In this guide we will take a look at some simple command prompt commands and then delve into PowerShell and learn how it handles the same tasks, providing you a guide to the top ten powershell commands you need to know to get started.
In the 1990s I had a 486 PC with just enough RAM to run Star Wars X-Wing or Windows 3.1. I learnt the MS-DOS prompt and I was soon navigating the filesystem and tweaking config files like a sys admin with a deadline. These days I spend more time in the Linux terminal than Windows Command Prompt , but it did have me wondering how the command prompt and its “successor” PowerShell behaved in 2025. And so, here we are!
Microsoft’s PowerShell is a command line shell and scripting language that is more powerful than the command prompt, and offers automation and system administration tools for the Windows sys admin who wants to automate parts of their role. The scripting side of things has advanced logic such as loops, variables, functions etc and that makes it ideal for boring jobs like user creation, system configuration and software deployment.
PowerShell uses cmdlets (command-lets) that are small, single-function commands and has a get and set syntax to get the information that we need, and then we can set the configuration to how we want things to work.
PowerShell is a scripting tool commonly used to automate tasks.
You can use PowerShell to administrate a Windows PC, or other PCs over a network.
Scripts are written using standard programming logic, making PowerShell easy to learn and use.
The basic commands that we should all know
Those of us with a little grey in our hair will probably be familiar with MSDOS commands, and most of these commands still work with PowerShell. Let's take a quick look at a few of the old commands.
Swipe to scroll horizontally Command Description Example dir Lists the contents of a directory, this can be the current working directory, or another location passed as an argument. dir
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