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How to open SolidWorks sldprt files as read-only with PowerShell?

I built this open-file function in PowerShell for a GUI I wrote that lets you find and open various files on a server. I mainly use it for opening SolidWorks files as read-only, but also for PDF files and it should work for just about any other file if there is a file association for it.
The problem is that sometimes it doesn't work when opening the sldprt files. SolidWorks will either ignore the open file request or it wont open as read-only. I think this is mostly just a solidworks issue as sometimes it wont open files when double clicked on from windows explorer.
Anyway my solution is to set the file attribute to read-only. start a job that opens the file in SolidWorks, and then waits for the SolidWorks process to go idle before removing the read-only attribute. It does this through an event that watches for the job state to change. Since this is running through a GUI it has to be done in the background to prevent the GUI from locking up.
Is there a simpler way to open files as read-only with PowerShell?
I think it might be possible using the SolidWorks .dll files, but they are meant to be loaded in C# or VB-script and I have no idea what i'm doing in either of those languages.
function open-File{
param(
[parameter(Mandatory=$true)]$file,
[bool]$readOnly = $true,
$processName=$null
)
[scriptblock]$openFileScriptBlock = {
param(
$file,
$readOnly,
$processName=$null
)
#initiate variables
$loaded = $false
$file = get-item $file
$processLastCpu = 0
$timeout = 0
if ($readonly -and !$file.isReadOnly){
$file.isReadOnly = $true
#call file with default application
$attempts = 0
while ($true){
try{$startedProcess = start-process "$($file.fullname)" -PassThru; break}
catch{
$attempts++
if ($attempts -eq 3){return "cannot open file: $file, Error:$_"}
}
}
start-sleep -seconds 2
if ($processName){
$processName = $startedProcess.name
if ($processName -eq "SWSHEL~1"){$processName = "SLDWORKS"}
}
#wait until process shows up in the process manager
while ($loaded -eq $false -and $timeout -lt 25 ){
try {
$process = get-process -name $processName -erroraction 'stop'
if ($?){$loaded = $true; $timeout = 0} else {throw}
}catch{start-sleep -milliseconds 200; $timeout++}
}
start-sleep -seconds 2
#wait for process to go idle
while ($process.cpu -ne $processLastCpu -and $timeout -lt 10){
$processLastCpu = $process.cpu
start-sleep -milliseconds 500
$timeout++
}
$file.isreadonly = $false
} else {start-process "$($file.fullname)"}
return ,$file
}
if (!(test-path -path $file)){update-message "File not found: $file"; return}
$openFileJob = start-job -name 'openfile' -scriptblock $openFileScriptBlock -argumentlist $file, $readOnly, $processName
Register-ObjectEvent $OpenFileJob StateChanged -Action {
$jobResult = $sender | receive-job
$sender | remove-job -Force
unregister-event -sourceIdentifier $event.sourceIdentifier
remove-job -name $event.sourceIdentifier -force
try{update-message "opened file $($jobResult.name)"}
catch{update-message $jobResult}
} | out-null
}

I know its a old question, but i was wondering if you ever managed to get a solution?
If not, there is a few things you could try: first off, if your code is opening any other file just fine, it does not seem to be there the problem is.
File association with all SLD-files are working most of the time; but we do see it going bad from time to time (often related to updates), in that case, double-check that all SLD-file types are set to open with 'Solidworks-Launcher' (and not Solidworks directly).
Using the launcher, will ensure Solidworks does not try to open a file, into an already running instance of Solidworks.
Also, try to check the following: Solidworks Options -> Collaboration ->
'Enable Multi-user environments'... is this set?
whatever state it is in; try changing is to the opposite.
That checkmark is allowing multiple Solidworks-users to open the same file at the same time, and it does so by changing the read-state of the file, back and fourth.
(it could be it is interfering with your code)
Both of these things will be PC-specific, so if you change them on one machine, they might also need to be changed on other machines.

