Basic PowerShell Commands for Beginners
The 8 you genuinely need to get started, and how to find any other one when you need it.
You'll find lists of 30 or 40 PowerShell commands, but to really get started, 8 give you a solid base to move around comfortably. The rest you learn along the way, as you need them.
The key to guessing commands: Verb-Noun
Almost all PowerShell commands follow the same pattern:
Verb-Noun (Get-Process,
Stop-Service). Once you internalise this, you can guess
commands reasonably well: if you want to "get" something, it almost
certainly starts with Get-; if you want to "stop"
something, with Stop-.
The 8 essential commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
Get-Help | Help on any other command |
Get-ChildItem | Lists files and folders (equivalent to dir) |
Set-Location | Changes folder (equivalent to cd) |
Copy-Item | Copies files or folders |
Remove-Item | Deletes files or folders |
Get-Process | Lists running processes |
Get-Service | Lists system services |
Get-Command | Searches for commands by name or keyword |
How to get help without leaving PowerShell
Get-Help Get-Process
Shows you what that command does and what options it accepts — useful for any command, not just the ones on this list.
Searching for a command whose name you don't remember
Get-Command *process*
The asterisk acts as a wildcard — this example finds any command that contains "process" in its name.
If you're coming from CMD, most classic commands (dir,
cd, cls) also work in PowerShell — they are
"aliases" pointing to the real PowerShell command underneath. You
don't need to unlearn what you already knew.
If a script won't run
PowerShell blocks script execution by default, for security. If you downloaded a script (.ps1) and it won't run, that's expected, not an error — Windows protecting you from malicious scripts you might have downloaded without realising their origin.
Warning: only change this protection
(Set-ExecutionPolicy) if you fully trust the source of
the script you want to run. Don't disable it "forever" just to stop
seeing the warning.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to memorise all PowerShell commands?
No. With Get-Help and Get-Command you can always find the command you need at the time, without memorising a long list in advance.
Do the CMD commands I already know work in PowerShell?
Yes, most basic CMD commands (dir, cd, cls) work the same way in PowerShell, thanks to being aliases of the equivalent real PowerShell command.
Why won't PowerShell let me run a script I downloaded?
It's a security protection enabled by default, not an error. PowerShell blocks unsigned scripts to prevent you from running something malicious without realising it.