PowerShell command reference

Use Add-ADGroupMember to add users, computers or other groups to an Active Directory group. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Disable-ADAccount to disable an Active Directory user or computer account, blocking sign-in while keeping the object.

Use Enable-ADAccount to enable a disabled Active Directory user or computer account. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-ADComputer to retrieve computer accounts from Active Directory. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-ADDomain to return information about an Active Directory domain, including its FSMO role holders and naming contexts.

Use Get-ADDomainController to retrieve domain controllers in a domain or forest, with their roles, site and status. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-ADForest to return information about an Active Directory forest, including its domains, sites and forest-level role holders.

Use Get-ADGroup to retrieve security and distribution groups from Active Directory. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-ADGroupMember to list the members of an Active Directory group, optionally expanding nested groups. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-ADObject to retrieve any object from Active Directory regardless of type, including deleted objects. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-ADOrganizationalUnit to list Active Directory OUs with their distinguished names — the containers Group Policy and delegated administration target.

Use Get-ADReplicationFailure to report AD replication failures per domain controller, so an unreplicated change stops looking like a permissions problem.

Use Get-ADReplicationPartnerMetadata to show when each replication partner last succeeded — the complement to Get-ADReplicationFailure.

Use Get-ADUser to retrieve user accounts from Active Directory by identity, filter or LDAP query. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Move-ADObject to move an Active Directory object to a different organizational unit or container. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use New-ADComputer to create a computer account in Active Directory before the machine joins the domain. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use New-ADGroup to create a security or distribution group in Active Directory. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use New-ADUser to create an Active Directory user account with identity attributes like -Name, -SamAccountName, -UserPrincipalName, and -AccountPassword.

Use Remove-ADGroupMember to remove members from an Active Directory group. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Remove-ADUser to delete an Active Directory user account. Confirm the identity first — deletion is immediate and hard to undo.

Use Search-ADAccount to find accounts matching a built-in condition such as locked out, disabled, expired or inactive. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Set-ADComputer to modify attributes on an existing Active Directory computer account. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Set-ADUser to modify attributes on an existing Active Directory user account. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Start-ADSyncSyncCycle to request a Microsoft Entra Connect Sync cycle after checking scheduler state and the intended server.

Use Unlock-ADAccount to clear the lockout on an Active Directory account after too many failed sign-in attempts. Review examples and related commands.

Use Add-Content to append a value to the end of a file, leaving existing content in place. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Clear-Content to empty a file without deleting it, leaving a zero-length file behind. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Compress-Archive to create a zip archive from files or folders. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Copy-Item to copy files or directories. Review path handling, recursive copies and examples before choosing a destination.

Use Expand-Archive to extract the contents of a zip archive to a folder. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-Acl to return the security descriptor of a file, folder, registry key or other securable object. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-ChildItem to get the items and child items in one or more specified locations. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-Content to get the content of an item at the specified location, most commonly a text file. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-FileHash to compute a cryptographic hash of a file, defaulting to SHA256. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-Item to return the item at a path — file, folder, registry key, or any provider item — to inspect its properties.

Use Get-PSDrive to list the drives available in the session, including those that are not filesystems. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Join-Path to combine path segments into one path using the correct separator for the platform. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Move-Item to move a file or directory to a new location, and rename it if you change the leaf name. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use New-Item to create a new item, such as a file, directory, registry key, or provider-specific object. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Out-File to write the formatted text representation of objects to a file. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Remove-Item to delete files, folders, registry keys, or other provider items; -Recurse and -Force clear non-empty trees.

Use Resolve-Path to turn a relative path or a wildcard into one or more full paths, failing if nothing matches. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Set-Acl to apply a security descriptor to a file, folder or registry key. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Set-Content to replace the entire contents of a file with the value you supply. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Split-Path to return one part of a path: the parent directory, the file name, the extension, or the qualifier. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Test-Path to return $true or $false for whether a path exists — the guard to run before reading, writing, or deleting.

Use Get-CimInstance to get instances of CIM classes from a CIM server. See CimCmdlets module requirements and examples. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-ComputerInfo to return a single object with over a hundred properties describing the operating system and hardware.