Password to NTLM from dump file

I am in security and want to consume a massive password dump file (3GB) as part of my usual password audits
The file is delimited into two columns, SHA1, and the actual password
For my purposes, because Windows stores password as NTLM hashes at rest (Kerberos only used during transport) I need passwords in NTLM, not SHA1. (You can easily prove it to yourself by doing a password dump, I use DSInternals)
I am currently converting clear-text passwords to NTLM with this script
#Install-Module DSInternals
Import-Module DSInternals
$reader = [System.IO.File]::OpenText("C:\...\68_linkedin_found_hash_plain.txt")
try {
for() {
$line = $reader.ReadLine()
if ($line -eq $null) { break }
$pwd = ConvertTo-SecureString $line.Split(':')[1] -AsPlainText -Force
$hash = ConvertTo-NTHash $pwd;
Add-Content C:\...\68_linkedin_ntlm.txt $hash
}
}
finally {
$reader.Close()
}
Any obvious way of processing this faster? I suppose I can ingest into a DB and process it threaded via a little C# app but maybe there's something quick and dirty?
The file format is (no these are not my passwords, these are passwords from a common password dump file that is publicly available)
8c9fcfbf9ead0d63d04b5d3120c42cb885af899e:16piret
8c9fd045ee531744a4fdc1f52e59c3878e742ee0:louie310
8c9fd070274a0eebecf58f8f50e283bf53cec215:kery62
8c9fd08d1c17266f7c1e42a3f16a1161613c7572:sa81nt
8c9fd1093bd8592bbaea195785f8d1c81589073f:cuchilleros
8c9fd1a963bbf44ea9b531e91e5cb1b591c454cc:198962914685590
8c9fd1d8cc6d4fa8164a2fcb3adc7a45f3409547:sculp1011
8c9fd20540d66831f6f65a39ce1bca0e654fd5e6:ume1431965
8c9fd2b4a9571db21c4226bf9ecaea282ecadd5e:534015629819772
8c9fd2f3e63c20314cc962b624178ba82c6674a7:siegenthaler
8c9fd3713fe9600d2bea05b4e8cd33efe12bddb1:mkenrick
8c9fd3a39cca8fb8cdeeb52999aed7e6e9435fd3:billscot
8c9fd3b96ee1485e0fd7d6c71ffe3efd2e8a4614:ndiyehova
8c9fd43aef9804dab6e0aebc58415543175fea00:662566123
8c9fd481cf8f35edb6ebd683fffb0efce0478f21:371874conv
8c9fd4f37632294093fb057eb0168a05d9396e74:h3aww7w
8c9fd53dce9b046f73c5f298e2f694213f8f90f1:squishy23
8c9fd55206e0525d119f4946d3ae75e347cccb4b:NEH3112
8c9fd555303ac08f9103ff8451f8c05cf48cf120:marco22580
8c9fd5c6a94b1171518d0ba264033d779a075e8c:Nowornever2010
8c9fd613fb632b5bc6ae20a671aa40decdb8609a:MKSmks1976##
8c9fd627a48f9971df5bee874501156e9d3c011d:Steripro5
TIA
EDIT:
By reading into memory and writing to separate files speed up the process a bit. Also used suggestion from TessellatingHeckler
Import-Module DSInternals
$lines = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllLines('C:\...\68_linkedin_found_hash_plain.txt')
foreach($line in $lines) {
try {
$password = $line.Substring($line.IndexOf(':')+1);
if ($password.Length -lt 128)
{
$pwd = ConvertTo-SecureString $line.Substring($line.IndexOf(':')+1) -AsPlainText -Force
$hash = ConvertTo-NTHash $pwd;
Set-Content C:\Temp\Hashes\$hash.txt $hash
}
}
finally {
}
}
The afterwards I can combine the files with
copy *.txt combined.log

