PowerShell

• Windows Server Inventory Report Script
• Clean files on a schedule with Powershell script
• How to completely hide language bar/selector Windows 11
• Initial Installation script for Windows Azure VMs
• Disk cleaning script on Windows Azure VMs
• Get Device serial number on Windows 11 24H2 and up
• How to upload PowerShell script to Gallery with Github Actions
• Create AD users with on demand script
• How to Export Active Directory (AD) users fast and easy
• Set correct language and timezone on Azure VM
• Get Windows Product Key with PowerShell
• Using PowerShell remote sessions
• How to enable Remote Group Policy update
• Bulk create Active Directory users with Powershell

Windows Server Inventory Report Script

To help us IT identifying certain configurations on a server and possible misconfigurations I have made a PowerShell script which creates a complete overview of the current server configuration and exports it as a single HTML file.

In this post I will explain how to use it and how the script works.

An example of the output of the script.

Where to download this script?

For the fast pass, my script can be downloaded here:

Download script from GitHub

What does the Server Inventory script do?

The script I have made creates a full system configuration report which shows us a lot of information:

• Generic System information
• Network information
• Firewall configuration and Ports
• Storage information
• Applications
• Server roles, SQL and IIS configuration
• Services
• Configured shares
• Installed printers

How to use the script with Powershell Gallery

I have uploaded this script to the PowerShell Gallery for quick and easy installation/use. You can download and install the script by typing this into your PowerShell window:

Install-Script JV-ServerInventoryReport

At the question for the untrusted repository, answer “Yes to all” (A).

Now the script is installed, and we can execute it by running:

JV-ServerInventoryReport

This immediately runs the script and saves the output to your desktop folder.

How to use the script manually

To use the script, we need to do some steps. You can do it in your own way, but I show the most easiest way to run the script without compromising system security.

First download the script from GitHub:

Download script from GitHub

Click on the blue button above. You now are on the GitHub page of the script.

Click on “Code” and then “Download ZIP”.

Now place the files on the server where you want to execute the script.

Unzip the ZIP file.

Open Powershell ISE as administrator.

After opening PowerShell ISE and after authenticating, open the script.

Review the script to understand what it does. This is always a good recommendation before executing unknown scripts.

After reviewing, run the following command to temporarily disable the PowerShell execution policy:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process

This disables the default PowerShell execution policy for only the duration of your PowerShell window. After closing PowerShell, every other window will have this enabled again.

Then run the script by clicking the “Play” button:

The script will run. This takes about 30 seconds. After it has been succesfully completed, the HTML-file will be placed on the desktop (or other location if you specify this while running).

PS C:\Users\justin-admin> Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process

PS C:\Users\justin-admin> C:\Users\justin-admin\Downloads\JV-ServerInventoryReport-main\JV-ServerInventoryReport.ps1
Script made by...
     _           _   _        __     __            _   _  _
    | |_   _ ___| |_(_)_ __   \ \   / /__ _ __ ___| |_(_)(_)_ __   ___ _ __
 _  | | | | / __| __| | '_ \   \ \ / / _ \ '__/ __| __| || | '_ \ / _ \ '_ \
| |_| | |_| \__ \ |_| | | | |   \ V /  __/ |  \__ \ |_| || | | | |  __/ | | |
 \___/ \__,_|___/\__|_|_| |_|    \_/ \___|_|  |___/\__|_|/ |_| |_|\___|_| |_|
                                                       |__/
Report written to: C:\Users\justin-admin\Desktop\Server-Inventory_20250821_101816.html

Then you can open this file with your favorite webbrowser and review the information.

Summary

This script provides a great and simple overview of the full server configuration. It places everything in nice and clear tables, while still granting access to the raw outputs it used to markup the tables.

Everything is placed in nice and clear tabs so information is categorized, and the information can be easily exported.

I hope my script is helpful for you and thank you for viewing.

Sources

These sources helped me by writing and research for this post;

1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/learn/ps101/09-functions?view=powershell-7.5
2. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.utility/convertto-html?view=powershell-7.5

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Clean files on a schedule with Powershell script

Sometimes in IT, we have software or solutions that need to to save temporary files in your filesystem. Let’s say, a feed with logs or CSV files that are saved, logs or back-ups like the Bartender software. The software itself doesn’t have a solution to clean up those files and after 2 years, the size can be massive.

To let this files clean on schedule I have created a Powershell script which cleans those files in specific folders after they are not modified in *specfied* days . You can define the folders and number of days at the parameters section of the script.

The clean script

The Powershell script for cleaning up files is on my GitHub page:

Download PowerShell script

It starts with a parameter to define the amount of days you want to retain the files. It checks this at the last write time to the file.

After that, it defines the folders where it must check for files with no exclusion of file extensions. It removes all files and folders in the defined folders.

What does the script do?

The script is meant for cleaning specific files after X days. A great example of it in practice is if you have Bartender installed on a server. Bartender will every day save deleted database records to a file without it even bothering cleaning it up. After 2 years, such folder can be over 25GB’s. With this script, it only keeps 30 versions of the file. Assuming we have more retention on our backups, we don’t need any more than that.

