Patrik – ScriptingNerd

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How to download CMTrace from Microsoft

Posted on February 2, 2023February 2, 2023 by Patrik

I was recently faced with a problem, I wanted needed CMTrace to read a logfile from one of my scripts on a computer that didn't have it. As a tangent, a friend of mine has a great logging script available here, it won't write in the CMTrace format by default but you can ask it…

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Powershell counting to $null instead of 1

Posted on April 19, 2022February 2, 2023 by Patrik

There is this weird thing in Powershell that you might have come across if you have ever counted how many objects you have. In some cases Powershell will count 0 $null 2 3… You could say that this is a side effect of how Powershell tries to "magically" simplify stuff. The thing is, it doesn't…

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Running ForEach in parallel on Windows Powershell 5 (and older)

Posted on November 27, 2021April 20, 2022 by Patrik

What we are looking at today is something I have seen people ask for time and time again but never seen a good pre-built solution for. I used to have my own "manual" and clunky way of doing this but then when looking for something completely different I just happened to stumble upon this little…

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Use Powershell to create a "fake" program in the programs and features list for indexing purposes

Posted on March 13, 2020February 2, 2023 by Patrik

For a reason I won't go in to here I recently had to create a fake program in the programs and features list of a computer. One example when this might be useful is for indexing purposes but there are other usecases for it as well. Since this list is saved in the registry adding…

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How to read the manifest of an appx package file using Powershell

Posted on December 10, 2019April 20, 2022 by Patrik

Reading the manifest of an installed appx package is easy, however today a colleague of mine was working on a custom install script for appx packages and quickly found out that Microsofts Get-AppxPackageManifest can't be used on an actual appx file. Some quick testing later and we now have an extended version of the function…

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Building Powershell GUIs that won't freeze when you use them

Posted on February 15, 2019April 20, 2022 by Patrik

A few days ago I wrote about how important I think it is that you build a GUI for your scripts if they are to be used by anoyone else. If you have ever built a GUI using Powershell however, you know there is a problem with it that I didn't mention, that is, whenever…

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Writing Powershell GUIs the easy way

Posted on February 9, 2019April 20, 2022 by Patrik

One of the most important tools for any IT professional or service desk technician that works in a Windows environment is without a doubt Powershell. Not only is it extremely powerful but it is also very fun to work with if you ask me. One of the great features of Powershell that I feel doesn't…