What is PowerShell logging?

What is PowerShell logging?

PowerShell logging is the process of recording the activity and events that occur within a PowerShell environment. This can be useful for tracking the actions that have been performed in a PowerShell session, as well as for debugging and troubleshooting purposes.

To log activity in PowerShell, you can use the built-in logging cmdlets, such as Start-Transcript and Stop-Transcript.

These cmdlets will create a log file that records all of the commands that are entered in the PowerShell session, as well as the output that is generated by those commands.

Log all activity

For example, to start logging all activity in a PowerShell session, you can use the following command:

Start-Transcript -Path C:\PowerShell\MyTranscript.log

This will create a new transcript log file at the specified path, and will begin logging all activity in the current PowerShell session.

To stop logging, you can use the Stop-Transcript cmdlet, like this:

Stop-Transcript

You can view the contents of the transcript log file by opening it with a text editor, such as Notepad.

To log everything in PowerShell, including not only the commands that are entered and the output that is generated, but also the details of the PowerShell environment and the events that occur within it, you can use the Get-WinEvent cmdlet.

This cmdlet allows you to access the Windows event logs, which contain detailed information about the activity and events that occur within a Windows environment.

Get a list of all logs available

To get a list of all the PowerShell logs that are available, you can use the following command:

Get-WinEvent -ListLog *PowerShell*

This will return a list of all the logs that contain information about PowerShell activity.

To view the contents of a specific log, you can use the Get-WinEvent cmdlet with the -LogName parameter, like this:

Get-WinEvent -LogName Microsoft-Windows-PowerShell/Operational

This will return all of the events that are recorded in the specified log. You can then filter and sort the events as needed to find the information you are looking for.

Conclusion

To log activity in PowerShell, you can use the built-in logging cmdlets, such as Start-Transcript and Stop-Transcript.