Read Windows performance counters with Get-Counter. Discover localized paths, choose sample intervals and counts, and inspect CounterSamples.

Use Get-HotFix to list installed updates that were delivered as hotfix packages. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-Process to get the processes that are running on the local computer. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-Service to get objects that represent services on a Windows computer, including running and stopped services. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-WinEvent to get events from event logs and event tracing log files on local and remote computers. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Reboot a local or remote computer with Restart-Computer. Preview targets with -WhatIf and use -Wait for remote Windows systems.

Use Restart-Service to stop and then start one or more Windows services. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Set-Service to start, stop or suspend a service, and change service properties such as StartupType and DisplayName. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Start-Process to launch an executable or open a file with its associated program. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Start-Service to start a stopped Windows service by name or display name. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Stop-Process to stop running processes by name or ID; -Force ends processes that ignore a normal stop request. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Stop-Service to stop a running Windows service; -Force also stops services that depend on it. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Wait-Process to block until one or more processes exit, or until a timeout expires. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Compare-Object to compare two sets of objects and report which items are only in one of them. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use ForEach-Object to perform an operation on each item in a collection of input objects. See Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility module requirements and examples.

Use Get-Member to list an object's properties and methods — the fastest way to discover what pipeline output can do. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Group-Object to group objects that share a value for one or more properties, and count each group. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Measure-Object to count objects, or calculate sum, average, minimum and maximum for a numeric property. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Select-Object to keep only chosen properties, take the first N objects, or expand one property into its values. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Sort-Object to order objects by property, ascending by default or -Descending; -Unique drops duplicates. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Tee-Object to pass objects along the pipeline while also saving them to a file or a variable. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Where-Object to select objects from a collection based on their property values. See Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility module requirements and examples.

Use Connect-AzAccount to sign in to Azure and verify the tenant and subscription context. See Az module requirements and examples.

Use Connect-ExchangeOnline to connect to Exchange Online and verify the administrator session. See ExchangeOnlineManagement module requirements and examples.

Use Get-AzContext to inspect the active Azure account, tenant and subscription. See Az module requirements and examples.

Use Get-AzDisk to inventory Azure managed disks and inspect attachment state. See Az module requirements and examples. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-AzKeyVault to list Azure vault resources and distinguish access to secret values. See Az module requirements and examples.

Use Get-AzResource to inventory Azure resources by resource group and resource type. See Az module requirements and examples.

Use Get-AzResourceGroup to query Azure resource groups and inspect location and tags. See Az module requirements and examples.

Use Get-AzRoleAssignment to query Azure role assignments by identity, scope and role. See Az module requirements and examples.

Use Get-AzStorageAccount to inventory Azure storage accounts and inspect configuration. See Az module requirements and examples.

Use Get-AzSubscription to list accessible Azure subscriptions and inspect their tenant IDs. See Az module requirements and examples.

Use Get-AzVM to retrieve Azure VM configuration and check power state with Status. See Az module requirements and examples.

Use Get-DistributionGroup to list distribution groups and mail-enabled security groups. See ExchangeOnlineManagement module requirements and examples.

Use Get-DistributionGroupMember to list a distribution group's direct members; nested groups are separate objects. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-EXOMailbox to inventory Exchange Online mailboxes with explicit properties. See ExchangeOnlineManagement module requirements and examples.

Use Get-EXOMailboxPermission to inspect mailbox permissions — User, AccessRights, IsInherited and Deny together. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-EXOMailboxStatistics to return mailbox storage statistics such as TotalItemSize. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-InboundConnector to inspect inbound mail connectors and their sender restrictions. See ExchangeOnlineManagement module requirements and examples.

Use Get-InboxRule to inspect mailbox inbox rules, including hidden rules and forwarding. See ExchangeOnlineManagement module requirements and examples.

Use Get-OutboundConnector to inspect outbound mail connectors and recipient routing settings. See ExchangeOnlineManagement module requirements and examples.

