Scripting Blog

A place to learn about PowerShell and share stories of automation

Parsing an AuditPol.exe Report with Windows PowerShell 2.0

  Hey, Scripting Guy! I have been using AuditPol.exe to verify the audit policy that is configured on our network. The problem is that the report that is generated has a lot of text, and it is not easy to see exactly what is being audited or not. Is it possible to use Windows PowerShell 2.0 to parse the report generated by AuditPol.exe ...

Windows PowerShell, Invalid Certificates, and Automated Downloading

Summary: If a trusted website has an expired or self-signed certificate, you must ignore the error to use Windows PowerShell with the website. Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. Years ago I used to teach MCSE training classes and one of my favorites was a course on troubleshooting. Because I was a consultant by day and instructor ...

Weekend Scripter: Where.exe—The What, Why, and How

Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. The sounds outside seems amplified by the inky darkness that grudgingly gives way to the early morning sun. I am sitting on the front porch sipping a cup of English Breakfast Tea, munching on a freshly baked cinnamon scone, and hanging out on Twitter via my laptop. Having wireless access throughout our ...

Quick-Hits Friday: The Scripting Guys Respond to a Bunch of Questions (7/23/10)

In this post:  How Do I Set Indexes in AD DS or AD LDS? Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a need to run approximately three million queries a day against an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) instance from SQL. I can appreciate that indexes improve the ...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How Can I Use Windows PowerShell 2.0 to Find Active Directory Domain Services Groups Not Being Used?

  Hey, Scripting Guy! I need to use Windows PowerShell 2.0 to find groups in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) that are not being used. Over the years, we have had several network administrators. Some of them were good, and some had challenges in the “good” category. As a result, there are groups that do not have any ...