1 00:00:00,940 --> 00:00:05,250 Hello, everyone, and welcome to the next step in your PowerShell journey. 2 00:00:05,250 --> 00:00:06,940 My name is Jeff Hicks. 3 00:00:06,940 --> 00:00:10,090 I've been teaching and writing about PowerShell since the very beginning, 4 00:00:10,090 --> 00:00:12,620 and I'm eager to teach you everything you need to know 5 00:00:12,620 --> 00:00:15,140 about the Help System in PowerShell. 6 00:00:15,140 --> 00:00:19,640 I often say that I don't train people to use PowerShell, I teach them. 7 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:22,980 Training, to me, implies there's a set way to do something. 8 00:00:22,980 --> 00:00:27,110 You click here, enter value, press okay, move onto the next thing. 9 00:00:27,110 --> 00:00:29,550 But PowerShell isn't like that. 10 00:00:29,550 --> 00:00:32,580 It's a paradigm and a language that, once learned, 11 00:00:32,580 --> 00:00:35,290 lets you do what you need to do. 12 00:00:35,290 --> 00:00:39,070 A major part of learning PowerShell is learning how to 13 00:00:39,070 --> 00:00:41,420 discover and how to teach yourself. 14 00:00:41,420 --> 00:00:44,880 And that's where the PowerShell Help System comes into play. 15 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:46,450 Now, when I do live classes, 16 00:00:46,450 --> 00:00:51,600 I really push students hard on learning how to use PowerShell Help. 17 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:53,280 If you don't learn how to use it, 18 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:57,190 you'll never really use PowerShell more than copying and pasting from 19 00:00:57,190 --> 00:01:00,620 sites like Stack Overflow and then hoping that it works. 20 00:01:00,620 --> 00:01:03,900 So with all of that, let's get to it. Now, believe it or not, 21 00:01:03,900 --> 00:01:07,170 PowerShell is actually easy to learn and use, 22 00:01:07,170 --> 00:01:10,730 but you have to be willing to put in the work up front, 23 00:01:10,730 --> 00:01:13,440 be open minded and be consistent. 24 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,820 At its most essential, using PowerShell follows this model. 25 00:01:17,820 --> 00:01:18,610 First, 26 00:01:18,610 --> 00:01:21,730 find the command or commands that you need to accomplish your 27 00:01:21,730 --> 00:01:25,100 goal. Now as a beginner, you won't completely know how to use the 28 00:01:25,100 --> 00:01:29,520 command properly. Which means you need to discover and use the 29 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,940 built‑in help documentation. 30 00:01:31,940 --> 00:01:35,300 Now, as much as I'd love people to buy the books that I write, 31 00:01:35,300 --> 00:01:38,860 you don't have to read a book before you begin using PowerShell. 32 00:01:38,860 --> 00:01:43,080 You have help and documentation right at your fingertips. 33 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:48,160 Once you understand the command, obviously the next step is to execute it. 34 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,570 The command could be as simple as restarting the Windows 35 00:01:51,570 --> 00:01:53,810 firewall service on the local host. 36 00:01:53,810 --> 00:01:56,650 Or it could be getting the free drive space on a hundred 37 00:01:56,650 --> 00:01:59,520 servers queried from active directory and then writing that 38 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,240 information to a SQL server database. 39 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,540 You'll eventually learn how to pull all those parts together. But knowing 40 00:02:06,540 --> 00:02:09,960 how to use them is the first and most important step, 41 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,500 and that's why we're here. When you run help for a command 42 00:02:13,500 --> 00:02:16,460 PowerShell gives you everything you need to know. 43 00:02:16,460 --> 00:02:18,070 After reading this help, 44 00:02:18,070 --> 00:02:21,610 you'll have a better idea about how to get a service. Now, no, 45 00:02:21,610 --> 00:02:22,490 don't worry. 46 00:02:22,490 --> 00:02:26,170 I'll teach you how to get the most out of this help, how to interpret it, 47 00:02:26,170 --> 00:02:34,000 although, as you can see, a lot of it is self‑evident, but we will cover this in great detail throughout the rest of the course.