The PowerShell Podcast

Epizode

• 
  Inside the PowerShell Working Groups with Ryan Yates 19.10.2026 34min

  Fresh off a PowerShell Wednesday session on Windows PowerShell versus PowerShell 7, Andrew Pla sits down with Ryan Yates, a longtime pillar of the UK PowerShell community and member of three PowerShell Working Groups (Cmdlets, Engine, and Interactive UX). Ryan pulls back the curtain on what working group members actually do, from triaging issues and reviewing PRs to deciding how bugs and enhancements should be implemented before the community picks up the work.The conversation rewinds to Ryan's early days as an IT apprentice at Barclays, where supporting SharePoint without a Visual Studio license led him straight to PowerShell and a lifelong love of breaking things to learn how they work. Ryan also shares his take on PowerShellGet and PackageManagement headaches, why PSResourceGet and DSC v3 point to a better future, how AI's cost barrier affects everyday PowerShell users, and his dream of turning old devices into a local AI compute farm.Things wrap up with a rapid-fire lightning round covering underrated cmdlets, favorite automatic variables, the most rewritten code block in PowerShell history, and a heartfelt call for more community eyes on the PowerShell repository.Key Takeaways: The PowerShell Working Groups triage issues and decide how bugs and enhancements should be handled, which opens the door for community members to step in and contribute the actual code. PSResourceGet (Install-PSResource and Find-PSResource) is the path forward for module management, and cross-platform software installation is shifting toward DSC v3 rather than PowerShell itself. Anyone can contribute. Start a discussion or open an issue in the PowerShell repository, and the team can convert between the two as needed. Everyone made their first contribution at some point. Guest Bio:Ryan Yates is a UK-based PowerShell community member who has been a driving force behind the UK and international PowerShell communities for over a decade. A former seven-time Microsoft MVP for PowerShell, Ryan currently serves on the PowerShell Cmdlets and Modules, Engine, and Interactive UX Working Groups, where he is in the PowerShell repository triaging, testing, and contributing. He began his career as an IT apprentice at Barclays supporting SharePoint, which led him to PowerShell, and he went on to help organize UK PowerShell user groups and PSDay UK. Ryan also helped keep the PowerScripting Podcast running in its later years. You can find him most days in the PowerShell Discord as pwshdoodUK.Resource Links: Ryan on GitHub: https://github.com/kilasuit Sponsor Ryan on GitHub: https://github.com/sponsors/kilasuit Ryan's Blog: https://blog.kilasuit.org/ Ryan on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ryanyates90 PowerShell Repository: https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell PowerShell Working Group Definitions: https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/blob/master/docs/community/working-group-definitions.md PSResourceGet: https://github.com/PowerShell/PSResourceGet DSC v3: https://github.com/PowerShell/DSC ConsoleGuiTools (Out-ConsoleGridView): https://github.com/PowerShell/ConsoleGuiTools Microsoft.WinGet.Client Module: https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/Microsoft.WinGet.Client PowerShell Discord: https://discord.com/invite/powershell PDQ Discord: https://discord.gg/pdq The PowerShell Podcast Hub: https://pdq.com/the-powershell-podcast The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/r5IYrhIEH4Y
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  The PowerShell Summer of Fun With James Brundage 12.10.2026 39min

  Andrew sits down with longtime PowerShell legend James Brundage to recap what he calls his "summer of fun," a stretch of side projects that prove PowerShell can go way further than most of us ever thought to push it. James kicks things off with Wave, a module for creating and manipulating real .wav files in the object pipeline. Once you see audio as a sine wave and some math, you can generate notes, play music, and even draw animated SVG waves straight from PowerShell.From there, the tour keeps rolling. MarkX turns Markdown into queryable XML so you can pull out code blocks or turn Markdown tables into typed data tables. James also shares how a vibe coded Wolfenstein 3D style clone in PowerShell (that got pulled from the internet after some tough feedback) sent him down the audio rabbit hole, and how he's collaborating with Bruce Payette on getting Braid to play nicely with PowerShell. Then it gets visual. James walks through his Matrix module, which brings the transformation matrices already baked into .NET over to PowerShell and CSS, and shows off a hallway of fake 3D depth built entirely with PowerShell generated SVG. He explains the simple trick behind PowerShell static sites (a .html.ps1 script that spits out HTML, plus a ToString or HTML property on your objects) and shares Fun, a tiny web server where any function named with a leading slash becomes a web page. The episode wraps with a promise of a Part 2, because there is clearly way more to cover.Key Takeaways: PowerShell can do a lot more than most of us assume. Audio waveforms, Markdown as queryable data, matrix transforms, and fake 3D graphics are all fair game once you understand the small piece of math or tech underneath. Static websites in PowerShell have been possible since version 1. Redirect output from a .html.ps1 script to a file, and add a ToString or HTML property to your objects so they render nicely on the web instead of dumping text in a terminal. With the Fun module, naming a function with a leading slash turns it into a route on a local PowerShell web server, which makes web experiments quick and low stakes. Guest Bio:James Brundage is a former Microsoft engineer and one of the most prolific PowerShell developers around, known through his company Start-Automating and the handle MrPowerShell. He is the author of a long list of open source modules, including RoughDraft for multimedia work with FFMpeg, and he founded the PoshWeb GitHub organization to bring together open source PowerShell web development projects. James is currently heads down on creative projects around PowerShell web development, audio, and graphics.Resource Links:PoshWeb GitHub organization (open to new contributors) https://github.com/PoshWeb Wave (work with wave files in PowerShell) https://github.com/PoshWeb/Wave MarkX (Markdown, XML, and PowerShell) https://github.com/PoshWeb/MarkX Matrix (matrix transforms with PowerShell, CSS compatible) https://github.com/PoshWeb/Matrix https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/Matrix Fun (a fun functional PowerShell server) https://github.com/PoshWeb/Fun James Brundage on GitHub https://github.com/StartAutomating James Brundage's website https://MrPowerShell.com Previous PowerShell Podcast episode with Bruce Payette on PowerShell and Braid https://pdq.com/resources/the-powershell-podcast/ep-82-exploring-powershell-braid-and-beyond-with-bruce-payette The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/WLEo6EjZqFM  
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  From Flow State to Agent State with Adam Driscoll 05.10.2026 50min

