There are multiple reasons why you need a lot of pre-created folders. Making the folders by hand would be a very boring time intensive job. So make use of the available script languages in your system. I have written some examples below.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 |
$prefix = "TST" $basepath = "c:\Temp" 1..100 | % {new-item -Type Directory -name $($Prefix.$_) -path $basepath } #Or with formatting the numbers to 3 decimals. 1..100 | % {new-item -Type Directory -name $([string]::Format("$Prefix.{0}", $_.ToString("000"))) -path $basepath } |
|
1 |
for /l %i in (0,1,999) do md %i |
|
1 |
mkdir TST.{000..099} |
The following error: “parameter name source cannot be null” is just an exception in the VMWare.VimAutomation.Core module.
With this error its hard to find the actual issue. The version i’ve running:
|
1 2 3 4 5 |
PS > get-command new-vm CommandType Name Version Source ----------- ---- ------- ------ Cmdlet New-VM 11.3.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Core |
The actual issue is that there is no “-NetworkName” or -PortGroup parameter is given. So adding this wil fix the issue.
Just curious so i updated the module to the newest available.
Updated VMware.VimAutomation.Core to version: 11.5
Now the error is more clear.
|
1 2 3 4 5 |
PS > get-command new-vm CommandType Name Version Source ----------- ---- ------- ------ Cmdlet New-VM 11.5.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Core |
My test command:
|
1 2 3 |
$VMhost = get-vmhost -name "TST01" $DS = Get-datastore -name "DS1" New-VM -VMHost $vmhost -name "TST01" -Datastore $DS -DiskGB 40 -NumCpu 2 -MemoryGB 8 -DiskStorageFormat Thick |
In the newest PowerCli version the error is more clear.
Add a -NetworkName or -PortGroup to fix the error.
Happy Automating 🙂
This error occur when the default PowerShell execution policy is active on the system, the default policy is restricted on fresh Windows Installations. Windows Execution policy is a security mechanism from Microsoft to protect your system against running unwanted PowerShell scripts on your system. But not handy for system administrators like us. To disable this security and enabling the possibility of running PowerShell scripts you can run a simple PowerShell command.
As described in the Help file of command: Get-ExecutionPolicy
* The execution policy is part of the security strategy of Windows PowerShell. It determines whether you can load configuration files (including your Windows PowerShell profile) and run scripts, and it determines which scripts, if any, must be digitally signed before they will run.
The effective execution policy is determined by the policies that you set by using the Set-ExecutionPolicy cmdlet and the “Turn on Script Execution” group policies for computers and users. The precedence order is ComputerGroup Policy > User Group Policy > Process (session) execution policy > User execution policy > Computer execution policy. For more information about Windows PowerShell execution policy, including definitions of the Windows PowerShellpolicies, see about_Execution_Policies
See about_Execution_Policies (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=135170).
Personally I use the following command, because I can read scripts and see if they are OK:
|
1 |
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted |
If you want some kind of security and run only scripts from trusted publishers.
|
1 |
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned |
With the following PowerShell function you can download and install git using PowerShell.
It downloads the latest “stable” git release to the given temp directory and installs it with default parameters.
Another and more easy way is using the package manager Chocolatey.
The Script:
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 |
function CheckAndInstallGit { Param( [string]$Repo, [string]$TempDir ) try { git } Catch { Write-host "Git not available on your device. " -ForegroundColor Yellow Write-host ": Downloading and installing git..." -ForegroundColor Yellow $InstallGit = $True } If($InstallGit){ $releases = "https://api.github.com/repos/$repo/git/releases" [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12 $Response = (Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $releases -UseBasicParsing | ConvertFrom-Json) $DownloadUrl = $Response.assets | where{$_.name -match "-64-bit.exe" -and $_.name -notmatch "rc"} | sort created_at -Descending | select -First 1 If(!(test-path $TempDir)) { New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $TempDir | out-null } # --- Download the file to the current location Write-host "Trying to download $($repo) on your Device.." -ForegroundColor Yellow Try{ $OutputPath = "$TempDir\$($DownloadUrl.name)" Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -Uri $DownloadUrl.browser_download_url -OutFile $OutputPath -ErrorAction Stop } Catch { Write-host $_.exception.message Write-host "Failed to install Git on your laptop, download and install GIT Manually." -ForegroundColor Red Write-host "Download Location: https://gitforwindows.org/" -ForegroundColor Yellow } Write-host "Trying to install GIT on your Device.." -ForegroundColor Yellow Try{ $arguments = "/SILENT" Start-Process $OutputPath $arguments -Wait -ErrorAction Stop } Catch { Write-host $_.exception.message Write-host "Failed to install Git on your laptop, download and install GIT Manually." -ForegroundColor Red Write-host "Download Location: https://gitforwindows.org/" -ForegroundColor Yellow } } Else { Write-host "Git is already installed, no action needed." -ForegroundColor Green } } CheckAndInstallGit -Repo "git-for-windows" -TempDir "c:\temp" |
After upgrading the PowerShell module to the latest version now available (11.3.0.13964823), my invoke-vmscript goes wrong. The following exception occurs:
|
1 2 3 4 |
Invoke-VMScript : Invoke-VMScript An error occurred while sending the request. + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Invoke-VMScript], ViError + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Client20_VmGuestServiceImpl_DownloadFileFromGuest_DownloadError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.InvokeVmScript |
Finally after a couple hours of troubleshooting, parameter checking and reinstalls we found the issue. The issue is caused by a untrusted certificate of the VMWare VCenter server.
