10 Windows PowerShell commands you need to be using (2024)

One of Windows 11's most powerful features is Microsoft PowerShell, a task-based command-line tool that is also great for scripting automation tasks. It replaces the old Command Prompt and makes it easy to add, change, or delete Windows components. If you've seen it mentioned but wondered what type of commands to try, we've rounded up ten of our favorites to get you going.

10 To back up device drivers

And to integrate them into your installation ISO for easy reinstalls

PowerShell is great for handling complex automation tasks, and when talking about Windows, one of the most annoying parts is having to download and reinstall every device driver if you have to reinstall the operating system. However, with PowerShell, with a few commands, you can back up the already-installed drivers on your PC and then slipstream them into a Windows ISO. That gives you everything you need to reinstall your system at any given time, without having to worry if the drivers you need are in Windows Update or not.

The command you need for exporting your drivers is below, and you will need to run PowerShell with administrator privileges to get it to run.

Export-WindowsDriver -Online -Destination "full path of the backup folder" 

Of course, you'll need to replace the text in quotes with the path where you want to back up the drivers.

Then, with an up-to-date Windows ISO from UUP dump, you can mount the install.wim file, and add all the drivers into your Windows installation ISO. That way, when you next need to install your system, everything you need will be already in the installation files. It's a very short process to save a ton of time on your next installation.

Sometimes it's just simpler to use the CLI

Server admins have a wealth of tools at their disposal on Windows 11, but some aren't installed by default. Remote Server Administration Tools, or RSAT, is a suite of features that make managing servers remotely easier, which is critical for keeping business operations running. If you're a server admin, the easiest way to get these tools into your Windows 11 Pro installation is with PowerShell, as one command gets you every tool at once.

Get-WindowsCapability -Name RSAT* -Online | Add-WindowsCapability -Online

Once installed, that gives you a whole toolkit for managing Active Directory functions, DHCP servers, BitLocker, Group Policy, and more. The best part is that you won't have to log in to each of your servers to manage them anymore, which saves a ton of time.

8 To remove bloat

Give Windows a little trim with some quick commands

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Whether it's unwanted apps installed in Windows, or bloatware added by your computer's manufacturer, our devices have a problem. Even the best laptops come with a handful of apps or programs we either don't need or don't want, and it's time to claw back some storage space from the bloat. Whether it's features like Copilot that you know you won't use or preinstalled apps that are tricky to remove because PowerShell is deeply integrated into Windows, you can remove them from the command line.

To do this, download Win11Debloat from GitHub (use the Code > Download ZIP option at the top). Technically, this is a PowerShell script instead of a command, but once you extract the download and launch the Run.bat file, it'll open up a simple interface inside a PowerShell window which will let you remove most of the bloat from Windows 11 with a few button presses.

7 To disable Hyper-V virtualization

Being able to run virtualization on Windows is great, allowing you to create and run virtual machines so you can switch between operating systems without having to play with boot settings. But, sometimes Hyper-V, Microsoft's hypervisor that enables virtualization tasks, can cause issues or slowdowns with the rest of your installation. If that's the case, you'll want a quick way to turn it off without having to uninstall and lose all the settings that you've been tinkering with. Opening up Microsoft PowerShell and putting the following string into the command prompt will stop Hyper-V from starting when your computer boots.

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off

After you reboot your computer, Hyper-V will no longer be running, and you can troubleshoot to see if the slowdowns and other unwanted behaviors are caused by the hypervisor or by something else. If you find the issue isn't Hyper-V related, you can turn it back on easily by changing the off to an on and rerunning the command.

6 To fix issues with the taskbar

Windows 11 gives you some level of control over the taskbar, including where icons show up and if it auto-hides when not in use, so you can use every pixel of your display. Sometimes, this feature glitches and requires the taskbar to be re-registered with Windows so that it will work again. The quickest way to do that is in PowerShell, with the following command.

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml”} 

Once the command has run, you shouldn't have to do anything else to get your taskbar behaving properly again.

