Powershell

PowerShell Basics – Beginner Command Guide

PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft. It consists of a command-line shell and a powerful scripting language built on .NET. Unlike traditional shells, PowerShell works with objects, not just text, making it extremely powerful for system administration and automation.

This guide covers core PowerShell cmdlets every beginner should know, with explanations and examples.


There is a guide you can easily copy the code to the clipboard from 

https://powershell-guide.notaku.site/

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📘 Getting Help & Discovering Commands

Get-Help

Displays help information about cmdlets and PowerShell concepts.

Get-Help Get-Process

What it does:
Shows documentation, parameters, examples, and usage details for Get-Process.

💡 Tip:

Get-Help Get-Process -Examples


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Get-Command

Lists available cmdlets, functions, aliases, and scripts.

Get-Command

What it does:
Shows all commands available in your current PowerShell session.

💡 Useful filtering:

Get-Command *service*


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🖥️ Working with Processes & Services

Get-Process

Retrieves processes running on the local or remote machine.

Get-Process

What it does:
Lists all running processes, including CPU and memory usage.


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Get-Service

Displays services and their current status.

Get-Service

What it does:
Shows whether services are Running, Stopped, or Paused.

💡 Example:

Get-Service | Where-Object Status -eq "Running"


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🔐 Script Execution & Security

Set-ExecutionPolicy

Controls which PowerShell scripts are allowed to run.

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

What it does:
Allows locally created scripts to run and requires downloaded scripts to be signed.

⚠️ Best Practice:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser


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📂 File System Navigation & Management

Get-Item

Gets information about a file or directory.

Get-Item C:\Windows

What it does:
Returns properties such as size, creation date, and attributes.


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Get-ChildItem

Lists files and folders in a directory.

Get-ChildItem C:\

What it does:
Equivalent to dir or ls.

💡 Common alias:

ls


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New-Item

Creates new files, folders, or registry entries.

New-Item -Path "C:\NewFolder" -ItemType Directory

What it does:
Creates a new directory called NewFolder.


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Copy-Item

Copies files or folders.

Copy-Item -Path "C:\file.txt" -Destination "D:\file.txt"


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Move-Item

Moves or renames items.

Move-Item -Path "C:\file.txt" -Destination "D:\file.txt"


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Remove-Item

Deletes files or folders.

Remove-Item -Path "C:\file.txt"

⚠️ Use with caution:

Remove-Item -Path "C:\Folder" -Recurse -WhatIf


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📝 Reading & Writing Files

Get-Content

Reads the contents of a file.

Get-Content -Path "C:\file.txt"

💡 Useful for logs:

Get-Content -Path "log.txt" -Tail 10


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Set-Content

Overwrites content in a file.

Set-Content -Path "C:\file.txt" -Value "Hello, World!"


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🖧 Remote Command Execution

Invoke-Command

Runs commands on remote computers.

Invoke-Command -ComputerName Server01 -ScriptBlock { Get-Process }

What it does:
Executes commands remotely using PowerShell Remoting (WinRM).


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🧠 Key PowerShell Concepts (Important!)

Objects, Not Text

PowerShell outputs objects, allowing you to filter and manipulate data easily.

Get-Process | Select-Object Name, CPU


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The Pipeline (|)

Passes objects from one command to another.

Get-Service | Where-Object Status -eq "Stopped"


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✅ Summary

These cmdlets form the foundation of PowerShell and allow you to:

Navigate and manage the file system

Control processes and services

Read and write files

Execute commands locally and remotely

Build powerful automation scripts


PowerShell scales from simple one-liners to enterprise-grade automation, making it an essential skill for IT support, system administrators, and DevOps engineers.


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If you want, I can also:

Add real-world IT support examples

Turn this into a PowerShell cheatsheet

Expand it into a learning roadmap

Add advanced cmdlets (AD, Intune, M365, Azure)


Just say the word.