The script works in this way:

1. Ensuring it runs as Administrator
2. Enable logging
   • Saves a log file in the same directory with 5MB limit by default (can be adjusted to your needs)
3. Searching for the files to be cleaned, which are older than the specified days
4. Deleting the files and logging them for reference

Script parameters for customization

At the beginning of the script, we can set some parameters for customization of the script. The rest of the script can be as-is to ensure it still runs.

I will refer to the line numbers of the script on GitHub:

• Line 14: Specify the number of days to keep files (typing 30 will keep files for 30 days)
• Line 15: Specify the paths. As this is an array, it must be comma-seperated except the last one. Keep this in mind. You can add as many folders as you want but be aware to not put in critical folders
• Line 21: Specify the maximum size of the log file. It will remove lines at the start of the file so the latest information is always available

Installing the clean script automatically

For installation with Task Scheduler I included an installation script that, by default, configures a task in the Windows Task Scheduler that runs it;

• Every first day of the month
• At hour 03:00

If these settings are great for you, you can leave them as-is.

The Installation script creates a folder in C:\ named “Scripts” if not already there and places the cleaning script there.

Installation

Click on the blue button above. You now are on the Github page of the script.

Click on “Code” and then “Download ZIP”.

Then place the files on the server where you want to install the script.

Open Powershell ISE as administrator.

Now open the “Install” script.

Review it’s default settings and if you feel at home in PowerShell, review the rest of the script to understand what it does.

You can change the schedule very easily by changing the runtime: 0:00 till 23:59 and the day of month to specify the day number of the month (1-31).

After your schedule is ready, let’s ensure we temporarily bypass the Execution Policy by typing the command in the blue window below:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process

This way the execution policy stays enabled but for this session only it’s been lowered. When you close the window, you have to type this again before be able to run scripts.

Execute the command, and when prompted to lower the policy, click Yes.

Now execute the Install script by clicking the green “Run” button:

After executing the script, we get the message that the task has been created succesfully:

Let’s check this in the Windows Task Scheduler:

As you can see, the script is succesfully installed to Task Scheduler. This ensures it runs every first of the month at 03:00 (or at your own defined schedule). Also, the script has been placed in C:\Scripts for a good overview of the scripts of the system.

Using the script manually/demonstration

For demonstration of the clean script, I created a second, simple script that creates 100 dummy files in the C:\Temp directory. This with last write times between 15 and 365 days ago.

$targetFolder = "C:\Temp"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $targetFolder | Out-Null

1..100 | ForEach-Object {
    $fileName = "TestFile_$($_)_$(Get-Random -Minimum 1000 -Maximum 9999).txt"
    $filePath = Join-Path $targetFolder $fileName
    New-Item -ItemType File -Path $filePath -Force | Out-Null

    # Generate a random past date between 15 and 365 days ago
    $daysAgo = Get-Random -Minimum 15 -Maximum 365
    $randomDate = (Get-Date).AddDays(-$daysAgo)
    (Get-Item $filePath).LastWriteTime = $randomDate
    (Get-Item $filePath).CreationTime = $randomDate
}

After executing the script from my GitHub page, the files older than 30 days only must be removed while files between the 15 and 30 days must be retained.

Setting the PowerShell Execution Policy

Before we can run any of the scripts, we have to do a one-time bypass for the Powershell Execution Policy by typing the command in the blue window below:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process

This way the execution policy stays enabled but for this session only it’s been lowered. When you close the window, you have to type this again before be able to run scripts.

Execute the command, and when prompted to lower the policy, click Yes.

Running the dummy files script

Now we can run the script itself by clicking the green “Play” button.

Now we have a folder with 100 files with random last write times:

If we would execute the cleanup script, only the files from 18-6-2025 and newer will be retained.

Review the parameters on line 12 to 20, change them to your needs and then execute the script. I have changed the Paths to C:\Temp only.

The script will now delete every file older than the specified days:

Let’s take a look at the folder:

All cleared now and only versions younger than 30 days are retained.

In the Script directory, a file is created, containing all the filenames it has removed:

Summary

This Powershell script can help cleaning up files in specific folders. mostly i use this for maintenance on servers where software is installed without proper retention settings of their temporary files. This script helps keeping your disks clean and indirectly improves the availability of your infrastructure.

Thank you for reading this guide and I hope this was helpful.

Sources

These sources helped me by writing and research for this post;

1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/get-childitem?view=powershell-7.5
2. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/learn/ps101/09-functions?view=powershell-7.5

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How to completely hide language bar/selector Windows 11

One of the small things I experienced in one of the updates for Windows 11 (24H2) is that the language bar/selector get’s automatically visible on the Windows taskbar. In previous versions of Windows, this was only available when using multiple keyboard languages.

Because this can get very annoying, I researched on how to disable this button to clean up our taskbar and only use it for the applications and space we need.

