The course begins with a clear overview of PowerShell, distinguishing between Windows PowerShell and the cross-platform PowerShell Core, and highlighting its key capabilities. Students will explore cmdlets, the fundamental building blocks of PowerShell, and various PowerShell hosts. The integration of Visual Studio Code and the PowerShell Extension is also covered to enhance the scripting experience, followed by hands-on exercises including creating a simple script and learning productivity techniques like copy/paste.
The next module focuses on PowerShell’s powerful Help system, teaching students how to access local and online help, update help content, and interpret documentation. Exercises guide students through using the ShowWindow parameter and finding relevant commands quickly using PowerShell’s versatile syntax.
As students move into Basic Operations, they'll work with execution policies, run PowerShell as an administrator, and gain experience with variables, arithmetic operations, and error handling. Learners will explore string manipulation, collection operators, and environment variables, reinforcing concepts with practical exercises on PATH, PowerShell versioning, and string concatenation.
In Advanced Operations, students build on their scripting knowledge by creating modular, efficient scripts. Topics include defining and using parameters, writing functions, incorporating conditional logic and loops, and working with arrays, HashTables, and pipelines. The module also explores error handling, working with objects and members, and customizing the PowerShell profile for enhanced productivity.
The Files and Directories section introduces students to managing the filesystem through PowerShell—navigating directories, creating and deleting files/folders, and managing permissions. Real-world exercises help reinforce file system manipulation skills.
Students will then explore Modules and Packages, learning how to discover, import, and manage PowerShell modules from the PowerShell Gallery. They’ll practice creating simple custom modules and learn how to install and maintain packages to extend PowerShell’s capabilities.
The course concludes with PowerShell Automation, focusing on scheduling tasks, using event triggers, and automating common administrative tasks—empowering students to apply automation to real-world IT workflows