  Adam Driscoll, creator of PowerShell Universal, returns to the show for a deep dive into how AI has reshaped his day to day work. Since selling PSU to Devolutions last October, Adam has gone from writing thousands of lines of code himself to running a fleet of coding agents through GitHub Copilot, working across the PSU codebase, documentation, and Jira tickets. He and Andrew talk candidly about the personal side of that shift, the strange mix of mourning your old flow state while also getting more done than ever. From there the conversation turns practical, covering how Adam builds guardrails around agents using PowerShell modules and MCP servers, why planning in smaller steps beats one shotting a huge feature, and why Pester testing has quietly become non negotiable. They wrap with a PowerShell Universal 2026.3 update, including a redesigned admin console, new AI chat and MCP guardrail features, and Devolutions Agent support for running PSU jobs, plus a fun detour into Adam's side projects: a fully managed SQLite engine called Ahtola and an accidental 20,000 line Unity game.Key Takeaways: Treat your AI coding agent like a junior developer. It needs the "why" behind a task, not just the "what," or it will fill in the gaps with assumptions you don't want. Guardrails matter more as agents get more capable. Adam constrains what his agents can touch by routing them through well defined PowerShell functions and MCP tools rather than giving them free rein, and tool approval settings let IT admins do the same in more sensitive environments. Break big builds into small, reviewable steps instead of writing a massive plan and letting the agent run wild with it. Smaller steps mean you can actually review what changed at each stage. Guest Bio:Adam Driscoll is the creator of PowerShell Universal and joined Devolutions in October 2025, where he now leads its continued development. He's a longtime fixture in the PowerShell community, known for his tooling work and prolific output.Resource Links:https://ironmansoftware.com/ https://devolutions.net/ https://bsky.app/profile/adamrdriscoll.com https://discord.gg/PDQ The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/u5zTzgEhWT8  
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  From Burnout to Buy In, Justin Grote on Building in the Age of AI Agents 28.09.2026 58min

  Justin Grote (posh.guru) rejoins the PowerShell Podcast a year after his last appearance to talk about how fast the agentic AI world has moved since then. He walks through his experiments with the agent host protocol, running coding agents in isolated dev boxes and spot VMs so a stray command can only trash a container instead of his laptop. He and Andrew dig into what a "harness" actually is, how tools like these steer raw model output into something useful, and why that shift pushed Justin into a real existential dip this past summer, wondering what the point of hand building modules is when an agent can spin one up on demand. He works through how he came out the other side (doing it for the love of the game and the community), then gets into the practical stuff: a from-scratch C# rewrite of ModuleFast that cut Az module install time from seven seconds to three, the ExcelFast beta for slinging PowerShell objects in and out of Excel, and how he's tuning prompts using VS Code's new debug view and token caching. They also cover the rise of agent plugins (bundled skills plus MCP), his favorite lightweight plugin Ponytail, and Justin's read on where PowerShell fits once AI can talk to APIs directly. The conversation closes on advice for people getting into PowerShell right now and where to find Justin online.Key Takeaways: Agentic coding is moving fast enough that "harnesses" (the coordination layer around an LLM, like GitHub Copilot or Claude Code CLI) matter as much as the underlying model, and running agents in isolated dev boxes or spot VMs lets you hand over real autonomy without real risk. Feeling threatened by AI generating modules on the fly is common right now. Justin's answer was to keep building for the love of the craft and the community rather than chasing relevance. PowerShell's role is shifting from "the way you talk to a computer" toward a rapid prototyping and troubleshooting tool that both humans and AI agents reach for, especially anywhere a GUI or a full compiled language is overkill. Guest Bio:Justin Grote is a PowerShell MVP and the author of ModuleFast and ExcelFast, along with other tools in the PowerShell ecosystem like PoshNmap and several SecretManagement extensions. He works for a managed services provider and has been a fixture of the PowerShell community for years, known online as posh.guru.Resource Links:Justin Grote on GitHub https://github.com/JustinGrote Justin Grote on Bluesky (posh.guru) https://bsky.app/profile/posh.guru ModuleFast https://github.com/JustinGrote/ModuleFast ExcelFast https://github.com/JustinGrote/ExcelFast Ponytail (the agent plugin Justin mentioned) https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail PowerShell Discord https://discord.com/invite/powershell The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MsgZoIKYnY0  
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  Living Off the Land With Spencer Alessi 21.09.2026 45min

  Andrew welcomes back pen tester and AD security enthusiast Spencer Alessi (Tech Spence) fresh off DEF CON for a wide ranging chat on where PowerShell still fits into offensive security, how AI is changing his workflow, and what makes an environment genuinely painful to attack. Spencer talks through why PowerShell remains a favorite for both attackers and defenders, how he uses LLMs to speed up one off scripting tasks (and where they still fall short), and how he leans on AI tools to obfuscate offensive tooling during engagements. The conversation shifts into real world stories from the field, including a memorable case of exposed domain user hashes sitting on an overly permissive share, before wrapping up with the three controls Spencer sees make the biggest difference for defenders: application control, content filtering, and network segmentation.KEY TAKEAWAYS: PowerShell is still a top tool for both attackers and defenders because it is fast, flexible, and built into every Windows box, which is exactly why locking it down matters. AI is great for offloading quick one off scripting tasks, but it often assumes intent incorrectly and can produce messy code, so manual review and hand written scripting still matter. Application control, outbound content filtering, and network segmentation are the three controls Spencer sees make attackers' lives noticeably harder. GUEST BIO:Former Sysadmin, now Pentester @SecurIT360 | Microsoft MVP | Helping IT teams make their environment harder to attack | Social Media content & podcast @CyberThreatPOVRESOURCE LINKS:Spencer's website and newsletter: https://spenceralessi.com  Spencer's link hub: https://links.spenceralessi.com  Andrew's link hub: https://andrewpla.tech/links SecurIT360: https://securit360.com  The Cyber Threat Perspective podcast: https://offsec.blog  PowerSploit (offensive PowerShell framework): https://github.com/PowerShellMafia/PowerSploit  Locksmith (AD CS misconfiguration finder, Spencer is a contributor): https://github.com/TrimarcJake/Locksmith  ScriptSentry (Spencer's logon script scanner): https://github.com/techspence/ScriptSentry  PDQ Discord community (PowerShell scripting channel): https://discord.gg/pdq  PowerShell Wednesdays (weekly livestream): https://www.youtube.com/@PDQ The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DDbBZqEJkSI  
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  Microsoft 365 DSC Without the 100 Page Setup Guide with Constantin Hager 14.09.2026 40min