Cause of appearance

In most cases, this button will appear automatically when more than 1 language is installed in Windows. However, after one of the updates for 24H2, it appeared for me on multiple PC’s. Especially the PC’s which were installed with the Dutch language.

When using the Dutch language, we also have to configure “United States International” as keyboard layout, or we get issues with some of the symbols.

How I removed the button

Initially, I started with browsing on the internet how to disable this button ans they all pointed to this registry key:

• Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\CTF\LangBar

And set the value for “ShowStatus” to 3. However, this didn’t work for me, but you can try this by running this command in PowerShell:

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\CTF\LangBar" -Name "ShowStatus" -Value 3

The way I finally manage to disable the button is to run these commands.

First run this command. This disables the Input manager which loads the language switcher:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\CTF" -Name DisableThreadInputManager -PropertyType DWord -Value 1 -Force

Then run this command to disable the startup item for the Text Services Framework:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /v "ctfmon.exe" /f

Summary

Because I want to share how I solved the problem doesn’t mean you should actually do this. Running these commands can interrupt some of your systems’ functions or other components. So only run them if you are familiar with your computer and be able to be up and running within an hour in case this happens.

If you managed to run the commands, I hope I helped you to get rid of this annoying bar :).

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Initial Installation script for Windows Azure VMs

When deploying Windows VMs in Azure, we get the default settings. This means we get a 12-hour clock, standard UTC/Zulu timezone and such. For users like us in the Netherlands we want to change this but not by hand.

For this purpose I built this script. It sets the timezone for Western Europe and sets the clock to 24-hour system. It also does some bonusses like responding to ping and disabling the IE Enhanced Security as it’s mostly server focussed. We don’t change the Windows language and this stays English.

Where to download this script?

For the fast pass, my script can be downloaded here:

Download script from GitHub

What does the Initial server installation script do?

The script itself has 6 steps:

1. Ensuring it runs as Administrator
2. Enable logging
   • Saves a log file in the same directory and with 100KB limit
3. Setting the timezone to Western Euopean time (Amsterdam time)
4. Setting regional settings for 24 hours clock
5. Disables IE Enhanced Security
6. Enables response to ping for local networks
7. Reboots the server

Using the initial server installation script

To use the script, we must first download it from the Github page:

Click on “Code” and then “Download ZIP”.

Now place the script on the machine where it must run, If not already done so.

To run this in the most user-friendly way possible, open the PowerShell ISE as administrator:

Type in your credentials and advance.

Now open the script by using the “Open” function:

Before we can run, we must change the Powershell Execution policy temporarily. We can do this by typing the command in the blue window below:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process

This way the execution policy stays enabled but for this session only it’s been lowered. When you close the window, you have to type this again before be able to run scripts.

Execute the command, and when prompted to lower the policy, click Yes.

Now we are ready to execute the script. Double check the parameters section (Line 13 to 18) of the script to ensure this complies with your desired settings.

Then run the script:

This shows that the script runs and sets every setting correctly. After running correctly, the server will instantly reboot to apply all settings:

Summary

This is a great script to use for installing Windows Servers on initial. These are some settings we must do by hand normally but we can now to with a simple script. Also setting the correct timezone can sometimes be stupid as the timezone may roll back to the Azure default. This script ensures this doesn’t happen.

Thank you for reading the post and I hope the script is useful.

Sources

These sources helped me by writing and research for this post;

1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/intl/table-of-geographical-locations
2. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/international/set-culture?view=windowsserver2025-ps
3. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/international/set-culture?view=windowsserver2025-ps

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Disk cleaning script on Windows Azure VMs

On Windows Servers, a critical point is maintaining the disk space. If a disk fills up to the end, several errors can occur and impacting the end-users experience of your applications. Something we definitely not want.

To help reducing this chance, I have created a PowerShell script that cleans up your server using built in tools of Windows. In this post, I will explain what the script does, how to install it and how to use it.

Where do download this script?

For the fast pass, my script can be downloaded here:

Download script from GitHub

What does the disk cleanup script do?

The script I have made focusses primarily on cleaning up some folders we don’t need for the server to work. This consists of:

• Windows Update download cache of already installed updates
• TEMP folders
• Unused drivers
• Unused Event logs
• Google Chrome browsing cache
• Microsoft Edge browsing cache
• Recycle bins

The script itself has 6 steps:

1. Ensuring it runs as Administrator
2. Enable logging
   • Saves a log file in the same directory and with 100KB limit
3. Running Windows Cleanmgr-tool
4. Simulating the Cleanmgr tool for all other local drives
5. Deleting unused device drivers
6. Removing cache for Chrome and Edge
7. Rebooting the server.

How to install the Disk cleaning script Automatically

For installation with Task Scheduler I included an installation script that, by default, configures a task in the Windows Task Scheduler that runs it;

• Every first day of the month
• At hour 03:00

If these settings are great for you, you can leave them as-is.

The Installation script creates a folder in C:\ named “Scripts” if not already there and places the cleaning script there.

Installation

Click on the blue button above. You now are on the Github page of the script.

Click on “Code” and then “Download ZIP”.