To solve this the “recommended” way: Check and fix your certificates on your system and VCenter server.
The dirty “not recommended” way: Add the following code to your script.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 |
add-type @" using System.Net; using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates; public class TrustAllCertsPolicy : ICertificatePolicy { public bool CheckValidationResult( ServicePoint srvPoint, X509Certificate certificate, WebRequest request, int certificateProblem) { return true; } } "@ [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::CertificatePolicy = New-Object TrustAllCertsPolicy |
A nightmare for many security auditors are the plain tekst Passwords in PowerShell scripts. Offcourse this is not nessecary, we can encrypt this in local files.
But there is a difference how to encrypt passwords. Tou can encrypt it with your “user account key” or system wide with a “MachineKeyStore”.
The second one (machine key) is handy when you need to run scheduled PowerShell scripts under different user accounts.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 |
<# .DESCRIPTION Creating a credential file with machine key encryption. .NOTES Version: 1.0 Author: https://www.robvit.com Creation Date: 17-8-2019 Purpose/Change: Initial script development .EXAMPLE $username = "robvit" $keystorename = "storeRobvit" $key = (2,3,56,34,254,222,1,1,2,23,42,54,33,233,1,34,2,7,8,5,35,43,6,6,7,6,6,6,31,33,60,23) GetSecureSystemCredentials -key $key -Keystorename $keystorename -username $username -credpath "c:\cred_$($username).xml" #> function GetSecureSystemCredentials { Param( $key, [string]$Keystorename, [string]$Credpath, [string]$UserName ) $csp = New-Object System.Security.Cryptography.CspParameters $csp.KeyContainerName = $keystorename $csp.Flags = $csp.Flags -bor [System.Security.Cryptography.CspProviderFlags]::UseMachineKeyStore $rsa = New-Object System.Security.Cryptography.RSACryptoServiceProvider -ArgumentList 5120,$csp $rsa.PersistKeyInCsp = $true if(!(Test-Path $credpath)) {Write-host "No Credentials Saved Yet. " $pass = Read-Host -AsSecureString -prompt "Enter a Password:" $securepass = $pass |ConvertFrom-SecureString -Key $key $bytes = [byte[]][char[]]$securepass $encrypted = $rsa.Encrypt($bytes,$true) $encrypted | Export-Clixml $Credpath $password = [char[]]$rsa.Decrypt($encrypted, $true) -join "" |ConvertTo-SecureString -Key $key $cred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PsCredential $Username,$password } Else { $encrypted = Import-Clixml $Credpath $password = [char[]]$rsa.Decrypt($encrypted, $true) -join "" |ConvertTo-SecureString -Key $key $cred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PsCredential $Username,$password } $cred } $username = "robvit" $keystorename = "storeRobvit" $key = (2,3,56,34,254,222,1,1,2,23,42,54,33,233,1,34,2,7,8,5,35,43,6,6,7,6,6,6,31,33,60,23) $cred = GetSecureSystemCredentials -key $key -Keystorename $keystorename -username $username -credpath "c:\cred_$($username).xml" $cred |
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 |
<# .DESCRIPTION Creating a secure credential file with user key encryption. .NOTES Version: 1.0 Author: https://www.robvit.com Creation Date: 17-8-2019 Purpose/Change: Initial script development .EXAMPLE $username = "robvit" $keystorename = "storeRobvit" $key = (2,3,56,34,254,222,1,1,2,23,42,54,33,233,1,34,2,7,8,5,35,43,6,6,7,6,6,6,31,33,60,23) GetSecureSystemCredentials -key $key -Keystorename $keystorename -username $username -credpath "c:\cred_$($username).xml" #> function GetEncryptedUserKeyPassword { Param ( [string]$Username, [string]$Credpath ) if(!(Test-Path $credpath)) { Get-Credential -UserName $Username -Message "Enter the credentials for Username $($Username)" | Export-CliXml $credpath } $cred = import-clixml -path $credpath $cred } $Username = "robvit" $credpath = "$env:USERPROFILE\Cred_$($Username).xml" $cred = GetEncryptedUserKeyPassword -Username $username -Credpath $credpath $cred |
Last week I got a question about some old VB script which create a popup when the password of the Windows user is going to expire. They couldn’t use the old VBScript because they make use of both methods, fine-grained password policies and default domain policies.
