How To List Files on Remote Server - PowerShell
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This document provides instructions for using a PowerShell script to list files on a remote server. It describes prerequisites like setting the execution policy and provides the PowerShell code to read user input for a drive and directory and list the first five text files from a remote server. The script outputs whether servers are reachable, paths not found, or lists the files to a text file.
How To List Files on Remote Server - PowerShell
- 1. Windows PowerShell Basics – List Files Remote Server i | P a g e Table of Contents Overview.......................................................................................................................................................1 Applies To..................................................................................................................................................1 Pre-Requisites ...........................................................................................................................................1 Current Execution Policy...........................................................................................................................1 PowerShell Script – List File – Remote Server...............................................................................................2 PowerShell Code Snippet – List Files ........................................................................................................2 PowerShell Execution – User Input.......................................................................................................3 PowerShell Output – List Files...............................................................................................................3 PowerShell Output – Path Not Found...................................................................................................4 PowerShell Output – Server Unreachable ............................................................................................4 PowerShell Output – File List................................................................................................................5
- 2. Windows PowerShell Basics – List Files Remote Server 1 | P a g e Overview In this post / guide we will demonstrate, listing files on a remote server’s in a specific directory. Applies To Tested on Windows 10, Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 2012. Pre-Requisites 1) This script has to been run on domain controller, so that all the servers are accessible without administrator password authentication. 2) Launch PowerShell Command Console or PowerShell ISE. To run this script, Execution Policy should be set to either of these “AllSigned” or “RemoteSigned” or “Unrestricted”, you can get current execution policy by running the command; “Get-ExecutionPolicy”. Each Policy type and its purpose is shown in the below table. Policy Type Purpose Restricted No scripts can be run. Windows PowerShell can be used only in interactive mode. AllSigned Only scripts signed by a trusted publisher can be run. RemoteSigned Downloaded scripts must be signed by a trusted publisher before they can be run. Unrestricted No restrictions; all Windows PowerShell scripts can be run. Current Execution Policy To know the current run the PowerShell cmdlet; Get-ExecutionPolicy To list execution policies that can be configured run the PowerShell cmdlet; Get-ExecutionPolicy -List
- 3. Windows PowerShell Basics – List Files Remote Server 2 | P a g e PowerShell Script – List File – Remote Server This script will read drive and folder from user input, we will list files on a remote server in a specific folder and drive based on user input. In this script we will limit the listing only to first five files only. PowerShell Code Snippet – List Files The code snippet is for demonstrating “List Files on a remote server on a specific drive”. Clear-Host Set-Location $env:USERPROFILE Push-Location $env:USERPROFILE # # Set Output file Location # $OutPutFilename=$env:USERPROFILE+"DesktopFileLists.txt" $ServersFilename=$env:USERPROFILE+"DesktopServerNames.txt" $ReadDrive=Read-Host "Enter the Drive" # # Remove string : # $DriveName=($ReadDrive).Contains(":") if ($DriveName=$true) { $ReadDrive=$ReadDrive.Remove(1,2) } $ReadDirectory=Read-Host "Enter the Directory to List (exclude drive)" # # Remove Output file if file already exists. # if (Test-Path $OutPutFilename) { Remove-Item $OutPutFilename } $AuthroizedUser=Get-Credential Get-Content $ServersFilename | ForEach-Object { if (-Not (Test-Connection -ComputerName $_ -Count 1 -Quiet)) { Write-Host Server - $_ `t Is currently down or Unreachable -ForegroundColor White - BackgroundColor Red return } else { Write-Host `nServer - $_ `t Is Reachable -ForegroundColor Green -BackgroundColor Black if (Test-Path -Path $_$ReadDrive$$ReadDirectory) { $GCCount=(Get-Childitem "$_$ReadDrive$$ReadDirectory" -Filter *.txt).count if ($GCCount -ge 0) { Write-Host Searching .... "$_$ReadDrive$$ReadDirectory" Write-Host File listing count is $GCCount -ForegroundColor Green -BackgroundColor Black
- 4. Windows PowerShell Basics – List Files Remote Server 3 | P a g e Get-Childitem "$_$ReadDrive$$ReadDirectory" -Filter *.txt | select @{n='ComputerName'; e={_$}}, FullName, LastAccessTime | select -first 5 | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File -Append $OutPutFilename } } else { Write-Host "`n$_ - Path Not Found `n" -BackgroundColor Red -ForegroundColor Yellow } return } } Invoke-Item $OutPutFilename PowerShell Execution – User Input When script is executed; when the files are found, list will be saved into file a text file and subsequently file will be launched, after completion of the script execution. PowerShell Output – List Files When script is executed, if the files are found script will list files to a text file.
- 5. Windows PowerShell Basics – List Files Remote Server 4 | P a g e PowerShell Output – Path Not Found When script is executed, if the files are not found, a message will be displayed, as shown below; PowerShell Output – Server Unreachable When script is executed, if server is unreachable or down, a message will be displayed, as shown below;
- 6. Windows PowerShell Basics – List Files Remote Server 5 | P a g e PowerShell Output – File List When script is executed, if the files are found script will list files to a text file.