Now place the files on the server where you want to install the script.

Unzip the file and then we can run the “Install” script. This must be run as administrator and temporarily without Execution Policy.

Open Powershell ISE as administrator.

Now open the “Install” script.

Review it’s default settings and if you feel at home in PowerShell, review the rest of the script to understand what it does.

You can change the schedule very easily by changing the runtime: 0:00 till 23:59 and the day of month to specify the day number of the month (1-31).

After your schedule is ready, let’s ensure we temporarily bypass the Execution Policy by typing the command in the blue window below:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process

This way the execution policy stays enabled but for this session only it’s been lowered. When you close the window, you have to type this again before be able to run scripts.

Execute the command, and when prompted to lower the policy, click Yes.

Now execute the Install script by clicking the green “Run” button:

After executing the script, we get the message that the task has been created succesfully:

Let’s check this in the Windows Task Scheduler:

As you can see, the script is succesfully installed to Task Scheduler. This ensures it runs every first of the month at 03:00 (or at your own defined schedule). Also, the script has been places in C:\Scripts for a good overview of the scripts of the system.

How to install the Disk cleaning script manually

If you want to define your own schedule and script location, it can be better to install the script yourself or only using it when you need it.

Click on the blue Download button at the beginning of the page.

Click on “Code” and then “Download ZIP”.

Then place the ZIP file on the server where you want to install the disk cleanup script.

Move the script to the right location

Select the script and place it in your preferred location. My advice is to not install this in a user profile, but in a location accessible for all users. Like C:\Scripts.

I have placed the scipt into the correct folder. If you also want the script to run on a schedule, open up the “Task Scheduler” (taskschd.msc).

Creating the scheduled task

Do a “Right-mouse click” on the empty space and click on “Create New Task…”.

Give the task a name and description that alings with your documentation.

Then change the user to “SYSTEM” to run this in SYSTEM context for the highest privileges:

Then check the “Run with highest privileges” and select the highest OS possible in the “Configure for” dropdown menu.

Configure script trigger

Go to the “Triggers” tab and add a new trigger.

Select “Monthly” and select all months. Then change the “Days” field to 1 to run it on the first day.

Now the page looks like this:

Configure script action

Click “OK” and go to the “Actions” tab. Create a new action.

In the “Program/Script” field, type in the following:

powershell.exe

In the “Add arguments (optional):” field, type in the following:

-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\Scripts\JV-ServerPeriodicDiskCleanup.ps1

Now click on “OK” twice to create the task.

Testing the task

Now we can manually run the task to ensure it runs on a schedule too. Right click the task and click on “Run” to start the task.

As we can see, the script runs succesfully as it still runs after 30 seconds. This means the task and permissions are correct.

The script can take up to several hours when cleaning everything, depending on the server size.

In the folder of the script, a log file is created:

Summary

I think it’s a great way to use scripts like these once per month on your server. We can better be pro-actively cleaning up our servers than waiting till some issue occurs. However, my advice is to not run this script too often. Once or twice per month is good enough.

We IT guys’ work is to minimize disruptions and ensure end users don’t need to call us. If we IT guys are completely invisible and users think: “What are those guys even doing?”, then we do your jobs correctly.

Thank you for reading this post and I hope it was helpful.

Sources

These sources helped me by writing and research for this post;

1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/cleanmgr

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Get Device serial number on Windows 11 24H2 and up

To get your device’s serial number, use the following command in Windows PowerShell:

Get-WmiObject win32_bios | select SerialNumber

Its as simple as that!

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How to upload PowerShell script to Gallery with Github Actions

When using the PowerShell Gallery to upload and publish your scripts and PowerShell modules to the world it’s recommended to use Github Actions for CI/CD to automatically update your live packages on the PowerShell Gallery. At first, this looked somewhat complex to me but it’s relatively easy.

On this page I will show how I’ve uploaded scripts from Github to the PowerShell Gallery with using a Github Action.

Requirements

• Around 30 minutes of your time
• Github account
• Powershell Gallery account
• A PowerShell script for testing to actually upload to the PowerShell Gallery

Introduction to PowerShell Gallery

In short, the PowerShell Gallery is a public repository which contains PowerShell scripts and modules which all PowerShell users can download and install. All of this using some simple commands:

Install-Module ExchangeOnlineManagement

The official “ExchangeOnlineManagement” module is an example of a module dat is uploaded to the gallery which can be download. Before installing, the user needs administrative permissions, the Powershell execution policy applies and we have to accept downloading from the repository.

It has a report-system where malicious scripts and modules can get reported and the deleted, so we can state that it’s pretty secure to use the PowerShell Gallery.

Introduction to Github and Github Actions

Github is a industry-accepted repository hosting service. This allows you to create a repository for a custom solution which you have created, which can be complete applications, source code but in our case a Powershell script. The goal of Github is to publish your source code so others can use and learn from it. You can also create private repositories to share with only specific users.

Github Actions

Inside our Github repository, we have Github Actions which can automate processes for us. As we want to develop using Github, we want our new version automatically pushed to the PowerShell Gallery. Github Actions can do this for us.

