{"id":15851,"date":"2011-01-20T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/heyscriptingguy\/2011\/01\/20\/accelerate-the-powershell-console-with-custom-drives\/"},"modified":"2011-01-20T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T00:01:00","slug":"accelerate-the-powershell-console-with-custom-drives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/accelerate-the-powershell-console-with-custom-drives\/","title":{"rendered":"Accelerate the PowerShell Console with Custom Drives"},"content":{"rendered":"

  <\/p>\n

Summary:<\/b> Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson teaches how to accelerate work in the Windows PowerShell console with PSDrives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hey,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Hey, Scripting Guy! I noticed in one of your screen shots that you were running the script from a rather deeply nested path of c:\\data\\ScriptingGuys\\2011\\HSG-1-3-11<\/b>. I remember thinking what a silly path for a PowerShell kind of guy to use. About the only thing that you could have done to make matters worse on yourself would have been to have put a space in Scripting Guys, and maybe chuck the entire thing in your documents folder in your profile. What gives? Is there not a better way to handle paths in Windows PowerShell? Am I limited to chucking everything into a bin folder that I add to my path, or have an unwieldy long path to deal with?<\/p>\n

— MC<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hey,<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Hello MC, Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. You know, one of the fun things about traveling with Dr. Scripto is that he is world famous. When I was doing the fashion photographer thing, and we were having our photo shoot, dozens of people came up to watch the proceedings. During our tour of the Castillo De San Marcosk, Carl “Fritz” Bertoch, a Visitor Use Assistant for the U.S. Department of the Interior, came up and wanted his picture taken. Being the laid back person that he is, Dr. Scripto was more than happy to oblige.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MC, just like having your picture taken with Dr. Scripto, sometimes all it takes is to ask. The reason I have such a convoluted path is that it helps with backups (all my data is in a data folder) and it also helps with organizing all the materials for a weeks’ worth of Hey, Scripting Guy! posts (documents, scripts, figures, and various notes). I have written a script that I use to create all my folders for each year. <\/p>\n

Dealing with scripts and convoluted paths is not too terribly difficult in Windows 7 because I can drag-and-drop a script to the Windows PowerShell console and run the script unless the Windows PowerShell console is elevated (running with Admin rights). If I have to edit a script, I can drag-and-drop the script onto the Windows PowerShell ISE and that will populate a window so I can run and edit as needed. <\/p>\n

When I was working on my Windows PowerShell 2.0 Best Practices book, I used a PS drive to shorten paths and to make it easier to access the scripts for that project. To create a PS drive, I use the New-PSDrive<\/b> cmdlet. When using the New-PSDrive<\/b> cmdlet, I have to specify at least three things: the provider name, the root location for the new drive, and a name for the drive. For now, I will use the FileSystem<\/b> provider because that provider will allow me to access my hard drive. One of the cool things about the New-PSDrive<\/b> cmdlet is that I can create a “PowerShell drive” that has a root on a file share, a registry hive, a certificate store, or some other location. It all depends on what providers are installed on the system. The command to create a PS Drive named HSG that has the root of C:\\data\\ScriptingGuys\\2011<\/b> using the filesystem<\/b> provider appears here. <\/p>\n

New-PSDrive -PSProvider filesystem -Root C:\\data\\ScriptingGuys\\2011 -Name HSG <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When this command is finished, it returns an instance of the PSDriveInfo<\/b> class. This is seen here.<\/p>\n

PS C:\\> New-PSDrive -PSProvider filesystem -Root C:\\data\\ScriptingGuys\\2010 -Name HSG10 | Get-Member<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

   <\/span>TypeName: System.Management.Automation.PSDriveInfo<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Name            <\/span>MemberType     <\/span>Definition<\/span><\/p>\n

—-            <\/span>———-     <\/span>———-<\/span><\/p>\n

CompareTo       <\/span>Method         <\/span>int CompareTo(System.Management.Automation.PSDriveInfo drive), in…<\/span><\/p>\n

Equals          <\/span>Method         <\/span>bool Equals(System.Object obj), bool Equals(System.Management.Aut…<\/span><\/p>\n

