14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has made available for download a collection of resources designed to supercharge your Windows PowerShell scripting, as the company has put it. Bundled together under the common label of the Windows 7 Resource Kit PowerShell Pack are no less than 10 modules each containing a consistent number of scripts. The PowerShell Pack is an integral part of the Windows 7 Resource Kit, but it can also be grabbed as a standalone download via MSDN Code Gallery. IT professionals that leverage PowerShell in order to automate management tasks for Windows will be able to access no less than 800 scripts from Microsoft via the pack.
“Since I work on the PowerShell team, I’ve been lucky enough to get a couple of years jump start on producing PowerShell V2 scripts and modules. With every new script I write in V2 I get more and more amazed by the possibilities in PowerShell. I’ve discovered how to do many cool things that, as some of my colleagues outside of the PowerShell team have put it, have showed them the Power of PowerShell,” noted James Brundage, Software Developer Engineer in Test at Microsoft.
Of course that the Windows 7 RTM Resource Kit PowerShell Pack is specifically designed to work with the latest version of the scripting language from Microsoft, namely v2.0. PowerShell 2.0 ships as a default component of Windows 7, but Microsoft is also working to backport it to Windows Vista and Windows XP.
Brundage offered “a brief overview:
WPK - Create rich user interfaces quick and easily from Windows PowerShell. Think HTA, but easy. Over 600 scripts to help you build quick user interfaces. To get started learning how to write rich WPF UIs in script, check out Writing User Interfaces with WPK.
IsePack - Supercharge your scripting in the Integrated Scripting Environment with over 35 shortcuts.
TaskScheduler - List scheduled tasks, create or delete tasks.
FileSystem - Monitor files and folders, check for duplicate files, and check disk space.
DotNet - Explore loaded types, find commands that can work with a type, and explore how you can use PowerShell, DotNet and COM together.
PSImageTools - Convert, rotate, scale, and crop images and get image metadata.
PSRSS - Harness the FeedStore from PowerShell.
PSSystemTools - Get Operating System or Hardware Information.
PSUserTools - Get the users on a system, check for elevation, and start-processaadministrator.
PSCodeGen - Generates PowerShell scripts, C# code, and P/Invoke.”