  Andrew welcomes back Constantin Hager, a senior systems engineer, PowerShell User Group organizer, and brand new Microsoft MVP. They open by revisiting Constantin's infamous "size of a finger" intro from his first appearance, then dig into his talks at PSConfEU this year on dev containers with GitHub Codespaces and on Maester, the testing framework for M365 and on-prem AD. A quick detour into the GitHub vs. GitLab vs. Codeberg debate leads into the main event: a deep breakdown of Microsoft365DSC, what it actually does, how it treats M365 tenant settings like Intune, Entra, and Exchange as idempotent, drift-monitored code, and how the M365DSC Workshop wraps the notoriously painful setup process into a lab folder anyone can run. They cover the workshop's multi-tenant design, its DSC Community roots, and the honest limitations, like settings that still aren't exposed through public APIs. Constantin also shares his organic path to becoming an MVP, updates on his user group's shift to English-language talks, and a heads up on an upcoming blog series diving deeper into M365DSC. They close with news on the free PSConfEU MiniCon, happening October 13th with the CFP open until September 25th. Key Takeaways: Microsoft365DSC turns M365 tenant configuration into idempotent, drift-monitored code, and the M365DSC Workshop exists specifically to make the notoriously painful setup process approachable through a ready-to-run lab folder instead of a hundred-page whitepaper. Not everything in M365 is automatable yet. Settings without a public API (some Copilot controls, for example) still require manual portal fixes or an interactive token, so full automation has real gaps today. Constantin's MVP award grew out of years of showing up, organizing his user group, speaking at conferences, and opening GitHub issues, not out of being the loudest voice in the room. Guest Bio:Constantin Hager is a senior systems engineer based in Germany, organizer of the PowerShell User Group Inn-Salzach, and a newly awarded Microsoft MVP. A returning guest of the podcast, he's known for his enthusiasm around dev containers, PSFramework, and now Microsoft365DSC.   Resource Links:Constantin Hager on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/constantin-hager/ Constantin's blog, The IT Guide https://the-itguide.de Andrew's blog: https://andrewpla.techPowerShell User Group Inn-Salzach (Meetup) https://www.meetup.com/de-DE/powershell-usergroup-inn-salzach/ Maester (M365 and Entra security testing framework) https://maester.dev/ Microsoft365DSC official site https://microsoft365dsc.com Microsoft365DSC on GitHub https://github.com/microsoft/Microsoft365DSC M365DSC whitepaper and CI/CD pipeline scripts https://github.com/ykuijs/M365DSC_CICD DSC Community https://dsccommunity.org PSConfEU https://psconf.eu PSConfEU MiniCon Call for Papers (Sessionize) https://sessionize.com/psconfeu-minicon/ PDQ Discord https://discord.gg/PDQ The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Vy4kaayGT2M  
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  Learn PowerShell by Solving Real Problems 07.09.2026 42min

  David McFall joins Andrew Pla to talk about practical PowerShell, mentorship, automation, and why you do not need to be a PowerShell expert to get serious value from it. David shares how he uses PowerShell across Active Directory, Entra, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Graph, and PDQ, including real-world examples like device posture reporting, identifying hardware gaps, and automating project management. They also dig into learning with AI, knowing when a simple script is enough, the importance of testing before production, and why helping the people around you grow can make everyone’s job easier. Key Takeaways:· PowerShell does not have to be complicated to be useful. David approaches PowerShell as a working sysadmin who wants to automate repetitive tasks, reuse existing tools, and solve real problems rather than build everything from scratch.· AI can accelerate learning, but it should not replace understanding. David uses AI to better understand PowerShell concepts and Microsoft Graph, while emphasizing the importance of reviewing, testing, and understanding scripts before putting them into production.· Sharing knowledge makes the whole team stronger. David views himself as a mentor rather than simply a manager. Helping junior team members develop their skills gives them more opportunities while also creating a team that can share responsibility instead of relying on one person who knows everything. Guest Bio:David McFall is an IT infrastructure and operations leader with experience across enterprise cloud platforms, cybersecurity, system administration, Microsoft Defender, Azure, incident response, and automation. Based in Metro Detroit, David combines hands-on technical work with a strong focus on mentoring IT professionals and sharing what he has learned throughout his career. Resource links: ImportExcel (create Excel reports without Excel installed) https://github.com/dfinke/ImportExcel PSWriteHTML (build interactive HTML reports from PowerShell) https://github.com/EvotecIT/PSWriteHTML BurntToast (Windows toast notifications from PowerShell) https://github.com/Windos/BurntToast Maester (automated Microsoft 365 security posture testing) https://maester.dev The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/36VN6K-oE8w
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  How to Test Microsoft Graph Without a Live Tenant with Morten Mynster 31.08.2026 24min