GetHashCode     <\/span>Method         <\/span>int GetHashCode()<\/span><\/p>\n

GetType         <\/span>Method         <\/span>type GetType()<\/span><\/p>\n

ToString        <\/span>Method         <\/span>string ToString()<\/span><\/p>\n

Credential      <\/span>Property       <\/span>System.Management.Automation.PSCredential Credential {get;}<\/span><\/p>\n

CurrentLocation Property       <\/span>System.String CurrentLocation {get;set;}<\/span><\/p>\n

Description     <\/span>Property       <\/span>System.String Description {get;set;}<\/span><\/p>\n

Name            <\/span>Property       <\/span>System.String Name {get;}<\/span><\/p>\n

Provider        <\/span>Property       <\/span>System.Management.Automation.ProviderInfo Provider {get;}<\/span><\/p>\n

Root            <\/span>Property       <\/span>System.String Root {get;}<\/span><\/p>\n

Free            <\/span>ScriptProperty System.Object Free {get=## Ensure that this is a FileSystem drive…<\/span><\/p>\n

Used            <\/span>ScriptProperty System.Object Used {get=## Ensure that this is a FileSystem drive…<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Because the object returns, the properties display to the Windows PowerShell console every time that a new PS Drive is created. Most of the time, I like seeing the PSDriveInfo<\/b> object because it provides confirmation that the command succeeded. This is shown in the following figure.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If I decide, such as I did when I was working on my book, to add the PSDrive<\/b> to my Windows PowerShell profile, I do not want the distraction of a bunch of text cluttering my screen. Therefore, I pipeline the PSDriveInfo<\/b> object to the Out-Null<\/b> cmdlet and discard the PSDriveInfo <\/b>object. Pipelining return objects to the Out-Null<\/b> cmdlet does not affect the operation of the command. The command to do this appears here. <\/p>\n

New-PSDrive -PSProvider filesystem -Root C:\\data\\ScriptingGuys\\2011 -Name HSG | Out-Null<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At this point, MC, you are probably asking yourself, “This is all nice to know stuff, but how do I use the newly created PS Drive?” It is as easy to use a PS Drive as it is to use any other drive on your system. In fact, within the Windows PowerShell environment the C and D drives on my computer show up as PS Drives. I use the Get-PSDrive<\/b> cmdlet to obtain information about PS Drives. The output appearing here shows this technique. <\/p>\n

PS C:\\> Get-PSDrive | sort provider<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Name           <\/span>Used (GB)     <\/span>Free (GB) Provider      <\/span>Root                                <\/span>CurrentLoc<\/span><\/p>\n

                                                                                              <\/span>ation<\/span><\/p>\n

—-           <\/span>———     <\/span>——— ——–      <\/span>—-                                <\/span>———-<\/span><\/p>\n

Alias                                  <\/span>Alias<\/span><\/p>\n

Env                                    <\/span>Environment<\/span><\/p>\n

HSG                              <\/span>88.38 FileSystem    <\/span>C:\\data\\ScriptingGuys\\2011<\/span><\/p>\n

D                                      <\/span>FileSystem    <\/span>D:\\<\/span><\/p>\n

C                  <\/span>59.13         <\/span>88.38 FileSystem    <\/span>C:\\<\/span><\/p>\n

Function                               <\/span>Function<\/span><\/p>\n

HKLM                                   <\/span>Registry      <\/span>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE<\/span><\/p>\n

HKCU                                   <\/span>Registry      <\/span>HKEY_CURRENT_USER<\/span><\/p>\n

Variable                               <\/span>Variable<\/span><\/p>\n

cert                                   <\/span>Certificate   <\/span>\\<\/span><\/p>\n

WSMan                                  <\/span>WSMan<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As seen in the following figure I can use the same commands with my new HSG PS Drive that I use with the C or the D drive. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The cd <\/i>command is an alias for the Set-Location<\/b> Windows PowerShell cmdlet, and dir <\/i>is an alias for the Get-ChildItem<\/b> cmdlet. Navigating PS Drives is such a fundamental task, that there are three aliases (by default) for these cmdlets. I use the Get-Alias<\/b> cmdlet and the definition <\/i>parameter to find aliases for cmdlets I use a lot. Here is the command and the associated output.<\/p>\n

PS HSG:\\> Get-Alias -Definition Get-ChildItem<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

