Windows Tricks Cheatsheet

WSL - Windows Subsystem for Linux

• How to download and install Linux

• How to install Linux on Windows with WSL

Before you can install WSL 2 it is necessary to ensure your processor is capable of supporting Virtualization, and VT-x or AMD-V is enabled in the BIOS.

• How to Find Out If Intel VT-x or AMD-V Virtualization Technology is Supported?

Next make sure Virtualization is configured in Windows, search for Turn Windows features on or off

• Virtual Machine Platform - enabled

• Windows Subsystem for Linux - enabled

• Windows Hypervisor Platform - only enable if you want Hyper-V and have a license that supports it

It should also be possible to do this from the command line

PS> dsim.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all
PS> dsim.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /norestart

Reboot your computer.

From the Microsoft Store install Windows Subsystem for Linux and Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS or Ubuntu.

Alternatively directly install Ubuntu from the command line.

PS> wsl --install

A further reboot maybe necessary, but Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS or Ubuntu should now work.

PS> wsl --list
PS> wsl --help
PS> wsl
Welcome to Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.15.90.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 x86_64)

 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com
 * Management:     https://landscape.canonical.com
 * Support:        https://ubuntu.com/advantage

sjfke@wallace:~$                       # UNIX home directory, /home/sjfke
sjfke@wallace:~$ cd /mnt/c/Users/geoff # Change to Windows home directory
sjfk@eWALLACE:/mnt/c/Users/geoff$ ls   # Windows home directory

Oh My Posh

Note

Laptop must be configured to run scripts, PowerShell Scripting Cheatsheet - Introduction

PS> Get-ExecutionPolicy -List

        Scope ExecutionPolicy
        ----- ---------------
MachinePolicy       Undefined
   UserPolicy       Undefined
      Process       Undefined
  CurrentUser    RemoteSigned
 LocalMachine       Undefined

• Oh My Posh Docs

• Nerd Fonts

• Meslo LGM NF download

• PowerShell - Customizing your shell environment

• PowerShell - about_Profiles

1. Install Windows Terminal from the Microsoft Store

2. Install oh-my-posh from the Microsoft Store, or from the command line.

PS> winget install JanDeDobbeleer.OhMyPosh -s

3. Download Meslo LGM NF fonts and unzip them.

4. In the font folder select all the 73 font files, .ttf and right-click to install them.

5. Open Windows Terminal

   • Settings > Windows PowerShell > Appearance > Color Scheme choose Campbell PowerShell

   • Settings > Windows PowerShell > Appearance > Font face choose MesloLGM Nerd Font

6. Configure Oh My Posh prompt by choosing a Theme

PS> Test-Path $PROFILE -PathType Leaf         # If FALSE, then create it using New-Item
PS> New-Item -Path $PROFILE -Type File -Force # Create the PowerShell_profile.ps1 file

PS> notepad $PROFILE                          # Choose your theme and Invoke it

PS> Get-Content -Path $PROFILE
# oh-my-posh init pwsh --config "$env:POSH_THEMES_PATH\paradox.omp.json" | Invoke-Expression
# oh-my-posh init pwsh --config "$env:POSH_THEMES_PATH\dracula.omp.json" | Invoke-Expression
# oh-my-posh init pwsh --config "$env:POSH_THEMES_PATH\remk.omp.json" | Invoke-Expression
# oh-my-posh init pwsh --config "$env:POSH_THEMES_PATH\jtracey93.omp.json" | Invoke-Expression
# oh-my-posh init pwsh --config "$env:POSH_THEMES_PATH\mt.omp.json" | Invoke-Expression
oh-my-posh init pwsh --config "$env:POSH_THEMES_PATH\agnoster.omp.json" | Invoke-Expression
# oh-my-posh init pwsh --config "$env:POSH_THEMES_PATH\agnosterplus.omp.json" | Invoke-Expression

PS> . $PROFILE                                # If errors, test by opening a new PowerShell

Update notifications via the Microsoft Store do not work, oh-my-posh update command line update alerts do not always trigger, so manually check on a regular basis, see Oh My Posh upgrades

PS> oh-my-posh notice                                # Upgrade available? (unreliable)

PS> oh-my-posh version                               # Existing version
PS> winget upgrade JanDeDobbeleer.OhMyPosh -s winget # Upgrade (do weekly, upgrades are frequent)
PS> oh-my-posh version                               # New version

Summary of the oh-my-posh commands

PS> oh-my-posh help        # help summary
PS> oh-my-posh help --help # help on the 'help' command

Use Terminal Icons to add color and icons to oh-my-posh directory listings

PS> Install-Module -Name Terminal-Icons -Repository PSGallery -Scope CurrentUser
PS> Import-Module -Name Terminal-Icons

# Add to $PROFILE
PS> Get-Content -Path $PROFILE
oh-my-posh init pwsh --config "$env:POSH_THEMES_PATH\agnoster.omp.json" | Invoke-Expression
Import-Module -Name Terminal-Icons

Warning

Exercise caution when installing from PowerShell Gallery

Want more, see My Ultimate PowerShell prompt with Oh My Posh and the Windows Terminal

Are Files Identical?