  Andrew welcomes Morten Mynster back to the PowerShell Podcast to dig into the projects he’s been building around Microsoft Graph, Entra, least privilege, and authentication. Morten walks through Least Privileged Entra, a module that uses activity logs to identify users who may have more permissions than they actually need, and MS Graph Proxy, which lets developers work with mocked Microsoft Graph data locally without connecting to a live tenant. They also get into managed identities, the rougher corners of Microsoft 365 APIs, testing Graph-based projects in CI/CD pipelines, and how contributing to open source can solve real problems while creating unexpected career opportunities.   Key Takeaways:· Least privilege is easier when you can see what people actually use. Morten’s Least Privileged Entra module compares assigned Entra roles with activity data to identify permissions that may be unnecessary and suggest more limited alternatives. The goal is to give admins something actionable rather than simply reporting that a configuration passed or failed.· You don’t always need a live Microsoft 365 tenant to develop against Microsoft Graph. MS Graph Proxy intercepts Graph requests and responds with mocked data, allowing developers to test scripts and modules locally, offline, or inside CI/CD pipelines. It can also identify the minimum Graph permissions associated with the endpoints an application uses.· Sharing your work can have benefits far beyond the project itself. Morten credits his Least Privileged MS Graph project with helping him land his current job. His approach is simple: solve a real problem, share the solution, contribute where you can, and let other people build on what you’ve learned.   Guest Bio:Morten Mynster is an IT professional and open source contributor focused on Microsoft Entra, Microsoft Graph, security, and least privilege. His projects include LeastPrivilegedMSGraph, LeastPrivilegedEntra, and MSGraphProxy, and he regularly contributes to community projects and discussions around Microsoft 365 security and PowerShell.Resource Links: https://github.com/Mynster9361/Least_Privileged_MSGraph https://github.com/Mynster9361/LeastPrivilegedEntra https://github.com/Mynster9361/msgraphProxy https://github.com/FriedrichWeinmann/EntraAuth The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cB_QE1HvAyI
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  Unit Testing Your Cloud with Mike Soule 24.08.2026 41min

  Mike Soule, Field CTO at Sentinel Technologies, returns to the PowerShell Podcast for the first time in three years to talk identity security, cloud configuration testing, and the evolving role of AI in the Microsoft ecosystem. Andrew and Mike dig into Maester, the open source PowerShell-based test automation framework that applies unit testing concepts to Microsoft 365 security configuration. Mike breaks down how Maester works, how Sentinel uses it with clients, and how the community has grown it into something that spans hundreds of built-in tests covering conditional access, CIS baselines, CISA standards, and more. They also cover EntraOps, the Enterprise Access Model, AI's impact on the MSP world, and why working in managed services is still one of the fastest ways to level up in IT. The episode closes with a strong Brandon Sanderson tangent.Key Takeaways: Maester brings the concept of unit testing to Microsoft 365 security configuration, letting admins continuously validate their cloud settings against known-good baselines with as few as three PowerShell commands. It's built on Pester, is fully open source, and now has over 100 community contributors. AI is changing the MSP landscape fast, but the fundamentals still matter. Mike and Andrew discuss how to think about Copilot licensing complexity, model routing in agent stacks, and why meeting users in their existing interface is often more important than deploying a shiny new tool. MSP experience accelerates learning in a way that internal IT often can't match. When you're working across multiple clients and environments, you accumulate reps quickly, and that breadth is hard to replicate elsewhere. Guest Bio:Mike Soule is the Field CTO at Sentinel Technologies, a large managed service provider focused on identity, cloud, and security strategy. Mike has been working hands-on with PowerShell, Entra ID, and Microsoft 365 security architecture for years and is a regular speaker at identity and security conferences.Resource Links:Maester (open source framework): https://maester.dev Maester on GitHub: https://github.com/maester365/maester Maester Cloud (hosted version by Merill Fernando): https://maester.cloud HIPConf (Hybrid Identity Protection Conference): https://www.hipconf.com EntraOps by Thomas Naunheim: https://github.com/Cloud-Architekt/EntraOps Mike Soule on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesoule The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/EQK693gGWoo  
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  What PowerShell taught TJ Turner About IT 17.08.2026 37min

  Andrew Pla sits down with TJ Turner at Microsoft’s TechMentor conference @ Microsoft HQ in Redmond, Washington, for a conversation about PowerShell, career growth, and the parts of working in IT that don’t show up in the documentation. TJ traces his path from infrastructure through K-12, finance, and retail to his current role as a Cloud Evangelist at TD SYNNEX, along with his early days using PowerShell v2 and v3, competing in the Scripting Games, and helping start the Philadelphia PowerShell User Group. They also dig into real-world automation wins, including a PowerShell workflow that helped validate thousands of systems before a holiday weekend, plus burnout, community, asking for help, and what years of broken demos and IT mistakes can teach you about staying prepared and learning to adapt.Key Takeaways:· What got you here won’t get you there. TJ’s career moved from hands-on infrastructure into distribution, cloud, and technical evangelism, and none of those moves were necessarily part of the original plan. Staying open to new roles, skills, and opportunities has been a big part of that growth.· PowerShell changes how you think, not just how you work. TJ shares examples of using PowerShell to validate thousands of systems, automate VMware update workflows, and collect detailed system state information. Over time, that automation mindset became part of how he approaches problems, even as his career moved beyond day-to-day infrastructure work.· Community and communication are technical skills too. Whether it’s recognizing burnout, asking for help, meeting someone at a conference, or admitting you don’t know an answer during a presentation, the ability to connect with other people can have just as much impact on your career as knowing the technology.Guest Bio:TJ Turner is a Cloud Evangelist at TD SYNNEX, one of Microsoft’s largest distributors in the CSP and partner channel. His background is in infrastructure, with experience spanning K-12, financial services, retail, and other enterprise environments. TJ got started with PowerShell during the v2 and v3 era, competed in the Scripting Games, and helped found the Philadelphia PowerShell User Group. Today, his work includes Azure, Microsoft 365, security, GitHub, DevOps, and helping partners grow their businesses. Resource Links:· TD SYNNEX Microsoft Partner Programs: https://www.tdsynnex.com/na/us/Microsoft/ · PDQ Connect PowerShell Scanner: https://www.pdq.com/powershell-scanner/ · PDQ PowerShell Scanner Blog Post: https://www.pdq.com/blog/the-powershell-scanner-has-arrived-in-pdq-connect/ · PDQ Community PowerShell Scanners Repository: https://github.com/pdqcom/PowerShell-Scanners · TJ Turner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?keywords=TJ+Turner+TD+SYNNEX The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ce9vxdkzDbo  
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  PSFramework: The Tools for Your Tools with Fred Weinmann 10.08.2026 34min