The action automatically kicks in every time a file in your repository is changed:

Step 1: Create a repository

Assuming you have a PowerShell script which is ready to upload to the PowerShell Gallery, we must first create a Github repository. Head to Github to do this.

In the top-right corner, click on the “+” button and then on “New repository”.

Give the repository a name and description, and determine the visibility. Then press “Create repository”.

For this solution to work, the repository can be either Public or Private. As we upload our script to a public reposity, we can also set this to “Public”. This gives users access to the “source code”.

Now the repository is created, and we can upload our PowerShell script to it.

Select the script on your local machine, change the name and upload it to Github.

Step 2: Alter script for use with PowerShell Gallery

Because we upload our script to a public repository, we must define some metadata in our script. This includes an Author, tags, description and version number and such.

In Github, change your script and add this part to the top of the .ps1 file

<#PSScriptInfo

.VERSION 1.0.0
.GUID fb0384df-0dd8-4a57-b5e5-d3077c30a404
.AUTHOR Justin Verstijnen
.COMPANYNAME JustinVerstijnen
.COPYRIGHT (c) 2025 Justin Verstijnen. All rights reserved.
.TAGS PowerShell, Script, Example
.PROJECTURI https://github.com/JustinVerstijnen/JV-ServerInventoryReport
.RELEASENOTES First publish.
.DESCRIPTION A good description of your script
.LICENSEURI https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT

#>

Change the information, and generate a new GUID with your own Powershell window:

New-Guid

Powershell then generates a new GUID for you to use in your script:

My script looks like this now:

When you are done pasting and changing the script information, we can save the changes by pressing “Commit changes” twice.

Press again to change the file, and we have prepared our script to be uploaded.

Step 3: Create an Powershell Gallery API key

For Github to have access to our PowerShell Gallery account, we must create an API key. Head to the PowerShell Gallery.

Go to “API Keys”. Then click on “Create”.

Now we have to fill in some information. In general, it is best-practice to create an API key for every project/repository.

Click “Create” and that gives you the API key. You can only get the key now, so save it in a safe place like your Password manager.

We need this API key in the next step.

Step 4: Insert the API key

Now let’s head back to Github to insert our API key.

In your Github repository, go to “Settings”, then “Secrets and variables” and then create a new repository secret.

In the “Name” field, paste this:

PSGALLERY_API_KEY

In the “Secret” field, paste your just saved API key:

Click on “Add secret” to add the secret to your repository.

Step 5: Create your Github Action

Now we have the API key inserted, head back to the repository on Github and let’s create the Github Action that pushes our script automatically to the PowerShell Gallery.

An action is completely based on a single .yml (YAML) file which executes everytime the repository is changed. We will create this file now.

Click on “Add file” and then the option “Create new file”:

In the top-left corner, type or paste in:

.github/workflows/publish.yml

Then paste in this code below, which is a completely prepared action for exactly this use-case:

name: Publish PowerShell Script to PowerShell Gallery

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - '**/*.ps1'
      - '.github/workflows/publish.yml'

jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: windows-latest

    env:
      # Variables (change this to your script)
      SCRIPT_NAME: JV-ServersInitialInstall
      SCRIPT_PATH: ./JV-ServersInitialInstall.ps1
      DISPLAY_NAME: JV-ServersInitialInstall
      PSGALLERY_SECRET: ${{ secrets.PSGALLERY_API_KEY }}

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Ensure NuGet and PowerShellGet are available
        shell: pwsh
        run: |
          Set-PSRepository -Name "PSGallery" -InstallationPolicy Trusted
          [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12

          if (-not (Get-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
              Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -MinimumVersion 2.8.5.201 -Force
          }

          Install-Module PackageManagement -Force -AllowClobber -Scope CurrentUser
          Install-Module PowerShellGet -Force -AllowClobber -Scope CurrentUser

      - name: Validate script metadata
        shell: pwsh
        run: |
          Test-ScriptFileInfo -Path "$env:SCRIPT_PATH"

      - name: Publish script to PowerShell Gallery
        shell: pwsh
        run: |
          $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
          Publish-Script -Path "$env:SCRIPT_PATH" -NuGetApiKey "$env:PSGALLERY_SECRET" -Verbose

      - name: Confirm publication
        shell: pwsh
        run: |
          Write-Host "Successfully published $env:DISPLAY_NAME to PowerShell Gallery."

Change the information on lines 17, 18 and 19 to your own information and then save the file by clicking “Commit changes” in the top right corner. Make sure the script name and path exactly match your file name on the repository and do not change anything else.

For about a minute, this will show on the homepage of your repository:

This means the Action is now actually processing the changes and publishing our new script. It will directly upload the script to the PowerShell Gallery for us.

Step 6: Checking the results

Now the the action has ran, and did not give any error. It must now be available on the PowerShell Gallery.

Lets head back to the PowerShell Gallery to check the status. Click on your profile, and then on “Manage Packages”.