If those are typical line lengths, and your file is 3GB, we're talking 50-60 million lines.
Change $line.Split(':')[1] to $line.Substring($line.IndexOf(':')+1), that will save creating and cleaning up 50 million arrays and 50 million strings of the bit you don't want. (Is that right? Your example file format has the hash on the left, your use of [1] will pick the username part?)
PowerShell calling the .Net static methods like [system.io.file] is reasonably fast, but these bits:
$pwd = ConvertTo-SecureString $line.Split(':')[1] -AsPlainText -Force
$hash = ConvertTo-NTHash $pwd;
Add-Content C:\...\68_linkedin_ntlm.txt $hash
have a huge overhead. Starting and initializing cmdlets costs a lot more than function calls in other languages, and having add-content close/open the file 50 million times adds needless file system overhead. Change that so you open the file once, and write to it in the loop:
# before the loop
$outStream = [System.IO.StreamWriter]::new(
[System.IO.FileStream]::new(
'c:\path\output.txt',
[system.io.filemode]::OpenOrCreate))
# in the loop
$outStream.WriteLine($hash)
# after the loop
$outStream.Close()
The next bit would be to see if you can get the code which does ConvertTo-SecureString and ConvertTo-NTHash and inline it. I don't know what the NTHash one is, but ConvertTo-SecureString source is here, it's not going to be trivial to wrap / inline that into PowerShell code.
That's it as far as I can see for "quick and dirty", but it might knock some 20-30% off the runtime.

How To Pin To Start Special Folders With No Target

How do you pin to start special folders using powershell? Like "ThisPC", iexplorer
This will pin to start exe's fine, but what about windows explorer and myComputer? How to pin those items since they have no target?
Given this
<start:DesktopApplicationTile Size="2x2" Column="0" Row="0" DesktopApplicationLinkPath="%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Windows System\This PC.lnk" />
It seems to have issues with .lnk's for "This PC", "File Explorer", etc
Function PinLnk
{
Param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory,Position=0)]
[Alias('p')]
[String[]]$Path
)
$Shell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$Desktop = $Shell.NameSpace(0X0)
$WshShell = New-Object -comObject WScript.Shell
$Flag=0
Foreach($itemPath in $Path)
{
$itemName = Split-Path -Path $itemPath -Leaf
#pin application to windows Start menu
$ItemLnk = $Desktop.ParseName($itemPath)
$ItemVerbs = $ItemLnk.Verbs()
Foreach($ItemVerb in $ItemVerbs)
{
If($ItemVerb.Name.Replace("&","") -match "Pin to Start")
{
$ItemVerb.DoIt()
$Flag=1
}
}
}
}
PinLnk "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe"
I tried this approach as well still not pinning mycomputer to start
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Function PinLnk14
>> {
>>
>> $shell = new-object -com Shell.Application
>> $folder = $shell.NameSpace("shell:::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}") # ssfDRIVES
>> $ItemVerbs=$folder.Self.Verbs()
>> Foreach($ItemVerb in $ItemVerbs)
>> {
>> Write-Output $ItemVerb.Name
>> If($ItemVerb.Name.Replace("&","") -match "Pin to Start")
>> {
>> Write-Output "TRYING TO PIN"
>> $ItemVerb.DoIt()
>> }
>> }
>> }
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Pinlnk14
&Open
Pin to Quick access
Mana&ge
&Pin to Start
TRYING TO PIN
Map &network drive...
Dis&connect network drive...
Create &shortcut
&Delete
Rena&me
P&roperties