  Fred Weinmann is back, and this time he's walking us through the PowerShell Framework Collective – his personal answer to the age-old problem of building the tools that build the tools. The core idea is simple but powerful: if you invest in the scaffolding around your code, the actual code you write gets faster, cleaner, and more consistent every time. Fred breaks down four key wins from his framework stack, including PSModuleDevelopment for templating new projects, PSUtil for leveling up your console experience, PSReadLine for predictive history, and PSFramework itself for things like logging, configuration, parameter handling, and protected command execution. If you've ever spent more time wiring up logging and retry logic than solving the actual problem, this episode is going to feel very familiar – and very useful.Key Takeaways: PSModuleDevelopment makes spinning up a new, fully scaffolded PowerShell module a one-liner – complete with tests, GitHub release pipelines, and PowerShell Gallery publishing – so you can focus entirely on the actual functions you need to write. PSFramework handles the infrastructure layer of your code (logging, configuration, tab completion, parameter validation, retry logic) so you stop reinventing the wheel and your projects stay consistent across years and teammates. The real payoff of a shared framework is long-term maintainability: Fred opened a module he hadn't touched in six years and had a bug fixed and released in five minutes because everything was exactly where he expected it to be. Guest Bio:Friedrich "Fred" Weinmann is a Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft and one of the most recognized PowerShell community contributors working today. He is the creator of PSFramework, which underpins many other modules in the ecosystem, as well as tools like PSModuleDevelopment, PSUtil, and the Active Directory Management Framework. Fred is a frequent conference speaker, a longtime community collaborator, and someone Andrew credits with helping shape his own PowerShell journey.Resource Links: PSFramework Project Home: https://psframework.org/ PSFramework on GitHub: https://github.com/PowershellFrameworkCollective/psframework PSModuleDevelopment on GitHub: https://github.com/PowershellFrameworkCollective/PSModuleDevelopment PSUtil on GitHub: https://github.com/PowershellFrameworkCollective/PSUtil PowerShell Framework Collective on GitHub: https://github.com/PowershellFrameworkCollective/ PDQ Discord – PowerShell Scripting Channel: https://discord.gg/pdq The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube:https://youtu.be/sZQdgBZM75Y
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  Engineering AD from the Ground Up So Security Is Not an Afterthought with Evgenij Smirnov 03.08.2026 46min

  Andrew sits down with Evgenij Smirnov, a Berlin-based IT veteran with 30 years of experience in Active Directory and security consulting, to dig into what actually gets organizations popped. Evgenij walks through the most common escalation paths he sees in real-world AD environments, including over-permissioned accounts, exposed certificate authorities, and unencrypted domain controller backups, and explains how attackers chain these together to produce golden tickets and gain god-mode access. The conversation covers why these misconfigurations keep happening (bad defaults, lazy vendors, and a long history of "just click next"), how PowerShell fits into both hardening and attack scenarios, and what proper tier isolation actually looks like when you implement it with both authentication policies and user rights assignments. Evgenij also introduces his book, Building Modern Active Directory, and makes the case for treating security not as a chapter you can skip, but as something baked into the design from day one.   Key Takeaways: The most common Active Directory escalation paths are not sophisticated. Over-permissioned accounts with ACL chains to DC sync, exposed certificate authorities, and unencrypted backup tapes are consistently the entry points attackers exploit. If you can find these first, you are already ahead of most threat actors. Tier isolation done right requires both authentication policies and user rights assignment policies working together. Either technique alone leaves a blind spot that a determined attacker can walk through. Cybersecurity is a team sport, and bad cybersecurity is too. Microsoft ships AD with questionable defaults, vendors demand domain admin for service accounts, and administrators make shortcuts under pressure. The fix is not one heroic hardening sprint; it is a culture of least privilege built into every decision from the start. Guest Bio:Evgenij Smirnov is a Principal Solutions Architect at Semperis and a Microsoft MVP in both Security and PowerShell since 2020. Based in Berlin, Germany, he has spent more than 30 years in IT and security consulting, with deep expertise in Active Directory, identity security, and hybrid infrastructure. He is a longtime community leader, running the PowerShell User Group Berlin and the Windows Server User Group Berlin, and a regular speaker at conferences including PSConfEU. He is the author of Building Modern Active Directory, published by Apress in 2024.   Resource Links:Building Modern Active Directory (book site): ad2049.com Evgenij's personal blog): it-pro-berlin.deEvgenij on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/evgenijsmirnovADMF (Active Directory Management Framework) on GitHub: github.com/ActiveDirectoryManagementFramework/ADMFADMF documentation and project site: admf.oneAttack Scenario To Go: https://github.com/HerrHoZi/AS2Go The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/EQb7H6vBOtg  
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  Active Directory Meets Source Control with Fred Weinmann 27.07.2026 33min

