There is nothing worse than being given a system requirement and not knowing whether it can be applied to a number of systems. There are countless examples, such as free space on local computers or what levels of JAVA or .NET framework are installed. Sometimes, we may be given more difficult requirements that we may or may not be able to easily determine.
Here are three scripts you can use to get detailed information for specific questions about Windows clients and servers. The scripts are based on PowerShell 2, which can be applied to Windows XP and higher on the client side as well as on Windows Server 2003 and higher on the server editions. For PowerShell 2, it is recommended that you install the Windows PowerShell PowerPack.
Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.
This PowerPack command does not (currently) support execution against a remote computer, which is the biggest limitation to its usage for a broad-reaching inventory. In this case, you could couple the installation of the PowerPack with a Group Policy software installation package and run it locally to report the results for a number of systems. Couple the command with a variable to determine the computer's name and export it to a local (or central file):
In this example, the caption section has the string "Blue Snowball" listed as the connected USB device. This is a microphone, and for organizations wanting to restrict the device types for systems, this can inventory what USB devices are attached to the system. Likewise, if a USB Mass Storage device is enumerated in the list, this can roll into the auditing of a policy that may or may not be enforced.
Unlike the previous command, you can run this command against remote systems natively. Running the command with the -computername variable will connect the command to a remote system and return the same results as if it were executing locally. This doesn't require PowerShell PowerPack to be installed when executing remotely, which is handy. The command would execute as shown below:
In this example, you can see how the virtual machine in this case is provisioned with one CPU with core including the model and frequency. If the -Computer parameter is omitted; it will return the local results. Different processor configurations will return different values and information comparable to old-school tools like CPUID.
Here are three scripts you can use to get detailed information for specific questions about Windows clients and servers. The scripts are based on PowerShell 2, which can be applied to Windows XP and higher on the client side as well as on Windows Server 2003 and higher on the server editions. For PowerShell 2, it is recommended that you install the Windows PowerShell PowerPack.
Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.
#1: Determine primary screen resolution
When a software package requires a certain resolution or minimum resolution, you can query the local computer to return the resolution of the primary monitor. Multiple monitors are not reported in this command. The code to perform this task is the simple one-liner Get-DisplaySetting, shown in Figure A.Figure A
This PowerPack command does not (currently) support execution against a remote computer, which is the biggest limitation to its usage for a broad-reaching inventory. In this case, you could couple the installation of the PowerPack with a Group Policy software installation package and run it locally to report the results for a number of systems. Couple the command with a variable to determine the computer's name and export it to a local (or central file):
$NetBIOSName = gc env:computername Get-DisplaySetting > C:\$NetBIOSName.txt
#2: Enumerate USB devices
Determining what USB devices are in use on a system can be tough. Administrators bemoan the day that PC makers replaced PS/2 interfaces for keyboard and mice with USB ports. This is simply because it is easier to make a generic USB device policy, and PS/2 input devices would function fine outside that policy. The Get-USB PowerShell module will enumerate the devices currently attached to the USB interfaces of a server or workstation. A sample output is shown in Figure B.Figure B
In this example, the caption section has the string "Blue Snowball" listed as the connected USB device. This is a microphone, and for organizations wanting to restrict the device types for systems, this can inventory what USB devices are attached to the system. Likewise, if a USB Mass Storage device is enumerated in the list, this can roll into the auditing of a policy that may or may not be enforced.
Unlike the previous command, you can run this command against remote systems natively. Running the command with the -computername variable will connect the command to a remote system and return the same results as if it were executing locally. This doesn't require PowerShell PowerPack to be installed when executing remotely, which is handy. The command would execute as shown below:
Get-USB -Computername System.FullyQualified.Domain
#3: Retrieve detailed processor information
The current inventory of processors for servers, workstations, and virtual machines can be mind-boggling. The Get-Processor PowerShell command can help centralize this information for quick information on how many cores or CPUs are available to a system. The Get-Processor command is shown in Figure C.Figure C
In this example, you can see how the virtual machine in this case is provisioned with one CPU with core including the model and frequency. If the -Computer parameter is omitted; it will return the local results. Different processor configurations will return different values and information comparable to old-school tools like CPUID.
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