Here we see that the packages has been uploaded:

If you click on it you get actual instructions to install the script on your computer and we will see the information we have added to the script:

Pretty cool in my opinion.

Step 7: Installing and testing the script

Now we have our script on the PowerShell Gallery, we can actually download and execute the script using some simple commands.

Open PowerShell on your testing environment and execute this command with your script name to install your newly uploaded script.

Install-Script -Name JV-ServersInitialInstall

After executing this command you need to need to answer some questions:

In order to actually run the script, you need to answer all with Yes/All.

After the script is installed, we can run it with your script name:

JV-ServersInitialInstall

The script will run directly which is very nice and useful for mass use.

Conclusion

This setup for uploading scripts to the PowerShell Gallery is really great. We can change our script on one place and it will automatically upload to the live gallery for users to download.

Sources

These sources helped me by writing and research for this post;

1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/gallery/getting-started?view=powershellget-3.x
2. https://docs.github.com/en/actions/get-started/understand-github-actions

Thank you for reading this guide and I hope it was helpful.

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Create AD users with on demand script

Today I have a PowerShell script that creates users by asking the user what to fill in. This works by having a fully prepared “New-ADUser” command with all the properties filled in to have all users using the same attributes.

I will explain how this script works on this page.

The create AD users on demand script

For the fast pass, the script can be downloaded from my GitHub page:

Download script from GitHub

The script described

The script is relatively easy and consists of 4 steps:

1. Importing the modules needed
2. Asking the user about on what details the user must be created
3. Making everything ready, creates the user and adds him to the defined security groups
4. Prints everything in the command window for a summary

Parameters and Attributes

The script contains a set of pre-defined attributes which you can change to your own settings:

You can change all of these settings, but I advice you to not change any $variables because that will break the script.

On line 12 to 14, you have a parameter that specifies the OU to create the user in:

Change this to your own OU when using. You can find this by enabling the “Advanced Features” in the “View” menu and then going to the OU properties and the “Attributes”.

Search for the “DistinguishedName” attribute and copy that value.

Using the create AD users on demand script

To use my create ad users script, go to my GitHub page and download the script there:

Click on “Code” and then on “Download ZIP”.

Then place the ZIP file on your Active Directory management server.

Open PowerShell ISE as Administrator:

Verify your credentials if needed and then use the “Open” function of PowerShell ISE and open the script file:

Review:

1. The parameters and set the correct OU (line 12 to 14)
2. The attributes for the user (line 41 to 57)

Correct those if needed.

Before we can run the script, we have to do a one-time bypass for the Powershell Execution Policy by typing the command in the blue window below:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process

This way the execution policy stays enabled but for this session only it’s been lowered. When you close the window, you have to type this again before be able to run scripts.

Execute the command, and when prompted to lower the policy, click Yes.

Now we can run the script itself by clicking the green “Play” button.

Now the script will ask the details for the user:

After filling this in and hit Enter, the user will be created almost instantly:

Now let’s take a look in the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in (dsa.msc):

The user is succesfully created in the desired OU and Group1 has been added to the member of list. Also the extra attributes has been added to the user:

Summary

This script can ultimately be used when all users must be created in the same way. Let’s say, the emailaddress field must always be filled in, or the address or department. Those are steps that often will be skipped in real life. Using a pre-determined script will ensure this is always filled in.

Thank you for reading this post and I hope it is helpful.

Sources

These sources helped me by writing and research for this post;

1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/activedirectory/new-aduser?view=windowsserver2025-ps

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How to Export Active Directory (AD) users fast and easy

Sometimes we need to export all of our AD users. The one time for applying changes, sometimes for monitoring the inventory but often for licensing purposes.

At this page I will show you how to export all your AD users fast and easy.

The Export AD users script:

For the fast pass, I uploaded the script to my Github page:

Download script from GitHub

How to export the AD users by hand

To export the users without using a script, navigate to your Active Directory management server and open up Powershell. We will do all the action the script above does, but then by hand and type in every command separately.

Type in the first command to ensure the correct module is loaded:

Import-Module ActiveDirectory

Then we can execute the command to query all AD users:

$adusers = Get-ADUser -filter * -Properties UserPrincipalName,Mobile,Givenname,sn,name | select UserPrincipalName,Mobile,Givenname,sn,name

This saves all the users in the $adusers variable. Now let’s print this list:

$adusers

This shows all users in the PowerShell window itself, but we are able to export this to a CSV file:

$adusers | Export-Csv "C:\Users\$env:USERNAME\Desktop\AD_Export.csv" -NTI -Delimiter ";"

This gives us a nice and “Excel-ready” export of all the AD users. It is also very clean, but you can add or remove extra attributes from Active Directory from the second command.

For a complete list of all the attributes that can be used, visit this Microsoft Learn article.

Summary

This page shows an easy way to export all your AD users in a great and readable way. It also has some possibilities for customization but it shows how to do it in the most simple way possible. I also included a automatic way and a manual/by hand way to learnexactly what happens.

Thank you for reading and I hope it was helpful.