  Andrew sits down with Fred Weinmann, one of the most prolific PowerShell module authors in the community, for part one of a multi-episode series covering his projects. This episode focuses on the Active Directory Management Framework, or ADMF, a configuration-driven system Fred originally built while working as a field engineer at Microsoft for a large enterprise customer managing hundreds of Active Directory forests.Fred walks through the problem ADMF was designed to solve: Active Directory is notoriously hard to manage consistently across environments, and most organizations just accept the chaos as the cost of doing business. The old approach at this particular customer involved zipping up scripts, RDPing into domain controllers, and running them manually. ADMF changed that by borrowing the test/apply concept from Desired State Configuration, but making it flexible enough to handle the messiness of real-world AD environments.The conversation covers how ADMF is structured around components (like organizational units) and contexts, why generating a reference configuration from an existing environment is harder than it sounds, the protocol juggling required to handle Group Policy and schema updates, and why Fred would use raw LDAP instead of the built-in AD commands if he were starting from scratch today. Fred also touches on the credential provider plugin system, which lets teams plug in their own password management workflows for things like break-glass accounts.Key Takeaways: ADMF follows a test-before-apply model borrowed from DSC, but trades DSC's all-or-nothing enforcement for a more selective, component-by-component approach that better fits the fluid reality of Active Directory management. Generating a configuration from an existing AD environment is tempting but potentially counterproductive. If you auto-generate your desired state from a domain that's accumulated years of cruft, you're not capturing what you want, you're just freezing what already exists. Performance at scale is a real consideration. The built-in Active Directory PowerShell module uses the AD Web Services protocol, which sends XML over the wire. Raw LDAP is significantly faster, and Fred says switching to it is the one architectural change he'd make if building ADMF over again. Guest Bio:Friedrich "Fred" Weinmann is a Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft and one of the most recognized PowerShell community contributors working today. He is the creator of PSFramework, which underpins many other modules in the ecosystem, as well as tools like PSModuleDevelopment, PSUtil, and the Active Directory Management Framework. Fred is a frequent conference speaker, a longtime community collaborator, and someone Andrew credits with helping shape his own PowerShell journey.Resource Links:ADMF documentation and getting started guide: admf.oneADMF on GitHub: github.com/ActiveDirectoryManagementFramework/ADMFADMF on PowerShell Gallery: powershellgallery.com/packages/ADMFPSFramework (Fred's logging, configuration, and scripting infrastructure module): psframework.orgFred Weinmann on GitHub: github.com/FriedrichWeinmannFred Weinmann on X: x.com/FredWeinmannPDQ Community Discord: discord.gg/pdq   The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8SlIqUKP3hY  
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  Jake Hildreth on PSConf EU, Stepper Updates, and Taking the Day Off 20.07.2026 45min

  Jake Hildreth, Principal Security Consultant at Semperis and Microsoft MVP, is back on the podcast fresh off a trip to PowerShell Conference Europe, where he and Andrew co-presented a session on securing PowerShell. Jake also gave his own talk on Stepper, his open-source module for building resumable, step-by-step scripts — a tool that's grown considerably since his last appearance on the show. The two dig into what makes PSConf EU such a standout event, the refreshing lack of elitism in the PowerShell community, and the updates Jake's been shipping, including named steps, built-in logging, and secret suppression. The conversation winds into burnout, the importance of actually taking your vacation days, and how the same mindset that drives good automation — knowing when to stop and reset — applies to taking care of yourself.Key Takeaways: Stepper has gotten some meaningful quality-of-life updates since Jake last appeared on the show, including named steps, automatic logging, and the ability to suppress secrets from logs — making it more practical for real-world production scripts. PSConf EU punches above its weight as a conference experience: technically deep but genuinely welcoming at every skill level, with none of the elitism that can creep into security-adjacent events. Your vacation time is a benefit, not a backlog item. Jake makes the case that getting good at separating your work time from your off time isn't a soft skill — it's a sustainability practice. Guest Bio:Jake Hildreth is a Principal Security Consultant at Semperis, a Microsoft MVP in both PowerShell and Identity/Access, and a recovering sysadmin with 25 years of IT under his belt. He's probably best known for building Locksmith, the open-source AD CS auditing and remediation tool, but he's also the creator of Stepper, Deck, BlueTuxedo, and PowerPUG! — a suite of tools designed to make identity security a little less painful for the admins who live in it. When he's not untangling Kerberos or chasing down ADCS misconfigurations, he goes by "horse" in the PowerShell Discords.Resource Links: Jake Hildreth's Website: jakehildreth.com Jake's GitHub: github.com/jakehildreth Stepper (Resumable PowerShell Scripts): github.com/jakehildreth/Stepper Locksmith (AD CS Auditing & Remediation): github.com/jakehildreth/Locksmith Locksmith 2 (Next-Gen AD CS Toolkit): github.com/jakehildreth/… PowerShell Conference Europe: psconf.eu PDQ Discord: discord.gg/PDQ The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Rqkuaeps_jM
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  Write the Test First - Robert Prüst on Pester, PSConf, and Learning in Public 13.07.2026 56min

  Andrew sits down with Robert Prüst, a Netherlands-based Microsoft MVP, to geek out about Pester, AI-assisted coding, and the power of showing your work in the PowerShell community. Robert breaks down how Pester works as a testing framework (unit testing, integration testing, and mocking) and explains why testing is the key to trusting AI-generated code. They also dig into a Visual Studio Code extension Robert built for Azure DevOps, the conference culture around PSConf EU, and why community involvement matters as much as technical skill. The conversation wraps with some honest takes on imposter syndrome, learning in public, and the value of just getting started.Key Takeaways: Pester isn't just for unit testing your functions -- it scales all the way up to testing live infrastructure, validating Azure environments, and serving as the backbone of security tools like Maester. The more you invest in it, the more useful it gets. AI-generated code needs a safety net, and Pester is exactly that. Testing gives sysadmins a way to verify what the code is actually doing, which is especially critical when you didn't write it yourself. Imposter syndrome is almost universal in this community, and the people who feel it most are often the ones learning the most. Getting into community spaces -- online or in person -- is one of the fastest ways to grow. Guest Bio:Robert Prüst is a Microsoft MVP and MCT based in the Netherlands, focused on PowerShell, Azure automation, and DevOps. He has around 24 years of professional IT experience and has been working with PowerShell since roughly 2012. Robert is a regular speaker at PSConf EU, blogs at powershellpr0mpt.com, and is active on GitHub under the handle powershellpr0mpt. He runs a custom Azure Engineer bootcamp course and contributes to open source projects including the AMBA and EPAC frameworks.Resource Links:  Pester documentation: https://pester.dev  Maester: https://maester.dev  PSKoans: https://github.com/vexx32/PSKoans  PSConfEU: https://psconf.eu  PDQ Discord: https://discord.gg/pdq Connect with Andrew: https://andrewpla.tech/links Robert’s blog: https://powershellpr0mpt.com Robert on GitHub: https://github.com/powershellpr0mpt Robert on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rprust/ The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7Z2Pk0y2Xss  
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  Building Better SharePoint with PowerShell with Dan Adams 06.07.2026 45min

