Lab answer key: Using PSProviders and PSDrives with PowerShell

Exercise 1: Creating files and folders on a remote computer

Task 1: Create a new folder on a remote computer

1. On LON-CL1, select Start, and then enter powersh.
2. From the results list, right-click Windows PowerShell or activate its context menu, and then select Run as administrator.

3. To review help for the New-Item cmdlet in a separate window, in the Administrator: Windows PowerShell console, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   Get-Help New-Item –ShowWindow
   

4. In the output from Get-Help, notice the –Name and –ItemType parameters, then review the example commands, and close the New-Item Help window.

5. To create a new ScriptShare folder in \\Lon-Svr1\C$\, in the console, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   New-Item –Path \\Lon-Svr1\C$\ –Name ScriptShare –ItemType Directory
   

Task 2: Create a new PSDrive mapping to the remote file folder

1. To display the help for the New-PSDrive cmdlet, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   Get-Help New-PSDrive –ShowWindow
   

2. Review the following information, and then close the New-PSDrive Help window:
   • Help information
   • –Name, –Root, and –PSProvider parameters
   • Example commands

3. To create a new PSDrive mapping, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   New-PSDrive –Name ScriptShare –Root \\Lon-Svr1\c$\ScriptShare –PSProvider FileSystem
   

Task 3: Create a file on the mapped drive

1. To review help for the Set-Location cmdlet, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   Get-Help Set-Location –ShowWindow
   

2. Review the help information, and then close the Set-Location Help window.

3. To change to the ScriptShare: location, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   Set-Location ScriptShare:
   

4. To create a new file, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   New-Item script.txt
   

5. To review a directory listing, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   Get-ChildItem
   

6. Verify that the script.txt file is listed.

Exercise 2: Creating a registry key for your future scripts

Task 1: Create the registry key to store script configurations

1. To review the contents of the Software registry key, in the Windows PowerShell console, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   Get-ChildItem -Path HKCU:\Software
   

2. Enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   New-Item –Path HKCU:\Software –Name Scripts
   

Task 2: Create a new registry value to store the name of the PSDrive

1. To change location to HKCU:\Software\Scripts, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   Set-Location HKCU:\Software\Scripts
   

2. To create a PSDriveName registry value, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   New-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\Scripts -Name "PSDriveName" –Value "ScriptShare"
   

3. To review the PSDriveName registry value, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   Get-ItemProperty . -Name PSDriveName
   

Exercise 3: Creating a new Active Directory group

Task 1: Create a PSDrive that maps to the Users container in AD DS

1. To load the ActiveDirectory module, in the Windows PowerShell console, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   Import-Module ActiveDirectory
   

2. To create a new AdatumUsers PSDrive, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   New-PSDrive -Name AdatumUsers -Root "CN=Users,DC=Adatum,DC=com" -PSProvider ActiveDirectory
   

3. To change location to the AdatumUsers drive, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   Set-Location AdatumUsers:
   

Task 2: Create the London Developers group

1. To create the London Developers group, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   New-Item -ItemType group -Path . -Name "CN=London Developers"
   

2. To list items in the current drive, enter the following command, and then press the Enter key:

   Get-ChildItem
   

3. Verify that the London Developers group is listed.