Sources

These sources helped me by writing and research for this post;

1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/activedirectory/get-aduser?view=windowsserver2025-ps#filter
2. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/learn/ps101/03-discovering-objects?view=powershell-7.5#active-directory

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Set correct language and timezone on Azure VM

By default, all Azure VMs are set to English language and UTC/Zulu timezone. This will work for a great portion of the Azure VM users but there are users in other parts of the world too. Like in the Netherlands, where I live we are 1 or 2 hours ahead of that timezone depending on the season.

Also, in the case of Azure Virtual Desktop, we want to present our users their native language as system language. For this case, I have made a script to correct those settings.

The script to set the language and timezone on Azure VM

For the fast pass, I have the script here:

Download script from GitHub

The script steps described

The script consists of 7 steps:

1. Ensuring the script runs as Administrator
2. Querying current language (as it must remove it later on)
3. Installing the new language pack
4. Change the system language and regional settings
5. Sets new timezone
6. Sets new language for all current and new users
7. Removing old language and reboots VM

Using the script

To use my script, download it from Github and place it on your newly created or existing Azure VM.

Click on “Code” and then on “Download ZIP”.

Place the ZIP file on your server. Then unzip it so we can navigate to the script itself.

Now we can execute this script. The easiest way is to open the PowerShell ISE version as this eliminates navigating to the script by hand.

Open PowerShell ISE as Administrator:

Verify your credentials if needed and then use the “Open” function of PowerShell ISE and open the script file:

The script will now be opened and review the parameters on line 12 till 16:

By default, everything is set to “Dutch” but you can change them. I added links to the corresponding artices of Microsoft to quickly lookup what your settings must be. The links are also added to the sources at the bottom of this post.

Before we can run the script, we have to do a one-time bypass for the Powershell Execution Policy by typing the command in the blue window below:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process

This way the execution policy stays enabled but for this session only it’s been lowered. When you close the window, you have to type this again before be able to run scripts.

Execute the command, and when prompted to lower the policy, click Yes.

Now we can run the script itself by clicking the green “Play” button.

The script can take up to 20 minutes, so have a little patience.

After every task is completed the server will reboot and you will be presented with the new settings.

Before and after the script

Before the script ran, my machine looked like this:

After the script ran, my machine looked like this:

Perfectly in Dutch settings and ready to go.

Setting 24 hour-clock

Because of usability of my script, I did not include the use of the 24 hour clock because Windows does this because of the culture settings. If wanting to set this manually, you can execute these commands in PowerShell manually:

$24hclock = Get-UICulture

($24hclock.DateTimeFormat).ShortTimePattern = 'HH:mm'

Set-Culture $24hclock

This sets the time indication to 24-hour clock system.

Summary

In the beginning of creating Azure VMs this was something I found to be annoying. This was exactly the reason I wrote the script. This is especially useful when deploying Azure Virtual Desktop machines, as you want to present the users with their native language. We IT guys often like the systems in English so for us, it’s no problem.

I hope the script is useful and thank you for reading.

Sources

These sources helped me by writing and research for this post;

1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/linkedin/shared/references/reference-tables/language-codes
2. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/default-time-zones?view=windows-11#time-zones
3. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/intl/table-of-geographical-locations
4. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/languagepackmanagement/set-systempreferreduilanguage?view=windowsserver2025-ps

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Get Windows Product Key with PowerShell

We simply can do this with one command in PowerShell:

(Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform").BackupProductKeyDefault

Please note that I am not encouraging software abuse or pirating, just sharing a tip to make our IT life a bit easier. It happens that a server or computer gets installed and we forget to document the product key or just to match it with our known information.

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Using PowerShell remote sessions

Requirements

• Management computer/Priveleged Access Workstation
• 15-20 minutes of your time
• Management server and endpoints are Active Directory joined

Starting out

Before we can use Powershell to administer remote computers, we need to enable two things:

• 1. WinRM service (Endpoint): This is a service in Windows that enables remote management. Powershell Remote relies greatly on this service so we have to enable this on the endpoint. By default it is disabled due to its security reasons.
• 2. Trusted Hosts (Management server): This has to be configured on your management server. This is a whitelist to protect against security threats who can abuse this option. Here you configure to what machines (name/IP-address) you can connect to.

1. Configure Windows Remote Management (WinRM)

On the endpoint you have to enable WinRM. This can be done manually with one simple command, or at scale with Group Policy.

Simple and one command:

winrm quickconfig

At scale with Group Policy:

Create a new or use an existing Group Policy object and go to:

Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Remote Management (WinRM) > WinRM Service.

Pick the option: “Allow remote server management through WinRM”

Here we can define from what IP-addresses we can use WinRM for a more secure use of WinRM.

After this option we have to allow WinRM access in the Windows Firewall to work. This also has to be done on the endpoint.

In the GPO, go to:

Computer Configuration -> Policies -> Windows Settings -> Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security

Create a new Inbound rule based on a Predefined rule:

Click next till the wizard is done.

Now we have a GPO to enable WinRM on all endpoints. Apply this to the OU with the endpoints and wait for the GPO to apply. In the meantime we can configure TrustedHosts on our management workstation.

