Windows Shell Survival Guide

Useful PowerShell and cmd-shell commands.

Basic operations

Task	Command
Shutdown	`Stop-Computer`
Reboot	`Restart-Computer`
Task Manager	`<Ctrl-Shift-Escape>` or `Start-Process Taskmgr`
Get environment variable	`Get-Content env:VARIABLE`
e.g. hostname	`Get-Content env:Computername`
Set host name	`Rename-Computer -NewName NEWNAME -restart`

Localization

Task	Command
Get the date	`Get-Date`
Set date/time	`Set-Date "MM/DD/YYYY hh:mm:ss PM"`
Get timezone	`tzutil /g`
Set timezone (Brussels)	`tzutil /s "Romance Standard Time"`
Set keyboard layout	`Set-WinUserLanguageList nl-BE -force`

Network interfaces

Task	Command
List adapters	`Get-NetAdapter`
Get connection profiles	`Get-NetAdapter` \| `Get-NetConnectionProfile`
Get IP addresses	`Get-NetIPAddress`
Get routing table	`Get-NetRoute`
DNS servers	`Get-DnsClientServerAddress`
“netstat”	`Get-NetTCPConnection`
Troubleshooting	`Test-NetConnection`

Services

Task	Command
List all services	`Get-Service` \| `Format-Table -autosize`
View single SERVICE	`Get-Service` \| `Where name -eq SERVICE` \| `Format-list`
Start SERVICE	`Start-Service -name SERVICE`
Stop SERVICE	`Stop-Service -name SERVICE`
All service startup types	`Get-WmiObject win32_service` \| `Format-Table -autosize`
SERVICE startup type	`Get-WMIObject Win32_Service` \| `where Name -eq SERVICE`
Enable SERVICE at boot	`Set-Service -name SERVICE -StartupType Automatic`
Disable SERCIE at boot	`Set-Service -name SERVICE -StartupType Disabled`

Firewall

Task	Command
Get FW state	`Get-NetFirewallProfile -PolicyStore ActiveStore`
Get FW rules	`Get-netfirewallrule` \| `format-table name,displaygroup,action,direction,enabled -autosize`
Disable firewall	`Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled False`
Enable firewall	`Set-NetFirewallProfile -Profile Domain,Public,Private -Enabled True`
Set default policy	`Set-NetFirewallProfile -DefaultInboundAction Block -DefaultOutboundAction Allow`
Allow inbound ping	`Get-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Echo Request"` \| `Set-NetFirewallRule -enabled true`
Allow WinRM HTTPS	`netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Allow WinRM HTTPS"`
	`dir=in localport=5986 protocol=TCP action=allow`
Allow RDP	`Get-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Remote Desktop*"` \| `Set-NetFirewallRule -enabled true`

TODO: netsh is the “old” way of manipulating firewall settings and may be removed in later Windows versions. There are CmdLets for the same tasks.

Package management

Windows

List installed programs:

  Get-ItemProperty
  HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*
  | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Publisher, InstallDate
  | Sort -Property DisplayName
  | Format-Table -AutoSize

List all store-installed programs:

  Get-AppxPackage | Select-Object Name, PackageFullName, Version
  | Sort -Property Name
  | Format-Table -AutoSize

Remove program: Get-AppxPackage *PACKAGE_PATTERN* | Remove-AppxPackage

Chocolatey

Install Chocolatey

  Invoke-Expression ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

Install BoxStarter
```
  choco install Boxstarter
```

Useful Chocolatey commands:

Task	Command
List installed packages	`choco list --local-only` (or `-l`)
Install	`choco install -y PACKAGE`
Upgrade installed pkgs	`choco upgrade -y all`

Miscellaneous

Task	Command
Finding files	`Get-ChildItem -Path c:\ -Filter PATTERN -Recurse`
Get Registry value	`Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\PATH\TO\PROP"`
Set Registry value	`Set-ItemProperty -Path "PATH" -Name NAME -Value VALUE`
SHA-256 checksum	`Get-FileHash FILE`
MD5 checksum	`Get-FileHash -Algorithm MD5 FILE`
	Also works for SHA1, SHA256
NetBIOS name resolution	`nbtstat -a NETBIOS_NAME -c`

Resources

Adamczak, B. (2014). Windows 2012 Core Survival Guide, TechNet Blogs, Retrieved on 2014-08-30 from http://blogs.technet.com/b/bruce_adamczak/
Frazelle, J. (2017). Windows for Linux nerds. Retrieved 2017-09-16 from https://blog.jessfraz.com/post/windows-for-linux-nerds/
Microsoft (2014). Scripting with Windows PowerShell, TechNet Library, Retrieved on 2014-08-31 from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb978526.aspx

Remark: pipe symbol inside tables: use | (but outside of code blocks!)