30-day PowerShell challenge

Guide 2 min read Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7

Written and tested by Dhrub Bharali · Updated 02 October 2026

One task per day. No account. Progress stays in your browser. Each exercise gets slightly more practical and ends with a small admin report.

Overview

30-DAY POWERSHELL CHALLENGE

TODAY'S TASK

Day 1

WHAT THE 30 DAYS COVER

From single commands to small admin workflows

The challenge is ordered so each day reuses ideas from earlier tasks instead of presenting thirty unrelated snippets.

Days 1–10 · Find and filter

Practise Get-* commands, properties, Where-Object, sorting and selecting the fields that matter. The goal is to become comfortable reading objects before changing anything.

Days 11–20 · Shape and verify

Combine pipelines, calculated output, exports and checks. Compare the result with the task so a command is not considered finished just because it ran without an error.

Days 21–30 · Work like an admin

Move into reporting, defensive scripting, error handling and small operational workflows. The final tasks ask you to explain what you would verify before and after a change.

Progress stays local

Completion data is stored in your browser. No account is required, and clearing browser storage resets the streak. Use the progress page when you want one view across challenges and labs.

Restored 30-day workspace

Thirty checked daily tasks

Edit each command, then check it against fictional sample data. Progress on this page is practice feedback, not a real system action.

Day 1

List the sample services.

Get-Service

Day 2

Keep only running services.

Get-Service | Where-Object Status -eq 'Running'

Day 3

Keep only stopped services.

Get-Service | Where-Object Status -eq 'Stopped'

Day 4

Sort services by name.

Get-Service | Sort-Object Name

Day 5

Sort services by name descending.

Get-Service | Sort-Object Name -Descending

Day 6

Keep the first three services.

Get-Service | Select-Object -First 3

Day 7

Find service names beginning with W.

Get-Service | Where-Object Name -like 'W*'

Weekly review

Before a state-changing command in production, what is the safer first move?

Day 8

List the sample processes.

Get-Process

Day 9

Find processes above 5 CPU seconds.

Get-Process | Where-Object CPU -gt 5

Day 10

Sort processes by CPU, highest first.

Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending

Day 11

Take the two busiest processes.

Get-Process | Sort-Object CPU -Descending | Select-Object -First 2

Day 12

Find processes using more than 100 MiB.

Get-Process | Where-Object WS -gt 100MB

Day 13

Take the largest process by working set.

Get-Process | Sort-Object WS -Descending | Select-Object -First 1

Day 14

Return process name and Id for the first two rows.

Get-Process | Select-Object Name, Id | Select-Object -First 2

Weekly review

When data will be exported, where should Format-Table usually go?

Day 15

List fictional AD users.

Get-ADUser -Filter *

Day 16

Find disabled AD users.

Get-ADUser -Filter * | Where-Object Enabled -eq $false

Day 17

Find enabled AD users.

Get-ADUser -Filter * | Where-Object Enabled -eq $true

Day 18

Find users in IT.

Get-ADUser -Filter * | Where-Object Department -eq 'IT'

Day 19

Sort AD users by name.

Get-ADUser -Filter * | Sort-Object Name

Day 20

List sample files.

Get-ChildItem -File

Day 21

Find .log files.

Get-ChildItem -File | Where-Object Extension -eq '.log'

Weekly review

A command worked on one host but not another. What should you compare first?

Day 22

Sort files by length, largest first.

Get-ChildItem -File | Sort-Object Length -Descending

Day 23

Take the two largest files.

Get-ChildItem -File | Sort-Object Length -Descending | Select-Object -First 2

Day 24

Read the first three System events.

Get-WinEvent -LogName System -MaxEvents 3

Day 25

Keep only Error events.

Get-WinEvent -LogName System | Where-Object LevelDisplayName -eq 'Error'

Day 26

List sample Azure VMs with status.

Get-AzVM -Status

Day 27

Find stopped Azure VMs.

Get-AzVM -Status | Where-Object PowerState -eq 'VM stopped'

Day 28

Find script modules.

Get-Module -ListAvailable | Where-Object ModuleType -eq 'Script'

Day 29

Discover commands with the Get verb.

Get-Command -Verb Get

Day 30

Find FileSystem PSDrives.

Get-PSDrive | Where-Object Provider -eq 'FileSystem'

Weekly review

What makes an admin workflow complete?

Continue

Overview

Day 1

From single commands to small admin workflows

Days 1–10 · Find and filter

Days 11–20 · Shape and verify

Days 21–30 · Work like an admin

Progress stays local

Thirty checked daily tasks

List the sample services.

Keep only running services.

Keep only stopped services.

Sort services by name.

Sort services by name descending.

Keep the first three services.

Find service names beginning with W.

Before a state-changing command in production, what is the safer first move?

List the sample processes.

Find processes above 5 CPU seconds.

Sort processes by CPU, highest first.

Take the two busiest processes.

Find processes using more than 100 MiB.

Take the largest process by working set.

Return process name and Id for the first two rows.

When data will be exported, where should Format-Table usually go?

List fictional AD users.

Find disabled AD users.

Find enabled AD users.

Find users in IT.

Sort AD users by name.

List sample files.

Find .log files.

A command worked on one host but not another. What should you compare first?

Sort files by length, largest first.

Take the two largest files.

Read the first three System events.

Keep only Error events.

List sample Azure VMs with status.

Find stopped Azure VMs.

Find script modules.

Discover commands with the Get verb.

Find FileSystem PSDrives.

What makes an admin workflow complete?

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