If you’re used to renaming files at the command prompt you might be surprised to discover that to rename files with PowerShell requires a few more keystrokes. To rename files with PowerShell we need to use a scriptblock to construct the new filename: # Change the extensions from .bak to .backup Get-Item '*.bak' | Rename-Item -Newname { $_.name -replace '.bak','.backup' } This will change each file with the extension bak to the extension backup.

There are tools such as Solarwinds V2V that convert from one virtual disk format to another. However I wanted to see if it was possible to convert disk formats with PowerShell. You can do it. With Microsoft tools. But unfortunately not directly. The Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter is Microsoft’s version of the VMware Virtual Machine Converter. However Microsoft’s tool will not allow you to convert VMware Workstation virtual machines directly and instead forces you to convert the hard disk in PowerShell and setup the new virtual machine in Hyper-V directly and attach the newly converted virtual hard disk.

In their Surface Pro 3 October firmware update Microsoft have provided support for the new Surface Pro 4 Type Cover. Many people are ditching their Surface Pro 3 type covers in favour of the new one released with Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 last month. But if you are outside of the US, beware. The new type cover, according to much internet chatter, is a major upgrade from the old Surface Pro 3 cover providing a much more solid experience with both keyboard and trackpad.

If you have a Surface 3 you will be receiving a new firmware update from today to help improve the stability of mobile broadband: The following update will be listed as “System Firmware Update – 9/18/2015” when you view your update history. Surface Modem Firmware Update (v16.50.17.0) improves mobile broadband network stability (for Surface 3 (AT&T 4G LTE) and Surface 3 (4G LTE) in North America (non-AT&T)). Surface Modem Firmware Update (v1521.

As I tweeted about yesterday, Microsoft have released a new firmware update for the Surface Pro 3 which improves power usage when an SD card is being used. The following update will be listed as “System Firmware Update – 9/15/2015” or “System Hardware Update – 9/15/2015” when you view your update history. USB 3.0 Card Reader driver update (v10.0.10240.31217) improves the system power usage when an SD card is inserted.

I came across an interesting script on Reddit /r/PowerShell recently. It was an answer to a request for a remote disk clean script that could run across a network. Looking at the code I decided the script could do with a little tidy up and rewrite. If you look at the original code you will find it is environment specific. Some of it has poor design and does not inspire confidence:

If you’ve downloaded your Windows 10 ISO, you need to boot from it to do a clean install. In this post I show you how to create a Windows 10 bootable USB flash drive for UEFI. The instructions equally apply to Windows 8.1, 8, 7 or even Vista but not XP as it does not allow creating UEFI boot disks. What do you need before you start? Before you start make sure you have the following:

If you have a [Surface Pro 3][LINK-1] you will be receiving a [new update][LINK-2] today to help improve the performance and stability of the Intel HD Graphics 5000 adapter under [Windows 10][LINK-3]: The following update will be listed as “Intel Corporation driver update for Intel(R) HD Graphics Family” when you view your update history. HD Graphics Family driver update (v10.18.15.4256) improves graphics performance and stability on Windows 10. Before you go ahead with the update Microsoft warns:

The Windows Update Utility, wuauclt.exe, documentation from Microsoft is more than a little sparse. The utility comes with no help switch, status or output when it is used. This is a utility I’ve bumped heads with a lot in the past so I’ve put together this post to hold the information I’ve found. wuauclt.exe Switches Some switches need to be combined with /DetectNow to actually work. Note that when combining parameters, you can use them only in the order specified.

In an earlier post I wrote about how to force the Windows 10 upgrade through Windows Update. In this post I will show you how to block Windows 10 upgrade from Windows Update. The confusion around Windows 10 upgrade blocking. There seems to be some confusion around how to block the Windows 10 upgrade: We should uninstall KB3035583 and all will be well - doesn’t seem to work as the update is reinstalled again.