CommandType     <\/span>Name                                      <\/span>Definition<\/span><\/p>\n

———–     <\/span>—-                                      <\/span>———-<\/span><\/p>\n

Alias           <\/span>dir                                       <\/span>Get-ChildItem<\/span><\/p>\n

Alias           <\/span>gci                                       <\/span>Get-ChildItem<\/span><\/p>\n

Alias           <\/span>ls                                        <\/span>Get-ChildItem<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

PS HSG:\\> Get-Alias -Definition Set-Location<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

CommandType     <\/span>Name                                      <\/span>Definition<\/span><\/p>\n

———–     <\/span>—-                                      <\/span>———-<\/span><\/p>\n

Alias           <\/span>cd                                        <\/span>Set-Location<\/span><\/p>\n

Alias           <\/span>chdir                                     <\/span>Set-Location<\/span><\/p>\n

Alias           <\/span>sl                                        <\/span>Set-Location<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

PS HSG:\\><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course, I do not have to set my location to the HSG PS Drive to obtain a directory listing. I can do it from the C drive as shown here. <\/p>\n

PS C:\\> dir hsg:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span>Directory: C:\\data\\ScriptingGuys\\2011<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mode                <\/span>LastWriteTime     <\/span>Length Name<\/span><\/p>\n

—-                <\/span>————-     <\/span>—— —-<\/span><\/p>\n

d—-         <\/span>1\/14\/2011   <\/span>2:55 PM            <\/span>HSG_1_10_11<\/span><\/p>\n

d—-         <\/span>1\/14\/2011   <\/span>2:55 PM            <\/span>HSG_1_17_11<\/span><\/p>\n

<output truncated><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

PS C:\\><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two other neglected cmdlets are Push-Location<\/b> and Pop-Location<\/b>. Push-Location<\/b> stores the current location, and Pop-Location<\/b> returns to the stored location. When I have to change to a particular location to do some work, I frequently like to push my current location onto the stack, do my work, and then pop back to my previous location. This appears here where I use the aliases pushd<\/i> and popd<\/i>. When confronted with an alias I may not understand, I use the Get-Alias<\/b> cmdlet to look up the definition (that is also illustrated).<\/p>\n

PS C:\\> pushd<\/span><\/p>\n

PS C:\\> sl hsg:<\/span><\/p>\n

PS HSG:\\> popd<\/span><\/p>\n

PS C:\\> Get-Alias pushd<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

CommandType     <\/span>Name                                      <\/span>Definition<\/span><\/p>\n

———–     <\/span>—-                                      <\/span>———-<\/span><\/p>\n

Alias           <\/span>pushd                                     <\/span>Push-Location<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

PS C:\\> Get-Alias popd<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

CommandType     <\/span>Name                                      <\/span>Definition<\/span><\/p>\n

———–     <\/span>—-                                      <\/span>———-<\/span><\/p>\n

Alias           <\/span>popd                                      <\/span>Pop-Location<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

PS C:\\> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MC, that is all there is to using the New-PSDrive<\/b> cmdlet. Stay tuned tomorrow when I answer more burning PowerShell questions on Quick Hits Friday.<\/p>\n

I invite you to follow me on Twitter<\/a> or Facebook<\/a>. If you have any questions, send email to me at scripter@microsoft.com<\/a> or post them on the Official Scripting Guys Forum<\/a>. See you tomorrow. Until then, peace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

   Summary: Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson teaches how to accelerate work in the Windows PowerShell console with PSDrives.   Hey, Scripting Guy! I noticed in one of your screen shots that you were running the script from a rather deeply nested path of c:\\data\\ScriptingGuys\\2011\\HSG-1-3-11. I remember thinking what a silly path for a PowerShell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":595,"featured_media":87096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[51,3,4,45],"class_list":["post-15851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scripting","tag-getting-started","tag-scripting-guy","tag-scripting-techniques","tag-windows-powershell"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"

   Summary: Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson teaches how to accelerate work in the Windows PowerShell console with PSDrives.   Hey, Scripting Guy! I noticed in one of your screen shots that you were running the script from a rather deeply nested path of c:\\data\\ScriptingGuys\\2011\\HSG-1-3-11. I remember thinking what a silly path for a PowerShell […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/595"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}