvocationName)] :: Processing $Computer"
				try
				{
					Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_DiskDrive -ComputerName $Computer -Credential $Credentials | % {
						$disk = $_
						$partitions = "ASSOCIATORS OF " +
						"{Win32_DiskDrive.DeviceID='$($disk.DeviceID)'} " +
						"WHERE AssocClass = Win32_DiskDriveToDiskPartition"
						Get-WmiObject -Query $partitions -ComputerName $Computer -Credential $Credentials | % {
							$partition = $_
							$drives = "ASSOCIATORS OF " +
							"{Win32_DiskPartition.DeviceID='$($partition.DeviceID)'} " +
							"WHERE AssocClass = Win32_LogicalDiskToPartition"
							Get-WmiObject -Query $drives -ComputerName $Computer -Credential $Credentials | % {
								$obj = New-Object -Type PSCustomObject -Property @{
									ComputerName = $Computer
									Disk = $disk.DeviceID
									DiskSize = [math]::Truncate($disk.Size / 1GB);
									DiskModel = $disk.Model
									Partition = $partition.Name
									DriveLetter = $_.DeviceID
									VolumeName = $_.VolumeName
									Size = [math]::Truncate($_.Size / 1GB)
									FreeSpace = [math]::Truncate($_.FreeSpace / 1GB)
									SCSIBus = $disk.SCSIBus
									SCSITargetId = $disk.SCSITargetId
								}
								$result += $obj
							}
						}
					}
				}
				catch
				{
					Write-Verbose " Host [$Computer] Failed with Error: $($Error[0])"
				}
			}
			else
			{
				Write-Verbose " Host [$Computer] Failed Connectivity Test"
			}
		}
 $result | select ComputerName,Disk,DriveLetter,VolumeName,Size,FreeSpace,DiskModel,Partition,SCSIBus,SCSITargetId
	}
	End
	{
		Write-Progress -activity "Running on $Computer" -Status "Completed." -Completed
		Write-Verbose " [$($MyInvocation.InvocationName)] :: End Process"
	}
}

Simulate-Activity: Simulate user mouse and keyboard input with PowerShell

Thu, 10 Aug 2017 11:11:29 +0800

If you want to avoid or block coming up your screensaver locally or remotely, take this nice script.

Resolve DNS and IP addresses with PowerShell

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 11:12:17 +0800

In this case we’re going to use the method GetHostAddresses of the Dns class of the Sytem.Net namespace. For PowerShell 2.0 you can use following Windows PowerShell One Liners:

Name to IP Address (DNS Forward)

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[System.Net.Dns]::GetHostAddresses('graef.io')
[System.Net.Dns]::GetHostAddresses('graef.io').IPAddressToString

IP Address to Name (DNS Reverse)

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[System.Net.Dns]::GetHostbyAddress('85.13.135.42')

HostName Aliases AddressList
-------- ------- -----------
graef.io {} {85.13.135.42}

As of PowerShell 4.0 you can use the Cmdlet Resolve-DnsName as well as for both Forward and Reverse:

Show non-present devices in Windows with Device Manager

Tue, 27 Jun 2017 11:29:53 +0800

Open PowerShell or Commmand Shell, enter the following

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set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
devmgmt.msc

This will open your device manager with the ability to show hidden devices. Click on View and select “Show hidden devices”.

Select your hidden device you need to remove, right click and select uninstall. That’s it!

Configure Cluster Quorum node weight settings

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 11:29:53 +0800

While using SQL AlwaysOn in connection with a third node on a different location as a DR solution, the third node is needed only in case there is a real Disaster Recovery.

Show-Command: Get a GUI-Interface for any Powershell Cmdlet

Sat, 15 Apr 2017 11:37:17 +0800

Have you ever wondered if there’s an opportunity to easily create a GUI out of every PowerShell Cmdlet?

How to Install KB Hotfixes only if they are not installed

Sun, 02 Apr 2017 11:20:43 +0800

I just wanted to share you a tiny snippet if you’re looking for a simple PowerShell liner to simply get a KB Hotfix installed. It also verifies if the KB is installed already.

KMS: How to Find Windows Server Licensing Details

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 11:13:41 +0800

If you’re searching for Windows Server Licensing and Activation Details of your Windows machine you can use following statements

GhostBuster: Remove all Non-present and hidden devices in Windows

Sun, 12 Feb 2017 11:25:02 +0800

As described in one of my previous articles How to show nonpresent devices in Windows with Device Manager you were able to show nonpresent devices in device manager and delete them one bye one.