Managing Windows Server 2012 R2 Using PowerShell : Part-2 : Exploring PowerShell Default Settings.

Part 1 : Windows Server 2012 R2 Installation

Part -2

In the Part-1 of this series, we have done a fresh installation of "Windows Server 2012 R2".  That covers our "Installation" section of this tutorial series.
Next section of the series is getting various Information of the server by using PowerShell. In this Section we are going to get some basic and default information of the server.
 

INFORMATION

Let's try to dig some basic information of our newly server using PowerShell. but before exploring anything else let's explore the PowerShell first.
(This server is not joined to domain yet. So everything is set to default as-it-is come.)

1. Information regarding PowerShell

You will see the PowerShell shortcut in the taskbar ( that's cool ). Click on icon to Open PowerShell Console.

When you open PowerShell console, you will notice, that the PowerShell console is opens in the "Administrator" mode by default. (nice!)

First thing to check is the default version of PowerShell which come along with "Windows Server 2012 R2", to check the version of  PowerShell , we type and enter the variable name $PSVersionTable , this variable contains the information of PowerShell version.

In the above output we can see that the value of "PSVersion" (PowerShell Version) is 4.0. That means "Server 2012 R2" shipped with PowerShell version 4.0 installed.
I also want to check, ( Just out of my curiosity), how many cmdlets are there in PowerShell by default in "Server 2012 R2". Total cmdlets are easy to calculate by using Get-Command and brackets and dot notation.

(Get-Command).count

1311, Wow!, PowerShell on "Windows Server 2012 R2" contains 1,311 ( One thousand, Three Hundred and Eleven cmdlets) by default.

Now, I need to check what is Execution policy is set to ( I am assuming  it might be set to Restricted, but worth checking still.). To check we Execution policy we use the  Get-ExecutionPolicy ".

Oh! I my assumptions was wrong, the Execution Policy is set to "RemoteSigned" by default. Nice! ( told you, that's it always worth checking.)
Let's check about how many PowerShell modules are installed by default.  Checking the total count is simple, Brackets and dot notation is our best friends.
(Get-Module -ListAvailable * ).count

63 Modules, PowerShell modules are there. Cool.!
Now, the last thing to check , if PowerShell-ISE is available by default or not.  When I searched for "PowerShell ISE" in search charm, I have found it .


So, we can conclude everything in the below table.

PowerShell Default Information on Windows Server 2012 R2
Default Version	4.0
Number Total PowerShell Cmdlets	1,311
PowerShell Execution Policy	RemoteSigned
Number of Default Modules	63
PowerShell ISE available by default	Yes

Below is the name and version of all of Modules those are available on my "Server 2012 R2" installation by default.

	Name and Version Number of all PowerShell Modules
S.NO	Name	Version	ModuleType
1	AppLocker	2.0.0.0	Manifest
2	Appx	2.0.0.0	Manifest
3	BestPractices	1.0	Manifest
4	BitsTransfer	1.0.0.0	Manifest
5	BranchCache	1.0.0.0	Manifest
6	CimCmdlets	1.0.0.0	Manifest
7	DirectAccessClientComponents	1.0.0.0	Manifest
8	Dism	3.0	Script
9	DnsClient	1.0.0.0	Manifest
10	International	2.0.0.0	Manifest
11	iSCSI	1.0.0.0	Manifest
12	IscsiTarget	2.0.0.0	Manifest
13	ISE	1.0.0.0	Script
14	Kds	1.0.0.0	Manifest
15	Microsoft.PowerShell.Diagnostics	3.0.0.0	Manifest
16	Microsoft.PowerShell.Host	3.0.0.0	Manifest
17	Microsoft.PowerShell.Management	3.1.0.0	Manifest
18	Microsoft.PowerShell.Security	3.0.0.0	Manifest
19	Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility	3.1.0.0	Manifest
20	Microsoft.WSMan.Management	3.0.0.0	Manifest
21	MMAgent	1.0	Manifest
22	MsDtc	1.0.0.0	Manifest
23	NetAdapter	2.0.0.0	Manifest
24	NetConnection	1.0.0.0	Manifest
25	NetEventPacketCapture	1.0.0.0	Manifest
26	NetLbfo	2.0.0.0	Manifest
27	NetNat	1.0.0.0	Manifest
28	NetQos	2.0.0.0	Manifest
29	NetSecurity	2.0.0.0	Manifest
30	NetSwitchTeam	1.0.0.0	Manifest
31	NetTCPIP	1.0.0.0	Manifest
32	NetworkConnectivityStatus	1.0.0.0	Manifest
33	NetworkTransition	1.0.0.0	Manifest
34	NFS	1.0	Manifest
35	PcsvDevice	1.0.0.0	Manifest
36	PKI	1.0.0.0	Manifest
37	PrintManagement	1.1	Manifest
38	PSDesiredStateConfiguration	1.0	Manifest
39	PSDiagnostics	1.0.0.0	Script
40	PSScheduledJob	1.1.0.0	Binary
41	PSWorkflow	2.0.0.0	Manifest
42	PSWorkflowUtility	1.0.0.0	Manifest
43	RemoteDesktop	2.0.0.0	Manifest
44	ScheduledTasks	1.0.0.0	Manifest
45	SecureBoot	2.0.0.0	Manifest
46	ServerCore	1.0.0.0	Script
47	ServerManager	2.0.0.0	Script
48	ServerManagerTasks	1.0.0.0	Cim
49	SmbShare	2.0.0.0	Manifest
50	SmbWitness	2.0.0.0	Manifest
51	SoftwareInventoryLogging	2.0.0.0	Manifest
52	StartScreen	1.0.0.0	Manifest
53	Storage	2.0.0.0	Manifest
54	TLS	2.0.0.0	Manifest
55	TroubleshootingPack	1.0.0.0	Manifest
56	TrustedPlatformModule	2.0.0.0	Manifest
57	UserAccessLogging	1.0.0.0	Manifest
58	VpnClient	2.0.0.0	Manifest
59	Wdac	1.0.0.0	Manifest
60	Whea	2.0.0.0	Manifest
61	WindowsDeveloperLicense	1.0.0.0	Manifest
62	WindowsErrorReporting	1.0	Script
63	WindowsSearch	1.0.0.0	Manifest

That's all for now, In the next blog post, we will explore more information with the help of PowerShell.

Regards.

Aman Dhally

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