Use Get-SPOSite to inventory SharePoint Online site collections and check query limits. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-SPOUser to list users in a SharePoint site collection and check access assumptions. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-Team to inventory Microsoft Teams and check account visibility limits. See MicrosoftTeams module requirements and examples.

Use Get-TransportRule to inspect Exchange mail-flow rules, priorities, conditions and modes. See ExchangeOnlineManagement module requirements and examples.

Use Set-AzContext to select and verify the Azure subscription and tenant for later commands. See Az module requirements and examples.

Use Connect-MgGraph to connect to Microsoft Graph with delegated or app-only authentication. See Microsoft.Graph module requirements and examples.

Use Get-MgApplication to list app registrations and inspect credential expiry in Microsoft Graph. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-MgAuditLogSignIn to query Entra sign-in logs with date filters and pagination. See Microsoft.Graph module requirements and examples.

Use Get-MgGroup to list Microsoft Graph groups and distinguish their membership types. See Microsoft.Graph module requirements and examples.

Use Get-MgGroupMember to enumerate direct Microsoft Graph group members with pagination. See Microsoft.Graph module requirements and examples.

Use Get-MgServicePrincipal to list tenant service principals and distinguish object IDs from application IDs. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-MgSubscribedSku to compare purchased and consumed Microsoft 365 license units. See Microsoft.Graph module requirements and examples.

Use Get-MgUser to query Microsoft Graph users with pagination and explicit properties. See Microsoft.Graph module requirements and examples.

Use Get-MgUserAuthenticationMethod to list a user's registered authentication methods. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-DnsClientServerAddress to show the DNS servers configured per network interface. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-NetAdapter to list the network adapters on a Windows machine with their status, speed and MAC address. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-NetFirewallRule to list Windows Firewall rules with their direction, action and enabled state. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-NetIPAddress to list the IP addresses configured on the machine's interfaces. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-NetIPConfiguration to return a per-interface summary combining IP address, gateway and DNS servers. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-NetRoute to list the machine's IP routing table entries with their destinations and metrics. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-NetTCPConnection to list TCP connections and listening ports with the owning process id. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Invoke-RestMethod to call a REST endpoint and convert the JSON or XML response into PowerShell objects automatically.

Use Invoke-WebRequest to fetch a URL and return the full response: status code, headers, and the raw or parsed content. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Resolve-DnsName to query DNS for a name or address and return the records, bypassing the local cache when asked. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Set-NetFirewallRule to change properties of existing Windows Firewall rules. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Test-NetConnection to test connectivity to a host, optionally on a specific TCP port, and report the route and DNS resolution.

Use Get-AuthenticodeSignature to read a file's signature status: Valid, NotSigned, HashMismatch, NotTrusted, NotSupportedFileFormat, or UnknownError.

Use Get-ExecutionPolicy to report the effective execution policy, or the policy set at each scope with -List. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Find Windows local groups by name, wildcard or SID with Get-LocalGroup. See accurate examples, separate parameter sets and membership guidance.

Use Get-LocalGroupMember to list the members of a local group, including domain accounts that belong to it. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-LocalUser to list local user accounts on a Windows machine with their enabled state and password settings. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Set-AuthenticodeSignature to sign a script with a code-signing certificate, proving origin and integrity. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Set-ExecutionPolicy to change the execution policy for a scope, controlling whether script files may run. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Enter-PSSession to start an interactive remoting session, redirecting your prompt to a remote computer. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-CimSession to list the CIM sessions open in the current PowerShell session. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-Job to list the jobs in the session with their current state. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-PSSession to list the PSSessions in the current session, or those available on a remote computer. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use New-CimSession to create a reusable CIM session to a remote computer for use with the CIM cmdlets. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use New-PSSession to open a persistent connection to a remote computer and return a session object. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Receive-Job to collect the output of a job and, by default, remove it from the job's buffer. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Remove-CimSession to close CIM sessions and release their connections. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Remove-Job to delete a job from the session, discarding any output it still holds. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Remove-PSSession to close a PSSession and release the resources it holds on the remote computer. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Start-Job to run a script block in a separate background process and return a job object immediately. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Start-ThreadJob to run a script block on a thread inside the current process and return a job object. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Stop-Job to stop a running job, leaving it in the session so partial output can still be collected. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use ConvertFrom-Json to convert a JSON-formatted string to a PowerShell object. See Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility module requirements and examples.

