Getting Started

Getting started with PowerShell is easy, and here are the steps to help you:

Find and run PowerShell

PowerShell is pre-installed on most modern Windows operating systems. To find it, click on the "Start" menu, type "PowerShell" in the search box, and select the "Windows PowerShell" or "PowerShell 7" option depending on which version you want to use. Alternatively, you can press the "Windows Key + X" key combination and select "Windows PowerShell" from the Power User menu.

Check the PowerShell version

To check which version of PowerShell you have installed, open a PowerShell session and run the following command:

$PSVersionTable

This will display the PowerShell version number and other version-related information, such as the CLR version, the .NET Framework version, and the OS version.

Update PowerShell

If you have an older version of PowerShell, you can update it to the latest version. Winget, the Windows Package Manager, is a command-line tool enables users to discover, install, upgrade, remove, and configure applications on Windows client computers. This tool is the client interface to the Windows Package Manager service. The following commands can be used to install PowerShell using the published winget packages:

Search for the latest version of PowerShell

winget search Microsoft.PowerShell

Then, install PowerShell or PowerShell Preview using the id parameter

winget install --id Microsoft.Powershell --source winget
winget install --id Microsoft.Powershell.Preview --source winget

Use PowerShell help

PowerShell includes a comprehensive help system that you can use to learn about PowerShell cmdlets, functions, and modules. To use the help system, open a PowerShell session and run the following command:

Get-Help <cmdlet or topic>

Replace with the name of the cmdlet or topic you want to learn about. For example, to learn about the Get-ChildItem cmdlet, you would run the following command:

Get-Help Get-ChildItem

This will display the help information for the Get-ChildItem cmdlet, including a description, syntax, parameters, examples, and related topics.

By following these steps, you can get started with PowerShell, check for its version, update it to the latest version, and use the built-in help system to learn more about PowerShell and its various features.

More on the use of Get-Help

The Get-Help cmdlet is a powerful feature of PowerShell that provides help information for cmdlets, functions, modules, and other PowerShell components. Here are some examples of how to use the Get-Help cmdlet:

Get help for a specific cmdlet: To get help for a specific cmdlet, run the following command:
```
Get-Help <cmdlet name>
```
Replace
with the name of the cmdlet you want to learn about. For example, to get help for the Get-ChildItem cmdlet, you would run the following command:
```
Get-Help Get-ChildItem
```
This will display the help information for the Get-ChildItem cmdlet, including a description, syntax, parameters, examples, and related topics.
Get help for a specific parameter: To get help for a specific parameter of a cmdlet, run the following command:
```
Get-Help <cmdlet name> -Parameter <parameter name>
```
Replace
with the name of the cmdlet and
with the name of the parameter you want to learn about. For example, to get help for the Path parameter of the Get-ChildItem cmdlet, you would run the following command:
```
Get-Help Get-ChildItem -Parameter Path
```
This will display the help information for the Path parameter of the Get-ChildItem cmdlet.
Get help for a specific topic: To get help for a specific topic, such as operators or variables, run the following command:
```
Get-Help <topic>
```
Replace with the name of the topic you want to learn about. For example, to get help for operators, you would run the following command:
```
Get-Help about_operators
```
This will display the help information for operators in PowerShell.
Use wildcard with Get-Help: You can use wildcard characters to search for cmdlets or topics that match a certain pattern. For example, to search for all cmdlets that start with "Get", you would run the following command:
```
Get-Help Get-*
```
This will display help information for all cmdlets that start with "Get", including Get-ChildItem, Get-Item, Get-Process, and others.

In summary, the Get-Help cmdlet is a valuable tool for learning about PowerShell and its various components. By using Get-Help with different parameters and wildcard characters, you can quickly find the information you need and improve your PowerShell skills.