2. Configure TrustedHosts

To configure your trustedhosts you can use a simple command on your management server:

Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts #IP-address#

You can use IP-addresses, DNS-names, FQDNs and wildcards. To add a whole subnet (like 10.20.0.0/24) to your trustedhosts list, use the following command:

Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value "10.20.0.*"

Another really unsafe option is to add everything to your TrustedHosts list (not recommended):

Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value "*"

One small note: we use the command Set-Item. This will set the complete TrustedHosts setting to the setting in your command and will overwrite all existing entries. We can also use the following command to add an entry with keeping the current configuration:

Add-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value "10.20.0.*"

If you have set this up like one of the methods above, we are all set and done.

3. Setting up an PowerShell Remote session

To start using a PowerShell remote session after you have done all the prerequisites, use the command below:

Enter-PSSession -ComputerName 10.20.0.1

You get a prompt to logon with your credentials. The account has to be member of the local Administrators group.

Now we are logged in and we can execute commands like being locally on the server.

[JV-TEST-SERVER]: PS C:\Users\justinverstijnen\Documents>

4. Managing multiple endpoints remotely

To automate some tasks, we can execute commands on our management server on multiple remote endpoints. Think about a group policy update, starting a service or a script that has to be executed directly without restarting the servers to make it work.

We can do this with the Invoke-Command command. In the brackets we can paste our script or command to execute on the endpoints.

Invoke-Command -Computername Server1,Server2,Server3,Server4,Server5 -Scriptblock {gpupdate /force}

5. Multiple sessions and session persistence

With Powershell remoting we can also save sessions in a parameter. We mostly use this to execute a script on multiple servers. This can also be done to use it with the Invoke-Command above This works like:

$sessions = New-PSSession -ComputerName Server01, Server02, Server03

Invoke-Command -Session $sessions -ScriptBlock { gpupdate /force }

The way this works is that you save the connections in a variable and you use this as a whole to execute your commands. Makes it simple for executing commands at scale.

Summary

PowerShell remote is a very handy tool to remote connect to a endpoint/server. In practice we want to use simple and GUI-based tools but we have to dig into console commands at some point. For example, if you accidentally stop the Remote Desktop service or during a system outage.

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How to enable Remote Group Policy update

Group Policy update to multiple computers

Sometimes you want to force a group policy update on multiple computers. Often when i am configuring Azure Virtual Desktop Session Hosts i need this option instead of logging into all hosts and executing the command manually.

There is a option in Group Policy management to force a group policy update to all computers in a OU:

Actually, this only works after you configured this on the remote computers. The good part is, there is a way to do this with Group Policy!

Errors explained

When you do not configure remote group policy update, you get errors like:

• 0x8007071a
• The remote procedure call was cancelled

These state that access to the remote computer cannot be established, which is actually because of security reasons.

Enable remote Group Policy update

To enable remote Group Policy update with a GPO, create a new GPO or use an existing one:

Go to the settings for the Windows Firewall:

Computer Configuration -> Policies -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security

Create 2 new inbound rules based on a predefined sets:

• Remote Scheduled Tasks Management
• Windows Management Instrumentation

Select all rules of both of the predefined rulesets.

After this link the GPO to the right OU and do a last manual GPupdate or wait for the scheduled GPupdate to finish.

Performing remote Group Policy updates

You can use the Group Policy update option in Group Policy Management (gpmc.msc) to perform a group policy update on all computers in a OU.

After that you will get succeeded notifications:

Summary

Remote Group Policy update is an excellent way to manage traditional Active Directory computers and updating them remotely instead of physically walk to the computers to perform the update yourself. Even on Microsoft Azure servers, it is a very handy tool because updating policies can be done through your central management server.

Thank you for reading this guide!

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Bulk create Active Directory users with Powershell

When it comes to creating users for Active Directory, especially in new implementations, you want to minimize the time needed to create the accounts. This is possible by creating the AD users with Powershell.

Requirements

• Minimal knowledge of Powershell
• An Active Directory environment

Full script for creating AD users

Here is the full script including CSV that creates the ad users:

Download script from GitHub

Step 1: Prepare CSV

Fill in the CSV file with all required information.

The script I am using and sharing at this page has the following headings:

firstname,lastname,username,password

This is a very simple and effective manner where the script will base additional information like the emailaddress and proxyaddress attributes on the username.

Step 2: Change parameters

The script has the domain justinverstijnen.nl everywhere in it. This has to be changed at the following lines to your own preference:

• UserPrincipalName
• Path (Distinguished Name of OU)
• EmailAddress
• OtherAttributes

Step 3: Run PowerShell script to create AD users

Download the script file and copy the script and csv file to the same folder on the destination server. After that run the script and it will create the users.

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope Process

This will allow all scripts to be runned in the Powershell window till it is closed. After closing the window, running scripts will be blocked again till running this command again.

After running this command you can navigate to the folder where the CSV file and PS1 file are located and run the script by using:

.\bulk_user.ps1

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