Use ConvertTo-Json to convert an object to a JSON-formatted string. See Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility module requirements and examples.

Use ConvertTo-Xml to convert objects into an XML representation of their properties. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Export-Csv to convert objects into CSV-formatted data and write it to a file. See Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility module requirements and examples.

Use Format-List to render each object as a vertical list of property names and values. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Format-Table to render objects as a table of columns for display. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Import-Csv to read a CSV file and return one object per row, with the header line becoming property names. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Out-String to convert objects into the string form PowerShell would have displayed. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Find-Module to search a registered repository for modules without installing anything. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-Alias to list the aliases defined in the session, or resolve an alias to the command it points at. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-Command to get information about PowerShell commands, including cmdlets, aliases, functions, filters, scripts, applications, and external commands.

Use Get-Date to return the current date and time, or convert and format a date you supply. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-Error to display the most recent errors in full detail, including nested exceptions and invocation information. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Look up syntax, parameters and examples for a PowerShell command. Use the help output to understand a command before running it.

Use Get-History to return the commands run in the current session, with an id for each. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-InstalledModule to list modules installed by Install-Module, with the version and repository they came from. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-Location to return the current working directory for the session. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-Module to list modules loaded in the session, or with -ListAvailable those installed and ready to load. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-Random to return a random number, or pick random items from a collection. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Get-Variable to list the variables in the current scope, or retrieve one by name. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Import-Module to load a module into the session so its commands are available. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Use Install-Module to download a module from a registered repository and install it for the current user or all users. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Invoke-Command to run a command or script block on one or more remote computers and return the results. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Out-Host to send output to the host for display, optionally one screen at a time. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.

Unload a PowerShell module from the current session. Compare Remove-Module with uninstalling, check loaded modules and understand binary reload limits.

Use Remove-Variable to delete a variable and its value from the session; -Force also clears read-only variables. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Save-Module to download a module and its dependencies to a folder without installing it. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Set-Location to change the current working directory, on any drive a provider exposes. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Set-Variable to create or change a variable, with control over its scope and options. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Start-Transcript to begin recording the session, both commands and their output, to a text file. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Stop-Transcript to end the current transcript and close the file. See Microsoft.PowerShell.Host module requirements and examples.

Use Trace-Command to trace PowerShell's internal operations while running an expression, showing how it resolved what you asked for.

Use Write-Debug to write a developer-facing message to the debug stream, hidden unless -Debug is passed. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Write-Error to write a non-terminating error to the error stream without stopping execution. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Write-Information to write a tagged message to the information stream, which can be captured separately from output.

Use Write-Output to send objects to the success stream, which is the stream the pipeline carries and a caller can capture.

Use Write-Verbose to write a diagnostic message that stays hidden unless the caller asks for it with -Verbose. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Write-Warning to write a message to the warning stream, shown by default but kept out of your data. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-GPO to retrieve Group Policy objects by name, GUID or full inventory. See GroupPolicy module requirements and examples.

Use Get-GPOReport to export Group Policy reports as HTML or XML for inspection. See GroupPolicy module requirements and examples.

Use New-GPO to create a Group Policy object and verify its GUID before linking it. See GroupPolicy module requirements and examples.

Use Set-GPLink to change GPO link order, enforcement and enabled state for a target OU. See GroupPolicy module requirements and examples.

Use Get-ScheduledTask to list scheduled tasks with their definitions, triggers and current state. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Get-ScheduledTaskInfo to return run history for a scheduled task: last run time, last result and next run time. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Register-ScheduledTask to create a scheduled task from action, trigger, principal and settings objects. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Start-ScheduledTask to run a scheduled task immediately, without waiting for its trigger. See its syntax, examples, and output.

Use Stop-ScheduledTask to terminate a running instance of a scheduled task. Review syntax and sample output, then try an example in the browser lab.