PowerShell - Find Inactive Computers in Active Directory with ADSI

Today I wanted to retrieve inactive computer accounts in the Active Directory without using the Quest Active Directory Snapin or the Active Directory Module. Yes... It happens that you work on a computer that don't have those tools once in a while, and I thought It would be fun to have a script without requirements...

Note: BTW, the following solution might not be the best or most efficient, so let me know if you know a faster/easier way to do this, I'm willing to learn more about querying AD.

Here are the key element of the script, I want:

• Computer Inactive for >=90 days
• Be able to specify a SearchRoot
• Filter on the Operating System if possible (I want only Windows Servers, without the Domain controllers for example)
• Return SamAccountName, Name, DN, Operating System, and Description
• Limit the number of object to return (can be useful for large environment)

PowerShell - Read an Excel file using COM Interface

Last week, I worked on a small PowerShell script to read a custom excel file sheet with a lot of information in different columns and rows. Unfortunately, you'll have to adapt the script to your needs. However I thought this might be helpful to understand how this work.

Here is the sample Excel file I worked with:

PowerShell Studio 2014 from Sapien released!

SAPIEN released a new version of their awesome tool PowerShell Studio a few days ago: SAPIEN PowerShell Studio 2014.

PowerShell Studio is a Toolmaking Environment, a PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE) tool that let you edit and debug scripts, create package, installer, executable and deployments. Also, the Enhanced Form Designer makes GUI design fast and easy, eliminating the need to manually write hundreds of lines of code.

This is for me one of the best tool on the market when you need to create PowerShell Scripts/advanced functions and Graphical User Interface.

The tool is listed at 389$ USD which comes with a one year subscription. Once this subscription expire you'll have to renew it in order to continue receiving new updates/features, otherwise you can continue using the tool without updates. Check out the following blog article for more details: Starting with the 2014 versions all SAPIEN software sold with subscription

In the following post I will talk about the changes I noticed in the PowerShell Studio 2014 compared to PowerShell Studio 2012. I listed the "What's new" items based on what I discovered so far, Some information might be inaccurate since I don't have any documentation yet.

I did not get a chance to play with package, installer and deployment options, so this will be covered in another blogpost.

PowerShell Summit North America 2014

In approximately 1 month I will be attending the PowerShell Summit 2014 North America. This is the second edition of this event organized by the PowerShell.org team, It will be held April 28, 29, and 30 at the Meydenbauer Center on Northeast 6th Street in Bellevue, WA.

Note: If you are interested, I previously blog about the 2013 event with some pictures, cost and other details.

Bellevue, WA, United States

The agenda of the summit is out: Session Abstracts and Attendee Information
A lot of great speakers, huge content, It will be hard to decide which sessions I want to attend, but I think I will definitely check those on Desired State Configuration (DSC) which I did touch yet... *~*
It should be great occasions to talk and to meet new/old PowerShellers friends.

If you are attending, don't hesitate to come talk to me, my picture is in the top right corner of my blog ;-)
Also, if my plane is on time (or not stuck at the custom) I should be able to attend the Pre-Mixer event on Sunday night at Blue Martini.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, leave a comment or send me an email at fxcat@lazywinadmin.com. I invite you to follow me on Twitter @lazywinadm / Google+ / LinkedIn. You can also follow the LazyWinAdmin Blog on Facebook Page and Google+ Page.

PowerShell Summit North America 2013

In April 2013 I was one of the lucky attendees at the first PowerShell Summit in North America. The event was organized by the PowerShell.org team and was held in Redmond, WA between the 22nd and 25th of April 2013.

I thought sharing some details and pictures would be nice :-)

Note: Just realized that this blog post stayed in my draft since last year ! Sorry for the late post ;-)

Seattle, WA