Created a login script for creating pop-ups. The script checks if a domain user is member of a security group. If not then use the default domain policy.
I know the script can have some improvements but, it can give you an idea how to create such PowerShell pop-up scripts. If you post your improvements in the comments below, I will add them. For now it’s just about the functionality.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 |
#You can add more groups by adding names and values like below. $PoliCys = @{"PassWordPolicyGroup1"="90";"PassWordPolicyGroup2"="120"} #If not in the groups above, the default password experiation policy is used $DefaultP = 180 #Show popup if possible experation is going below the following day count $WarnDays = 14 $Searcher = [adsisearcher]::new() $Searcher.Filter="SamAccountName=$($env:USERNAME)" $object = $Searcher.FindOne().Properties $Properties = @{ "Name" = $Object.name -as [string] "PWLastSet" = $([datetime]::fromfiletime($object.pwdlastset[0])) "MemberOf" = $Object.memberof "CurrDate" = $(get-date) } # Output the info $a = New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property $Properties $i = $null $PoliCys.getEnumerator() | foreach { If($a.MemberOf -match $_.name ){ $PopupSet = 1 $DaysLastPWSet = $a.CurrDate - $a.PWLastSet $DaysLeft = $_.Value - $DaysLastPWSet.Days $popuptext = "Your windows password will expire in about $Daysleft days. On $($a.PWLastSet.AddDays($_.Value)). `n`nUse CTRL + ALT + DEL and select 'Change Password... `n " If($i -eq 1) { $wshell = New-Object -ComObject Wscript.Shell $wshell.Popup("More than one password Policys detected, ask the IT Helpdesk for more Info.",0,"Change WindowsPassword",0x1) } If($DaysLeft -le $WarnDays -and $i -ne 1){ $wshell = New-Object -ComObject Wscript.Shell $wshell.Popup($popuptext,0,"Change WindowsPassword",0x1) $i = 1 } } } If(!$PopupSet){ $DaysLastPWSet = $a.CurrDate - $a.PWLastSet $DaysLeft = $DefaultP - $DaysLastPWSet.Days $popuptext = "Your windows password will expire in about $Daysleft days. On $($a.PWLastSet.AddDays($_.Value)). `n`nUse CTRL + ALT + DEL and select 'Change Password... `n " If($DaysLeft -le $WarnDays -and $i -ne 1){ $wshell = New-Object -ComObject Wscript.Shell $wshell.Popup($popuptext,0,"Change WindowsPassword",0x1) $i = 1 } } |
When you use one of the VERB types in your brand new function names, you get the following very annoying message:
WARNING: The names of some imported commands from the module ‘Set-ROBVIT-Function’ include unapproved verbs that might make them less discoverable. To find the commands with unapproved verbs, run the Import-Module command again with the Verbose parameter. For a list of approved verbs, type Get-Verb.
In this case “set” is our problem.
Tried to do with the -WarningAction:SilentlyContinue, -ErrorAction:SilentlyContinue, out-null parameters with no succes.
It costs me 5 Google’s to find the solution, thats why i created this little reminder to myself :).
Fist option:
You can make some PowerShell module / function config files, with export functions etc.
To much work for my little function.
Second option (the easy one):
Just import the module with the -DisableNameChecking parameter.
|
1 |
Import-module Set-ROBVIT-Function -DisableNameChecking |
If you have a better solution, dont hesitate to comment below.
Wondering how to create an offline disk back-up copy with more than one USB Disk? And not want to spend your IT budget on “Veeam cloud connect” This is originally not possible with the Veeam GUI because you can’t map 1 backup copy job against 2 USB disks. The job will fail because Veeam cant find one incremental which one is copied on the second USB disk which is on a safe place @home. I made a script for enabling and disabling the right copy job for each mapped USB disk.
