Join the leading edge of Windows administrative scripting with Microsoft PowerShell, the new, comprehensive, consistent, and powerful scripting shell for Microsoft Windows and the Windows Server System. Microsoft is committed to building future graphical administration tools on top of PowerShell, meaning PowerShell will offer the fastest, easiest, and most complete way to automate any Windows administrative task. This new second edition of Windows PowerShell: TFM is more than 25% larger and contains more than 60% revised and re-written material, making it the most comprehensive and authoritative Windows PowerShell book currently available. You will not only learn what PowerShell is and how it works, but you will learn to take PowerShell further using custom type extensions, basic cmdlet development, custom formatting views, .NET Framework development, graphical dialog boxes, and much, much more.

A completely revised first part helps you get started with PowerShell faster than ever, with explanations based on live class deliveries to more than 1,000 students; coverage of PowerShell's scripting capabilities has been vastly expanded and rewritten to make the subject both easier and more applicable to real-world scenarios. No other PowerShell book provides this much coverage, with such clear explanations from two recipients of Microsoft's Windows PowerShell MVP award!

Authors Don Jones (Managing Windows with VBScript and WMI, Advanced VBScript for Windows Administrators) and Jeffery Hicks (WSH and VBScript Core: TFM, Advanced VBScript for Windows Administrators) teach you PowerShell scripting and administration from the ground up: You do not need any prior PowerShell, VBScript, or any other scripting or programming experience. You'll learn about cmdlets, snap-ins, scripts, PowerShell's security model, third party extensions and just enough of the .NET Framework to fully leverage PowerShell and become a more efficient administrator. Written in an easygoing, casual style with plenty of practical and “real-world” examples, you will find yourself producing useful PowerShell scripts after the second chapter!