One novel approach is to use certutil to compute a hash to see if they are the same.

• certutil supports hash algorithms: MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA384 SHA512

• Commonly used hash algorithms being, SHA1 default, MD5 and SHA256

PS> certutil -hashfile file1.txt
SHA1 hash of file1.txt:
2236964ee87bff078491008b506044391975e2a6
CertUtil: -hashfile command completed successfully.

PS> certutil -hashfile file1.txt MD5
MD5 hash of file1.txt:
4ead6a1f65b3f97d86a093dfb87a8be2
CertUtil: -hashfile command completed successfully.

PS> certutil -hashfile file1.txt SHA256
SHA256 hash of file1.txt:
dde3f13078dae2baf1d1a12ad3be20ce6cc0d370cbab0f579fca16dcc4791394
CertUtil: -hashfile command completed successfully.

PS> certutil -hashfile Fred_Flintstone.png SHA256
SHA256 hash of Fred_Flintstone.png:
a4c8843ce4fb12654ccbe7aa14256c7e0243739d42874d42b531e74bc27ba32c
CertUtil: -hashfile command completed successfully.

PS> sha256_hash = Invoke-Expression "certutil -hashfile Fred_Flintstone.png SHA256 | Select-Object -Index 1"
PS> write($sha256_hash) # a4c8843ce4fb12654ccbe7aa14256c7e0243739d42874d42b531e74bc27ba32c

PS> certutil -hashfile .\kustomize.exe SHA256
SHA256 hash of .\kustomize.exe:
2cd041a2e4d3533ffa6f5f03dc2d9e0828bae7931021cc5d11dfcd644bd8b4c0
CertUtil: -hashfile command completed successfully.

Utility certutil is intended for manipulating certificates and so can do much more.

Base 64 Encode/Decode

PS> [Convert]::ToBase64String([System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes("EncodeMe-in-Base64"))
RW5jb2RlTWUtaW4tQmFzZTY0

PS> [System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetString([System.Convert]::FromBase64String('RW5jb2RlTWUtaW4tQmFzZTY0'))
EncodeMe-in-Base64

Using wsl, if installed

PS> wsl
$ echo -n 'EncodeMe-in-Base64' | base64
RW5jb2RlTWUtaW4tQmFzZTY0

$ echo -n 'RW5jb2RlTWUtaW4tQmFzZTY0' | base64 -d
EncodeMe-in-Base64

Using Python, if installed

>>> import base64
>>> _ascii = "EncodeMe-in-Base64".encode("ascii")
>>> _b64bytes = base64.b64encode(_ascii)
>>> print(_b64bytes.decode("ascii"))
RW5jb2RlTWUtaW4tQmFzZTY0

>>> import base64
>>> _ascii = "RW5jb2RlTWUtaW4tQmFzZTY0".encode("ascii")
>>> _b64bytes = base64.b64decode(_ascii)
>>> print(_b64bytes.decode("ascii"))
EncodeMe-in-Base64

JSON, YAML File Filtering

• jq is a lightweight command-line JSON processor, similar to sed.

• yq is a Python command-line (jq wrapper) YAML/XML processor.

# Installation
PS> winget install jqlang.jq

# Command Line examples
PS> Write-Output '{"fruit":{"name":"apple","color":"green","price":1.20}}' | jq '.' # pretty-print
{
  "fruit": {
    "name": "apple",
    "color": "green",
    "price": 1.2
  }
}

# {JSON} Placeholder - Free fake and reliable API for testing and prototyping.
PS> Invoke-RestMethod -uri https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1 | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10 | jq '.'
{
  "userId": 1,
  "id": 1,
  "title": "delectus aut autem",
  "completed": false
}

# Get International Space Station Current Location
PS> Invoke-RestMethod -uri http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10 | jq '.'
# -or-
PS> Invoke-RestMethod -uri http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json -outfile iss-now.json
PS> jq '.' .\iss-now.json # pretty-print
{
  "message": "success",
  "iss_position": {
    "latitude": "-1.5479",
    "longitude": "-51.8420"
  },
  "timestamp": 1719839316
}

# Installation
PS> winget install --id MikeFarah.yq

# Command Line examples
PS> Write-Output '{"fruit":{"name":"apple","color":"green","price":1.20}}' | yq '.'
{"fruit": {"name": "apple", "color": "green", "price": 1.20}}

# {JSON} Placeholder - Free fake and reliable API for testing and prototyping.
PS> Invoke-RestMethod -uri https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1 | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10 | yq '.'
{"userId": 1, "id": 1, "title": "delectus aut autem", "completed": false}

# Get International Space Station Current Location
PS> Invoke-RestMethod -uri http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10 | yq '.'
# -or-
PS> Invoke-RestMethod -uri http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json -outfile iss-now.json
PS> yq '.' .\iss-now.json # pretty-print
{
  "message": "success",
  "iss_position": {
    "latitude": "-32.9725",
    "longitude": "-24.9078"
  },
  "timestamp": 1719839968
}

• JSON Examples, see “jq JSON Cheatsheet”

• YAML, JSON Examples, see “yq YAML/JSON Cheatsheet”

• {JSON} Placeholder Free fake and reliable API for testing and prototyping.