5 To enter your BIOS

Image: chiphell.com (Chinese)

The BIOS or UEFI that runs on any personal computer is the first thing that boots when you turn on the power. It's also where you want to be able to boot into for low-level changes to your system configuration, but sometimes it's hard to know how to do so. While most devices running Windows have a button that you can press at boot to enter the BIOS, some devices lock you out and prefer you to reboot into BIOS from your Windows desktop.

shutdown /r /fw

This command will reboot your computer and into the BIOS, so you can change the settings you need. It's often quicker to do this than any other method, including the long-winded method where you hold Shift on your keyboard while clicking on Restart in the power menu. That way, it takes a few more mouse clicks before you're near the BIOS, and there's something elegant about using the command line.

4 For managing user accounts

PowerShell is a powerful administration tool, and one common task it is used for is managing user accounts. It's by far the easiest way to delete users from your computer who are no longer using it, but be warned that this method doesn't give you any warning prompts before it deletes the user. The following command in a PowerShell window will delete the user while still keeping their files safe in the Users folder.

Remove-LocalUser -Name "USERNAME"

Once run, the user will no longer be able to log in to your computer, keeping it safe. It might not be a use that most users will need, but it does show that PowerShell can be used for a wide variety of tasks.

3 To find out your laptop's battery health

Why this isn't a Windows widget we will never know

While Windows gives you many tools to monitor your laptop's performance with nice graphical interfaces, one thing it hides away is your battery's health report. The battery indicator in the taskbar has rough estimates for usage, but it also falls short in telling you important information like number of charge cycles, estimates on capacity, and any historical usage data. The good news is that a short command can generate an in-depth report on your battery health, so you can stay informed.

powercfg /batteryreport /output "C:\battery_report.html"

Running this command in a Windows PowerShell window with administrator privileges will generate a report in HTML form on the root of your C: drive. Open that report in any web browser, and you'll get information about your battery's capacity, the manufacturer, and things like cycle count, recent battery use statistics, and data on how long you used your laptop on battery each week. That way, you know if your battery is due replacement, or if something else is draining its battery life each day.

Technically speaking, this also works in the standard Command Prompt, but it's a useful shortcut all the same.

2 To remove preinstalled apps and services

Sometimes you might want to remove preinstalled apps that are still fairly useful, like the Xbox app. Maybe you don't want the user to be able to easily sign up for Game Pass for PC, or you just don't want the app trying to run every boot. PowerShell is often used for tasks like this, and once you know the package name, it's trivial to remove the app without having to find it in the installed apps list. The other thing to note is that if other uninstall methods aren't working properly, the PowerShell command should still work.

get-appxpackage -allusers *xboxapp* | remove-appxpackage 

You can also extend the PowerShell command to stop the user from reinstalling the same package from the Microsoft Store.

get-appxprovisionedpackage –online | where-object {$_.packagename –like “*xboxapp*”} | remove-appxprovisionedpackage –onlinedsda

That string removes the Xbox app and stops it from showing up for reinstallation. While you're de-Xboxing your computer, you might want to disable the Xbox Game Bar at the same time, if you find it's more of an annoyance than anything else. It is the easiest way to take HDR screenshots on Windows 11, though, so you might want to hold off.

1 For managing Windows packages

If you're used to the package manager system on Linux and want the same level of command-line control on Windows, you're in luck. Microsoft now has a first-party tool to do so, Windows Package Manager. You can use Winget inside PowerShell windows to search for packages you want to install and then to download and install, just like any package manager you might have used previously. It's a powerful way to find specific packages that you might struggle to find as installer files from a web search.

winget search <your-app-here> 

Then to install:

winget install <your-app-here> 

It's great for developers who need a specific version of apps to test against, or if you find the Microsoft Store laggy and annoying to browse. Again, this command also works in Command Prompt, but PowerShell looks a bit better when displaying this information.

Microsoft PowerShell can be incredibly powerful with the right commands

The low-level access that PowerShell provides can be a powerful tool, but it's important to know what commands you're running before you start. Because it doesn't hand-hold or ask for confirmation of tasks, it's easy to make an unintended change and be left with a difficult troubleshooting task to revert things to how they were. Once you know how the commands work, you can build out automated scripts to handle complex tasks with ease.