  Dan Adams is a 13-year Microsoft 365 and SharePoint veteran who joined Andrew to talk about the often misunderstood world of SharePoint, the shift to Microsoft Graph, and his custom PowerShell module built which can assess and benchmark M365 environments. Dan breaks down why SharePoint gets such a bad reputation (spoiler: it's usually about who built it, not the platform), explains why "everything in M365 is SharePoint" isn't just a meme, and digs into how the Microsoft Graph API is changing the way admins interact with the platform. He also shares his experience going from longtime podcast listener to first-time guest, and closes with some honest advice about reaching out to people in the community.Key Takeaways: SharePoint's bad reputation often comes from poor initial architecture, not the platform itself. Getting the information structure right at the start has downstream effects on everything from Copilot to Purview to legal compliance, and PowerShell automation is only as useful as the metadata you've set up to work with. The Microsoft Graph API is consolidating how everything in M365 is accessed. Where older APIs like the SharePoint client-side object model might count a batch of 100 items as 100 separate API calls, Graph treats that same batch as a single call, which is a meaningful difference for performance and rate limiting. Dan's custom PowerShell module (SP’r Smash Bros Automation) automates M365 permission extraction to produce security assessments against CIS benchmarks and Microsoft Secure Score. Built as a practical tool for consultants and admins, it delivers a fast, standardized baseline of a tenant's security posture, featuring an optional AI sidecar to instantly generate personalized remediation plans.Guest Bio:Dan Adams is a Microsoft 365 and SharePoint Architect with 13 years of M365 consulting experience. Leveraging deep SharePoint and strategic information architecture expertise, he has led teams to deliver over 40 Fortune 500 intranets across industries ranging from healthcare to the NFL. He is the architect behind multiple award-winning portals, including two Ragan "Best Overall Intranet" winners. Dan is also an AI enthusiast, an advanced PowerShell expert, and the creator of the custom "SP'r Smash Bros Automation" module for Microsoft 365.Resource Links: Dan Adams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-adams-10887650/ Dan Adams on Github: https://github.com/sprsmashbrosautomation Connect with Andrew: https://andrewpla.tech/links PnP PowerShell: https://pnp.github.io/powershell/ PDQ Discord Community: https://discord.gg/pdq The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OLsTaKC9GmM PowerShell Wednesday Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQT8lrn8hhU&list=PL1mL90yFExsix-L0havb8SbZXoYRPol0B
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  Encore presentation: Lessons in Leadership from PowerShell Pioneers Jeffrey Snover & Don Jones E235 29.06.2026 1h 10min

  Encore presentation: Lessons in Leadership from PowerShell Pioneers Jeffrey Snover and Don Jones  In this encore presentation of the PowerShell Podcast from April 28, 2025, we sit down with two legends of the PowerShell world: Jeffrey Snover, the inventor of PowerShell, and Don Jones, bestselling author, teacher, and longtime PowerShell community builder. Recorded live at the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit, this conversation is packed with personal insights, impactful moments, and the kind of storytelling that only Snover and Jones can deliver.    Key topics in this episode include:    The origin stories of PowerShell and how Jeffrey and Don’s paths crossed at a pivotal moment.   The evolution of PowerShell as a scripting language, community, and ecosystem.   The importance of storytelling in tech, from teaching to team-building to leadership.   The shift from individual contributor to leader and how both hosts navigated that path with intention.   The power of community: real stories from users whose lives were changed by learning PowerShell.   Career advice for the next generation of IT professionals and community contributors.   Along the way, we hear hilarious stories from the early days of PowerShell development, honest reflections on growth and failure, and powerful reminders that vulnerability, repetition, and kindness are core to success in any career. Whether you're new to PowerShell or a long-time community member, this episode is a true masterclass in leadership, learning, and legacy.   Bio and links:   Jeffrey Snover is the inventor of PowerShell, Microsoft Technical Fellow, and a legendary figure in the IT and DevOps communities. With a background in distributed systems, Jeffrey led the development of PowerShell to revolutionize system management and automation on Windows. Known for his visionary leadership and storytelling, Jeffrey has played a pivotal role in shaping modern IT practices. His work continues to inspire technologists around the world to build, share, and lead with intention and clarity.   Don Jones is a bestselling author, speaker, educator, and one of the most influential figures in the PowerShell community. With decades of experience in IT, Don has written numerous foundational books on PowerShell, including Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches. He co-founded the PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit and has mentored countless professionals through his teaching, writing, and leadership. Don is a passionate advocate for storytelling in tech, career development, and building inclusive communities that empower the next generation.   Resource links:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreysnover/   https://www.linkedin.com/in/concentrateddon/   https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewplatech/   https://www.powershellsummit.org/   The PowerShell Podcast: https://pdq.com/the-powershell-podcast   The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/51w_lWFIfqU    
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  Certificates Are Not Optional with Leo D'Arcy 22.06.2026 33min