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 |
<# .SYNOPSIS Veeam offline copy to USB or other External disk. .DESCRIPTION PRE-REQUIREMENT!!: 1 or more usb or external disks. Created repositories and Backup copy jobs in Veeam. This scripts contains 3 Functions 1. Prepare offline media for copying to it. 2. Enable and Disable Veeam jobs. 3. Write logging to file .PARAMETER(s) $DiskId = The diskid which is given in the get partition CMDLet or gui. $TargetDrvLtr = Driveletter where the Veeam repository is mapped to $USBDisklabels = Volumenames $BCopyJob = Backupcopyjobnames $Logfile = Logging the actions to a logfile .INPUTS $PartitionInfo = PartitionStuff -DiskId "usb" -TargetDrvLtr "Z" TheVeeamStuff -PartitionInfo $PartitionInfo -UsbDiskLabel1 "USBDISKLABEL1" -UsbDiskLabel2 "USBDISKLABEL2" -BCopyJob1 "BCOPY1" -BCopyJob2 "BCOPY2" -logfile "C:\PSScripts\VBRTaskLogging.txt" .OUTPUTS Log file stored in C:\.log> .NOTES Version: 1.0 Author: Rob Verhees Creation Date: 13-12-2018 Purpose/Change: Initial script development #> Function PartitionStuff { Param( $DiskId, $TargetDrvLtr ) $drvltr = get-partition | where{$_.DiskId -match $DiskId} IF(!$drvltr){ write-log -Level ERROR -logfile $logfile -Message "Cant find disk with DiskID $($diskid)" } IF($drvltr.DriveLetter -ne $TargetDrvLtr ){ $drvltr | Set-Partition -NewDriveLetter $TargetDrvLtr } Else { write-log -Level INFO -logfile $logfile -Message "TargetDriveletter already present!" } IF($drvltr){ $PartitionInfo = $drvltr | get-volume | select -ExpandProperty filesystemlabel } $PartitionInfo } function LoadVeeamPowerShell { Try { Add-PSSnapin VeeamPSSnapin } Catch { write-log -Level ERROR -logfile $logfile -Message "Cant load Veeam!" Exit } Try { get-vbrserver } Catch { write-log -Level ERROR -logfile $logfile -Message "Change the permissions of the following registry key: \\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication\ -> Users full control." write-log -Level ERROR -logfile $logfile -Message ":: Or run this Script as Administator, not recommended when using a scheduled task." Exit } } function TheVeeamStuff { Param ( $PartitionInfo, $UsbDiskLabel1, $UsbDiskLabel2, $BCopyJob1, $BCopyJob2, $logfile ) LoadVeeamPowerShell IF($PartitionInfo -match $UsbDiskLabel1){ Try { Get-VBRBackupRepository -Name $UsbDiskLabel1 | Sync-VBRBackupRepository write-log -Level INFO -logfile $logfile -Message "Syncing repository $($usbdisklabel1)" start-sleep -Seconds 60 Get-VBRJob | where{$_.name -eq $BCopyJob1} | Enable-VBRJob write-log -Level INFO -logfile $logfile -Message ":: Enabling VBRJob $($BCopyJob1)" Get-vbrjob | where{$_.name -eq $BCopyJob2} | Disable-VBRJob write-log -Level INFO -logfile $logfile -Message ":: Disabling VBRJob $($BCopyJob2)" } Catch { write-log -Level ERROR -logfile $logfile -Message "Can't find VBRjob or Repository" write-log -Level ERROR -logfile $logfile -Message ": Errormessage: $($_.exception.message)" Exit } } ELSEIF($PartitionInfo -match $UsbDiskLabel2) { Try { Get-VBRBackupRepository -Name $UsbDiskLabel2 | Sync-VBRBackupRepository write-log -Level INFO -logfile $logfile -Message "Syncing repository $($usbdisklabel2)" start-sleep -Seconds 60 Get-VBRJob | where{$_.name -eq $BCopyJob2} | Enable-VBRJob write-log -Level INFO -logfile $logfile -Message ":: Enabling VBRJob $($BCopyJob2)" Get-vbrjob | where{$_.name -eq $BCopyJob1} | Disable-VBRJob write-log -Level INFO -logfile $logfile -Message ":: Disabling VBRJob $($BCopyJob1)" } Catch { write-log -Level ERROR -logfile $logfile -Message "Can't find VBRjob or Repository" write-log -Level ERROR -logfile $logfile -Message ": Errormessage: $($_.exception.message)" } } Else { write-log -Level ERROR -logfile $logfile -Message "$($Partitioninfo) and the given External disk label does not match each-other." } } Function Write-Log { [CmdletBinding()] Param( [Parameter(Mandatory=$False)] [ValidateSet("INFO","WARN","ERROR","FATAL","DEBUG")] [String] $Level = "INFO", [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)] [string] $Message, [Parameter(Mandatory=$False)] [string] $logfile ) $Stamp = (Get-Date).toString("yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss") $Line = "$Stamp $Level $Message" If($logfile) { if (!(Test-Path $logfile)) { New-Item -path $logfile -type "file" } Add-Content $logfile -Value $Line } Else { Write-Output $Line } } $PartitionInfo = PartitionStuff -DiskId "usb" -TargetDrvLtr "Z" TheVeeamStuff -PartitionInfo $PartitionInfo -UsbDiskLabel1 "USBDISKLABEL1" -UsbDiskLabel2 "USBDISKLABEL2" -BCopyJob1 "BCOPY1" -BCopyJob2 "BCOPY2" -logfile "C:\PSScripts\VBRTaskLogging.txt" |
Recent Comments