Hi -

I'm a relative new comer to PowerShell, so I struggle with things that are
probably old hat for you folks. What I'm wondering is how can I extract the
file description from all executables in a directory? Getting the filename
and porting it to a csv is relatively simple, but doesn't give me all I need
since many of the filenames are arcane. Here's what I have so far:

ls "networkpathhere" *.exe | export-csv C:\temp\CSVNamehere.csv

For security reasons I did not include my network path, but the above works
just fine for getting standard file system info. However, a filename such as
ApNe.exe is not nearly as useful as a description such as AP Invoice Entry
which I can find by right clicking the executable and then clicking
properties or else by turning on the File description header in Windows
Explorer.

Any ideas?



Thanks in advance!

Tom

On Aug 20, 4:12*pm, Thomas Lafferty
<ThomasLaffe...@xxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi -
>
> I'm a relative new comer to PowerShell, so I struggle with things that are
> probably old hat for you folks. What I'm wondering is how can I extract the
> file description from all executables in a directory? Getting the filename
> and porting it to a csv is relatively simple, but doesn't give me all I need
> since many of the filenames are arcane. Here's what I have so far:
>
> ls "networkpathhere" *.exe | export-csv C:\temp\CSVNamehere.csv
>
> For security reasons I did not include my network path, but the above works
> just fine for getting standard file system info. However, a filename suchas
> ApNe.exe is not nearly as useful as a description such as AP Invoice Entry
> which I can find by right clicking the executable and then clicking
> properties or else by turning on the File description header in Windows
> Explorer.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Tom

Tom, first stop:

http://www.codeplex.com/powershellcx

install version 1.1.1 - next stop:

C:\Users\Oisin
[24] > dir c:\windows\*.exe | Get-FileVersionInfo | select filename,
filedescription | ft -auto

FileName FileDescription
-------- ---------------
C:\windows\bfsvc.exe Boot File Servicing Utility
C:\windows\explorer.exe Windows Explorer
C:\windows\fveupdate.exe BitLocker Drive Encryption Servicing Utility
C:\windows\HelpPane.exe Microsoft® Help and Support
C:\windows\hh.exe Microsoft® HTML Help Executable
C:\windows\notepad.exe Notepad
C:\windows\regedit.exe Registry Editor
C:\windows\RtHDVCpl.exe HD Audio Control Panel
C:\windows\RtlUpd.exe Driver Update and remove for Windows x64 or
x86_32
C:\windows\twunk_16.exe Twain_32.dll Client's 16-Bit Thunking Server
C:\windows\twunk_32.exe Twain.dll Client's 32-Bit Thunking Server
C:\windows\winhelp.exe Windows Help Engine application file
C:\windows\winhlp32.exe Windows Winhlp32 Stub

Get-FileVersionInfo is one of our new cmdlets in Pscx (powershell
community extensions).

Hope this helps,

- Oisin

PowerShell MVP
http://www.nivot.org/