Beginner's Guide - Powershell for the newbie

Whether you're new to the world of Windows administration or you've been living under a rock for the past 8 years, it's OK not to know about perhaps the single most effective tool for administrating Windows environments since Active Directory.  I'm not going to reinvent the wheel in this blog entry as there are tons of great resources out there, but I am going to provide some of my favorites and recommendations.

Above all, in order to learn how to use Powershell, you must practice.  Most commands are innocuous and safe to run on your workstation or laptop; but to be safe, you are better off having a dedicated PC or virtual machine to create a sandbox environment.  I'll be creating a blog called "How-to: Building a Virtual Lab" soon and I'll add the link when it's up.

For now, lets get to the good stuff.

Getting Started

• Technet Windows Powershell: Self Study Guide - I tell everyone to go here first.  This probably the best collection of intro links I know of.
• Microsoft Virtual Academy: Powershell Jump Start - If you like videos, this is the place to start.  Jason Helmick and Jeffery Snover (inventor of Powershell) get you right into the shell and using it in minutes.
• Don Jones Powershell Crash Course - Don't have time to watch the MVA video above? Check this out.
• Powershell Pro Tutorials - A good blog that I first used to get started (it's a bit dated)
• Windows IT Pro - A really great blog for enabling Powershell to run scripts. By default, running unsigned scripts is disabled, this shows you have to get around that.

Building the knowledge

• Powershell Tutorial Online - Another excellent article series which has valuable under the hood fundamentals for making your scripts really do amazing things.
• MVA: Advanced Tools and Scripting - The second part which is a must see.

Coming to Windows?

• Powershell for Unix people - Many unix commands work in a similar way to bash, though not case sensitive thank goodness.
• Powershell on Mac - well editing on a mac anyways.  Powershell over SSH will come soon enough and then you'll be able to run commands on a remote server from your non-windows client.

Books

• Learn Windows Powershell in a Month of Lunches - Don Jones & Jeffrey Hicks classic - most people learn powershell with this book.
• Learn Powershell Toolmaking in a Month of Lunches - Another Jones & Hicks book which I owe a lot of my more advanced knowledge to.
• Windows Powershell Cookbook - Lee Holmes offers a different perspective (through a developer's eyes) and has some creative tips for the IT admin.
• Powershell TFM (The Freak'n Manual) - My first Powershell book.

Classroom Learning

• Interface Powershell Training -  I took the Don Jones Master Class (boot camp) last year and he blew my mind in 5 days, despite my 6 previous years of Powershell experience. Worth the $3500 and they offer web based learning.  If you can get work reimbursement, all the better.
• Powershell.org Events - Many free webinars and if you are lucky, you might have a Powershell meetup group near you.

That's all for now. Did I miss something that you think should be on this list? Let me know in a comment below or Tweet me.