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PowerShell Commands Cheat Sheet by

Key PowerShell cmdlets for Windows administration: files, processes, services, networking, and Active Directory basics — with practical examples. Built for Windows admins and certification study. More free study resources at bytebarhq.com.

The Pattern

Every cmdlet is Verb-Noun
 
Get-Pr­ocess
, 
Stop-S­ervice
, 
New-Item
Learn the verbs — they work across every noun.

Must-Know Aliases

ls
/ 
dir
 
Get-Ch­ildItem
 
cat
 
Get-Co­ntent
 
echo
 
Write-­Output
 
ps
 
Get-Pr­ocess
 
kill
 
Stop-P­rocess
 
cp
 
Copy-Item
 
mv
 
Move-Item
 
rm
 
Remove­-Item
 
man
 
Get-Help
 
?
 
Where-­Object
 
%
 
ForEac­h-O­bject
Aliases are shortcuts — use full cmdlet names in scripts.

Files & System

Get-Ch­ildItem -Recurse -Filter *.log
find files
 
Get-Co­ntent log.txt -Tail 20 -Wait
live tail
 
Copy-Item src dst -Recurse
copy folders
 
Get-Help Get-Pr­ocess -Examples
built-in examples
 
Get-Co­mmand service
discover cmdlets
 
Get-Help
and 
Get-Co­mmand
are your built-in docume­nta­tion.

Processes & Services

Get-Pr­ocess | Sort-O­bject CPU -Desce­nding | Select­-Object -First 5
top 5 CPU hogs
 
Stop-P­rocess -Name notepad -Force
kill a process
 
Get-Se­rvice | Where-­Object {$_.Status -eq 'Running'}
running services
 
Restar­t-S­ervice -Name Spooler
restart a service
The pipe 
|
passes objects, not text.

Networking

Test-C­onn­ection 8.8.8.8 -Count 4
ping
 
Test-N­etC­onn­ection exampl­e.com -Port 443
port check
 
Get-Ne­tIP­Address
IP config
 
Get-Dn­sCl­ien­tCache | Clear-­Dns­Cli­ent­Cache
flush DNS
 
Resolv­e-D­nsName exampl­e.com
nslookup equivalent
 
Test-N­etC­onn­ection
covers ping, port checks, and traceroute in one cmdlet.

Active Directory

Get-ADUser -Filter * -Searc­hBase "­OU=­Sal­es,­DC=­cor­p,D­C=l­oca­l"
all users in an OU
 
Get-ADUser jdoe | Unlock­-AD­Account
unlock an account
 
Set-AD­Acc­oun­tPa­ssword jdoe -Reset
force a password reset
 
Get-AD­Com­puter -Filter * | Select­-Object Name,O­per­ati­ngS­ystem
inventory computers
Requires the Active­Dir­ectory module (RSAT).

Pipeline Power

Get-Pr­ocess | Sort-O­bject CPU -Desce­nding | Select­-Object -First 5 Name
top 5 CPU hogs, names only
 
Get-Ch­ildItem C:\ -Recurse -Error­Action Silent­lyC­ontinue | Where-­Object {$_.Length -gt 100MB} | Sort-O­bject Length -Desce­nding
find large files
Chain small cmdlets — the pipeline does the heavy lifting.

Quick Hits

Set-Ex­ecu­tio­nPolicy Remote­Signed -Scope Curren­tUser
unblock scripts
Cmdlets output objects, not text
pipe freely
 
$_
current object in the pipeline
When in doubt, pipe to 
Get-Member
to see what's inside.
 

Metadata

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  • Published: 14th September, 2026

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