PowerShell Weekly for August 16, 2024

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

• Unlock BitLocker drive from Windows PE with a PowerSell script
  BitLocker can pose a significant challenge when multiple PCs need to be booted from an external drive for troubleshooting. The helpdesk must manually enter the 48-digit recovery password each time. However, this process can be automated by exporting the keys and using a script.
• Handling the Too Many Retries Error and Dealing with Odd Numbers of Audit Events
  The AuditLog Query Graph API remains in beta status but cmdlets are now available in the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK. This led to some oddities in results when the number of audit events found by a search didn't match those reported by the Purview compliance portal. It all worked out in the end. In other news, the Set-MgRequestContext helped sort out some retry problems.
• Using Export-Clixml and Import-Clixml for credentials in PowerShell scripts
  Using clear-text passwords in PowerShell scripts is, of course, a bad thing to do. But sometimes, you need to use credentials in a script to connect to a server, service, etc. In this blog post, I will show you how you can use Export/Import-Clixml to do that.
• 10 Useful Tips for Customizing SharePoint List Fields with PnP PowerShell
  Recently, I was working on building a Power Apps application that takes data sources as a SharePoint list. To avoid creating SharePoint lists and manually adding different types of columns, I wrote a PowerShell script. While adding different types of columns to the SharePoint lists
• Confirm Domain Join during OSD
  I’ve got a small group in my TS that double checks the domain join status, then exit with an error code if the OSD process didn’t join the domain properly. Basically, I’m using PowerShell to do a couple of lookups and writing the information to variables, which I then use to trigger an exit command.
• Get Microsoft 365 Users’ Registered MFA Methods With PowerShell
  Nowadays, security is paramount and multifactor authentication (MFA) stands as a critical line of defense in protecting sensitive information within Microsoft 365 environments. As organizations increasingly adopt to configure MFA, it becomes essential for administrators to monitor the authentication methods registered by users.

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

• Introducing PSReminderLite
  For several years, I have been using a PowerShell module I wrote called MyTickle to help me manage my reminders and events. I spend my days at a PowerShell prompt, and I wanted an easy way to keep track of upcoming events.
• Updated Media Tool available
  Back in 2023, I posted a Media Tool app (which uses PowerShell behind the scenes) to download Windows 10 or 11 media, for both x64 and ARM64 architectures.

Books, Media, and Learning Resources

• How I got my Windows PowerShell Terminal looking better
  This video starts with a Windows 11 23H2 installation with the default Windows PowerShell Terminal. I'm a bit of a fan of Oh-My-ZSH + PowerLevel10k for the Linux Desktops I built for work, so my goal was to have a similar looking prompt on Windows for my PowerShell terminal. I take you step by step through the process of improving the appearance of the terminal.
• How to get info from your vCenter
  Hey everyone! In this video, I'm diving into a game-changing PowerShell one-liner that completely simplifies how I gather vCenter information. If you've ever been frustrated by manual scripts that take too much time and effort, this is the solution you've been waiting for!

Community

• TechMentor Highlights: Greg Altman, Mike Nelson, and James Petty Share PowerShell Wisdom
  In the latest episode of the PowerShell Podcast, we had the pleasure of interviewing Greg Altman, Mike Nelson, and James Petty. We spoke with three speakers at TechMentor in Redmond, including a special birthday guest. We covered topics such as imposter syndrome, details on the guests' talks, recommended books for starting and advancing in PowerShell, and a healthy helping of laughs throughout. Tune in for insightful conversations, valuable insights, and a few chuckles along the way!
• Inside IT Automation l E08 l Steve Lee talks about PowerShell 7, AI, Project Mercury, DSC and more
  In this "Inside IT Automation" episode Heiko has a conversation with Steve Lee at the PSConfEU in Antwerp. They talk about the PowerShell 7, AI, Project Mercury PowerShell DSC and more. He also gives some insights into how the Microsoft PowerShell team works.

Events

• Build a Superfast Research Assistant using PowerShell and AI
  Join me for a hands-on session where we will build a superfast research assistant using PowerShell and AI. This powerful tool leverages the latest OpenAI models using my PowerShell module PSAI to search the web, gather information, and generate comprehensive research reports in seconds.
• Coding Rock-Solid AI Agents: PowerShell Precision
  In this session, you'll learn how to harness the PSAI PowerShell module and the newly developed PSAIAgent to create AI agents with memory, contextual knowledge, and tool integration. We’ll dive into practical steps for building these advanced agents, ensuring each one is reliable, robust, and ready for real-world application.

Check out psweekly.dowst.dev for all past editions as well as a searchable archive.