  Andrew sits down with Leo D'Arcy, cloud solutions architect and PSConfEU speaker, to talk certificates, PKI infrastructure, and why so many organizations get it so spectacularly wrong. Leo shares how a decade of consulting work in remote access solutions pulled him into the world of Active Directory Certificate Services whether he liked it or not, and how that hands-on experience turned into conference talks and a genuine specialty. The conversation covers the difference between self-signed certs and proper CA infrastructure, why code signing deserves more attention than it gets, and how integrating signing into a CI/CD pipeline is less painful than it sounds. They also get into the "developer-ization" of IT, the underrated value of consulting experience for career growth, and why communicating across teams is just as important as knowing your PowerShell.   Key Takeaways: Code signing through a CI/CD pipeline is a practical, scalable alternative to constrained language mode. By adding a signing step to your build process, you get cryptographic proof that scripts haven't been tampered with, without giving up flexibility in what you can run. Self-signed certificates are essentially the same as having no certificate at all. A proper PKI means having a chain of trust, a policy behind how certs are issued, and infrastructure that your organization actually manages and maintains. Technical depth only gets you so far. The people who advance in IT are the ones who can talk networking with network engineers, infrastructure with server teams, and business outcomes with leadership. Soft skills aren't a bonus, they're a multiplier. Guest Bio:Leo D'Arcy is a UK-based cloud solutions architect with nearly a decade of consulting background in Microsoft technologies, including Azure, remote access solutions, PKI, and Active Directory Certificate Services. He's a repeat speaker at PSConfEU and runs the Remote Access User Group community on Discord. He's currently focused on Azure landing zone architecture and large-scale PowerShell automation at a stakeholder advisory firm.   Resource Links: Leo on GitHub: github.com/ld0614 PSConfEU: psconf.eu Leo on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/leodarcy.bsky.social Leo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leodarcy/ Connect with Andrew: https://andrewpla.tech/links Microsoft Remote Access User Group Discord: https://discord.aovpndpc.com/ The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BidUaXtwUNM
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  PowerShell Universal and the Joy of Building with Adriano Carollo 15.06.2026 36min

  In this episode, Andrew chats with Adriano Carollo at PSConfEU about community, PowerShell Universal, AI, and what happens when you stop lurking and start talking to people. Adriano shares how PowerShell helped him grow from sysadmin into web apps, automation, and open source-style contribution, while Andrew reflects on learning, AI, and why enthusiasm still matters.   Key Takeaways: · Community accelerates growth. Adriano came to PSConfEU after hearing Andrew encourage listeners to engage, and the payoff was immediate. · PowerShell Universal can open unexpected doors. Adriano describes using it daily to learn web development concepts like JavaScript, HTML, and React through PowerShell. · AI is most useful when it supports learning instead of replacing it. Both Andrew and Adriano talk about using AI for research, syntax help, documentation, and personal workflows while still valuing hands-on problem solving.  Guest Bio: Adriano Carollo is a Berlin-based system administrator and PowerShell enthusiast who uses PowerShell Universal daily. He is active in the PowerShell Universal Discord community and is exploring automation, web apps, self-hosting, and entrepreneurship.  Resource Links:  PDQ Connect:https://www.pdq.com/pdq-connect/ PowerShell Scanner for PDQ Connect:https://www.pdq.com/blog/the-powershell-scanner-has-arrived-in-pdq-connect/ PowerShell Universal:https://powershelluniversal.com/ PSConfEU:https://psconf.eu/  PDQ Community Discord:https://discord.gg/pdq Adriano C. https://linkedin.com/in/adriano-c-501203213 The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qLYqUF9gD9s
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  Cookie Monster Has Entered the Teams Chat with Miriam Wiesner 08.06.2026 41min

  Recorded live at PSConfEU 2026, Andrew sits down with returning guest Miriam Wiesner, Senior Security Researcher at Microsoft, for a wide-ranging conversation on PowerShell security, cookie-based attacks, and the evolving threat landscape. Miriam walks through her two conference talks — one on Microsoft Teams session cookie hijacking (a follow-up to her 2025 Entra ID cookie talk, complete with Cookie Monster branding and actual handcuffs), and a joint session with Stéphane van Gulick on using Microsoft Defender's Live Response feature for incident investigation. The conversation also covers the current state of PowerShell security, why sophisticated attackers are moving away from PowerShell, and why defenders who haven't enabled script block logging and AMSI are leaving easy wins on the table. On top of the technical deep dive, Miriam and Andrew get into the human side of the conference community — nerves before presenting, imposter syndrome, and why showing up is already half the battle.Key Takeaways: Cookie-based identity attacks are an active and growing threat. Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive share session cookies, meaning a single cookie theft can give an attacker broad access across your organization's collaboration tools — no re-authentication required. Sophisticated threat actors are moving away from PowerShell specifically because its security features work. Script block logging, AMSI, and Constrained Language Mode make PowerShell activity highly visible and detectable. If your org hasn't enabled these, you're handing attackers an easy path. Visibility beats prevention. You can't prevent what you can't see. Detection through proper logging is not a consolation prize — it's a core security strategy, and Microsoft Defender's Live Response feature gives teams a powerful way to investigate isolated endpoints without needing RDP or PowerShell remoting enabled. Guest Bio:Miriam Wiesner is a Senior Security Research Program Manager at Microsoft with over 15 years of experience in IT security, penetration testing, and security automation. She works on research behind Microsoft Defender and Sentinel and is the creator of widely used open source PowerShell security tools EventList and JEAnalyzer. Miriam is a sought-after speaker at major security and PowerShell conferences including Black Hat, PSConfEU, and MITRE ATT&CK Workshops. She's also the author of "PowerShell Automation and Scripting for Cybersecurity," published by Packt. Her conference speaker career started at PSConfEU 2018 and she's been a fixture of the community ever since.Resource LinksMiriam's 2025 Cookies talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xDcq0pPNPsBook – PowerShell Automation and Scripting for Cybersecurity (Packt): https://www.amazon.com/PowerShell-Automation-Scripting-Cybersecurity-Hacking/dp/1800566379Miriam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriamwiesnerMiriam on X/Twitter: https://x.com/MiriamXyraMiriam's GitHub (EventList, JEAnalyzer, and more): https://github.com/miriamxyraMiriam's Website: https://miriamxyra.comConnect with Andrew: https://andrewpla.tech/links The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zxJOqcEwgWE