Most special folders are accessible using special values, documented here: ShellSpecialFolderConstants enumeration
So, if you want to get the My Computer (a.k.a. "This PC") folder, you can do this:
$shell = new-object -com Shell.Application
$folder = $shell.NameSpace(17) # "ssfDRIVES" constant
And this will get you a Folder object.
There is another way wich uses the folder CLSID (a guid). It will allow you to get to any folder in what's called the shell namespace, even the ones that may not be defined in the enumeration above (3rd party shell namespace extensions for example). The syntax is this:
$shell = new-object -com Shell.Application
$folder = $shell.Namespace("shell:::{CLSID}")
In fact, this funny syntax combines the 'shell:' URI moniker with the shell namespace parsing syntax ::{CLSID}.
So for example to get the My Computer folder, you would do use the constant known as CLSID_MyComputer like this:
$shell = new-object -com Shell.Application
$folder = $shell.Namespace("shell:::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}")
This will also work:
$shell = new-object -com Shell.Application
$folder = $shell.Namespace("shell:MyComputerFolder") # direct shell: syntax
And it should bring you back the same object as in the previous call. They're all equivalent.
Once you have a Folder object, there is a last trick to get the associated verbs, because the Verbs() method is only defined on the FolderItem object.
To get the FolderItem from the Folder (as a Folder is also an "item" in the namespace, so it has also a FolderItem facade), you can use the Self property, like this:
$shell = new-object -com Shell.Application
$folder = $shell.NameSpace("shell:::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}") # ssfDRIVES
$folder.Self.Verbs()
Ok, that was to get verbs for a FolderItem. To pin an item to start however, the "Pin to Start" verb invocation does not always work (for My Computer for example), or the verb isn't even available (for a standard folder for example). In general, it doesn't really work well for folders for some reason.
So, one solution for folders is to first create a shortcut file (.lnk) somewhere to that folder (including My Computer or other special locations), and pin that shortcut file to start. Note: the standard (non language localized) verb for Pin to Start is "PinToStartScreen", it's better to use that than to scan various verbs (all verbs have a canonical name). So the code would look like this to pin My Computer to start:
$wshell = new-object -com WScript.Shell
$shortcut = $wshell.CreateShortcut("c:\temp\mypc.lnk")
$shortcut.TargetPath = "shell:MyComputerFolder" # use the same syntax as described above
$shortcut.Save()
$shell = new-object -com Shell.Application
$folder = $shell.NameSpace("c:\temp")
$lnk = $folder.ParseName("mypc.lnk") # get the shortcut file
$lnk.InvokeVerb("PinToStartScreen") # invoke "Pin To Start" on the shortcut file
The fact is that's exactly what Windows does when we do "Pin to Start" on My Computer, it creates a shortcut in C:\Users\<my user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Loading a Powershell Module from the C# code of a custom Provider

I've been working on a VERY specific functionality "need" to tie into a custom Provider I'm writing in C#.
Basically I set out to find a way to replicate the
A:
B:
etc functions defined when PowerShell loads so instead of having to type
CD A:
You can just do the aforementioned
A:
I tried first to have my provider inject the functions into the runspace but it seems I'm completely missing the timing of how to get that to work so I went another route.
Basically I have a VERY simple PSM1 file UseColons.psm1
function Use-ColonsForPSDrives
{
[CmdletBinding()] Param()
Write-Verbose "Looping Through Installed PowerShell Providers"
Get-PSProvider | % `
{
Write-Verbose "Found $($_.Name) checking its drives"
$_.Drives | ? { (Get-Command | ? Name -eq "$($_.Name):") -eq $null } | `
{
Write-Verbose "Setting up: `"function $($_.Name):() {Set-Location $($_.Name):}`""
if ($Verbose)
{
. Invoke-Expression -Command "function $($_.Name):() {Set-Location $($_.Name):}"
}
else
{
. Invoke-Expression -Command "function $($_.Name):() {Set-Location $($_.Name):}" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}
Write-Verbose "Finished with drive $($_.Name)"
}
}
# Cert and WSMan do not show up as providers until you try to naviagte to their drives
# As a result we will add their functions manually but we will check if they are already set anyways
if ((Get-Command | ? Name -eq "Cert:") -eq $null) { . Invoke-Expression -Command "function Cert:() {Set-Location Cert:}" }
if ((Get-Command | ? Name -eq "WSMan:") -eq $null) { . Invoke-Expression -Command "function WSMan:() {Set-Location WSMan:}" }
}
. Use-ColonsForPSDrives
In simple terms it loops through all loaded providers, then through all the drives of each provider, then it checks if the Function: drive contains a function matching the {DriveName}: format and if one is not found it creates one.
The psd1 file is nothing more than export all functions
This is stored in the %ProgramFiles%\WindowsPowerShell\Modules path under its own folder
And finally I have profile.ps1 under the %windir%\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0 directory that just does
Remove-Module UseColons -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Import-Module UseColons
So when I load PowerShell or the ISE if I want to get to say dir through the variables I can just call
Variable:
Or if I need to switch back to the registry
HKLM:
HKCU:
Which when you are working with multiple providers typing that CD over and over as you switch is just annoying.
Now to the problem I'm still working on developing the actual PowerShell provider this was originally intended for. But when I debug it the UseColons module loads BEFORE visual studio turns around and loads the new provider so if I manually remove and import the module again it does its thing and I have all my drive functions for my provider.
I wanted to know after that LONG explanation how can I either:
Setup my UseColons module to load LAST
Find a way to have my Custom Provider (technically a module since it has the provider AND custom Cmdlets) load the UseColons module when it initializes
I don't want to remove it from my standard profile because it is very helpful when I'm not working on the new provider and just tooling around using powershell for administrative stuff.
Hopefully someone can give me some ideas or point me in the direction of some good deeper dive powershell provider documentations and how-tos.

