Category: PowerShell

PowerShell & Windows Admin Blog Archives, by Peter Whyte, an experienced SQL Server Database Administrator.

  • How to Open PowerShell as Administrator

    Running PowerShell commands with elevated privileges is often necessary when configuring system settings, installing software, or troubleshooting issues. This post covers most methods to open PowerShell as an administrator on Windows, ensuring you have the necessary permissions for advanced operations. Methods Covered in This Guide:1. Open PowerShell as…

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  • PowerShell Script: List Files with Sizes and Dates

    In this blog post, we’ll go through the steps for using a PowerShell script that lists files in a directory along with their sizes and creation dates. This script is useful for disk space and for checking old files in a folder.  List Files with Size and Last…

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  • Removing Quotes from all CSV Files in a Directory

    Managing CSV files often involves cleaning up data before processing. A common task is removing unwanted quotation marks from the contents of CSV files. I wrote a blog post on how to remove quotes from a single CSV file using PowerShell some years ago, which I have just…

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  • How to Set Environment Variables in PowerShell

    Environment variables store key information on your system that programs can use to influence their behavior. For example, the AWS CLI uses the AWS_REGION variable to determine the region for API requests. This guide will cover:– Listing all environment variables– Retrieving the value of a specific environment variable–…

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  • How to Silently Install SSMS

    This is a note on how to silently install SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) via command (PowerShell). SSMS is a tool most people use when working with SQL Server. If you need to install SSMS on multiple computers, you may want to use the silent installation feature for…

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  • How to Delete Files in PowerShell

    This is a post on how to delete files in PowerShell, which will be useful when you need to delete files as part of a script in Windows. This post covers the following:> PowerShell: Delete a File> PowerShell: Delete a Folder> PowerShell: Delete Files in Subfolders Recursively PowerShell:…

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  • Create a New Firewall Rule with PowerShell

    This is a short post to share a PowerShell script that will create a new Windows Firewall Rule on a your computer. We have to ensure that we run PowerShell as Administrator for this to work. The above is creating a new firewall rule so inbound SQL Server…

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  • How to Check PowerShell Version

    This guide explains how to check your PowerShell version on a Windows computer using the $PSVersionTable command. Running the latest PowerShell version ensures access to new features and cmdlets. Some scripts may rely on commands not available in older versions, causing compatibility issues. We should keep it up-to-date…

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  • How to Automate PowerShell Scripts with Task Scheduler

    Running PowerShell scripts on a schedule is a common requirement for Windows Admins. This guide will show you how to automate your scripts using Task Scheduler, covering both the GUI and PowerShell methods. Task Scheduler allows you to run programs, scripts, or other tasks based on a schedule…

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  • SQL Server Default Port

    The default port for the SQL Server Engine is 1433, which is a key thing to know if you’re working as a Database Administrator (DBA), especially when managing network configurations or troubleshooting connectivity issues. In my experience, SQL Server runs on port 1433 about 95% of the time.…

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