PowerShell Weekly for May 3, 2024

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

• Encrypting secrets locally
  Keeping security folks happy (or less upset which is the best we can hope for)
• Partition Windows drive in WinPE using PowerShell
  An essential step towards automating the Windows setup process is replacing the system drive's interactive partitioning with a script. Microsoft's examples for this purpose rely on batch files and Diskpart. However, installing PowerShell in Windows PE allows for a much more elegant solution.
• Your Go-To PowerShell Template for HTTP-Triggered Azure Functions
  Struggling with messy Azure Functions PowerShell code? Learn how to adapt your scripts for serverless, validate HTTP parameters, throw descriptive errors, and bind PowerShell output to HTTP responses for robust web-friendly functions.
• Removing Outlook Add-ins From Mailboxes with PowerShell
  The Share to Teams Outlook add-in posts an email to a Teams chat or channel conversation. I was asked how to disable the add-in for some mailboxes. Here's how to do the job using PowerShell to find a set of target mailboxes and then turn off Send to Teams for each mailbox.
• New PowerShell Command Parameters in ConfigMgr 2403
  Here is a list of the Configuration Manager (SCCM) PowerShell module changes in version 2403. So far only the Save-CMSoftwareUpdate changes has been documented, but I have found a few more changes when poking around in the 2403 PowerShell module. Here is a list of the Configuration Manager (SCCM) PowerShell module changes in version 2403.
• The only PowerShell Command you will ever need to find out who did what in Active Directory
  While the title of this blog may be a bit exaggeration, the command I'm trying to show here does it's best to deliver on the promise. What you're about to witness here is something I've worked on for a while now, and it meets my basic needs. If you don't have SIEM product or products that monitor who does what in Active Directory this command makes it very easy, even for people who don't have much experience in reading Event Logs. If you'd like to learn about working with Windows Event Logs here's a great article I wrote recently - PowerShell - Everything you wanted to know about Event Logs and then some.
• PowerShell: the object-oriented shell you didn’t know you needed
  PowerShell is an interactive shell and scripting language from Microsoft. It’s object-oriented — and that’s not just a buzzword, that’s a big difference to how the standard Unix shells work. And it is actually usable as an interactive shell.

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

• Report on Non-Compliant Intune devices
  I received a question on the Microsoft Tech Community forum regarding creating a report about non-compliant Intune devices. The report should give insight into what device has what issue with which setting; the person asking the question was already working on a Microsoft Graph script but couldn't find a suitable way. In this blog post, I will show how to create this report. There are other scripts out there, but I always like a challenge (And Microsoft Graph can be quite a challenge sometimes ;) )
• PSMake
  PSMake is an all-in-one project management and lifecycle toolset for PowerShell.
• 365Automatedlab V2.10.1 Released!
  I know I said every 2 weeks, but I lied. I wanted to get this out! It is now possible to add a manager when creating a new user. Also added a feature so that when you use the parameter -UseDevelope…

Books, Media, and Learning Resources

• Pick Up The PowerShell Practice Primer
  A number of years ago, I published book on Leanpub, designed to help you teach yourself PowerShell. After you get through the first Month of Lunches book, what do you do next? The best way to learn PowerShell is to do it. But it might be challending trying to figure out what to do. I...
• Practical PowerShell: Flow Control
  “Control, Control, You Must Learn Control.” I rarely quote Yoda’s wisdom in articles, but this is an exception. After discussing advanced functions in the second Practical PowerShell article, the other important scripting skill to master is using the flow control cmdlets. These cmdlets are not just theoretical concepts; they are practical assets that can significantly enhance your PowerShell scripts.

Community

• The PowerShell & Global DevOps Summit 2024 Bar session 4
  In this episode, we have 2 interviews: Danny Stutz and Carrie Cargil. We start things off chatting with Danny and hearing about his first time speaking at Summit and how his career has gone. He shares some of his keys to success and he is someone to keep your eye out for.
• Inside IT Automation E03
  Matthew Dowst talks about PowerShell, Python, writing books and more

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