In your module manifest (.psd1), you have a DLL as the RootModule?
This is a horrible hack, and does not help for drives that get created in the future, but...
In your module manifest, instead of YourProvider.dll as the RootModule, use Dummy.psm1 instead (can be an empty file). Then, for NestedModules, use #( 'YourProvider.dll', 'UseColons' ). This allows the UseColons module to be loaded after YourProvider.dll. (Dummy will be last.)

Windows 8 Hyper-v run script on guest

I am looking to replace a Virtual Box solution with MS Hyper-V since I have had many problems with non-Reproducible issues in my automated test-suite using Virtual Box. I have a Windows 8.1 computer I will be using to run the tests on.
The current Virtual Box flow:
Start a VM
Reset snapshot
Use C# to transfer files to Guest OS through the network
Use Virtual Box to trigger the transferred .exe file to start automated tests.
I see people using Powershell Scripts and WMI to start and stop their Hyper-V VMs, but I don't see any way to trigger the transferred files on the Guest OS.
Am I missing an API that I can use? Otherwise how could I trigger the EXE on the guest OS programmatically?

I ended up using System.Management.Automation.PowerShell. I will share the main code chunk I used to do each step so future users can get help.
The Main Code Chunk
var ps = PowerShell.Create();
//Restore Snapshots
ps.AddCommand("Restore-VMSnapshot");
ps.AddParameter("Name", snapshot);
ps.AddParameter("VMName", vmName);
ps.AddParameter("Confirm", false);
ps.Invoke();
ps.Commands.Clear();
//Start VM
ps.AddCommand("Start-VM");
ps.AddParameter("Name", vmName);
ps.Invoke();
ps.Commands.Clear();
//Get IP
string[] ipValues = null;
do
{
ps.AddCommand("Get-VMNetworkAdapter");
ps.AddParameter("VMName", vmName);
var ips = ps.Invoke();
ps.Commands.Clear();
if (ips.Count > 0)
{
ipValues = (string[])ips[0].Members["IPAddresses"].Value;
}
} while (ipValues.Length ==0);
string ip = ipValues[0];
//Move Exe to VM
File.Copy(#"...", "\\\\" + ip + "\\Users\\Public\\Documents\\...", true);
//Run Program
ps.AddScript("$Username = '...'; $Password = '...' ;$ComputerName = '"+ip+"' ;"+
"$Script = {Start-Process C:\\Users\\Public\\Documents\\....exe} ;$secpasswd = ConvertTo-SecureString $Password -AsPlainText -Force ;"+
"$mycreds = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ($Username, $secpasswd) ;"+
" $Session = New-PSSession -ComputerName $ComputerName -credential $mycreds ; Invoke-Command -Session $Session -Scriptblock $Script");
var passwords = ps.Invoke();
ps.Commands.Clear();
Notes
The //GetIP section is a do{}while() cause the IP takes a while to be query-able.
There is alot of pre-work required with the host computer and VMs to make this system function, which I will not get into here as google explains those parts better than me.
The flow is designed to match another system which uses Virtual Box, so it may seems a bit inefficient.
This obviously needs to be modified to fit each situation, but should be a good starting point for Hyper-V Automation.

A very usefull PowerShell CmdLet to transfert files to VM is Copy-VMFile.
Syntax is explained here :
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn464282.aspx
Hope this helps !