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Practical Examples of Using Out-ConsoleGridView

  • hypo69 

In the previous chapter, we got acquainted with Out-ConsoleGridView — a powerful tool for interactive data manipulation directly in the terminal. If you don’t know what it is, I recommend reading about it first. This article is entirely dedicated to it. I will not repeat the theory, but will immediately move on to practice and show 10 scenarios in which this cmdlet can save a system administrator or advanced user a lot of time.

Out-ConsoleGridView is not just a “viewer”. It is an **interactive object filter** in the middle of your pipeline.

Prerequisites:

  • PowerShell 7.2 or newer.
  • Installed Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleGuiTools module. If you haven’t installed it yet: Install-Module Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleGuiTools -Scope CurrentUser

10 Practical Examples

Example 1: Interactive Process Termination

A classic task: find and terminate several “hung” or unnecessary processes.

# Select processes in interactive mode
$procsToStop = Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property CPU -Descending | Out-ConsoleGridView -OutputMode Multiple

# If something was selected, pass the objects for termination
if ($procsToStop) {
    $procsToStop | Stop-Process -WhatIf
}

1

  1. Get-Process retrieves all running processes.
  2. Sort-Object orders them by CPU usage, so the most “resource-hungry” ones are at the top.
  3. Out-ConsoleGridView displays the table. You can type chrome or notepad to instantly filter the list, and select the desired processes with the Space key.
  4. After pressing Enter, the selected process **objects** are passed to the $procsToStop variable and then to Stop-Process.

Example 2: Managing Windows Services

Need to quickly restart several services related to one application (e.g., SQL Server).

$services = Get-Service | Out-ConsoleGridView -OutputMode Multiple -Title "Select services to restart"

if ($services) {
    $services | Restart-Service -WhatIf
}

1

  1. You get a list of all services.
  2. Inside Out-ConsoleGridView, you type sql into the filter and immediately see all services related to SQL Server.
  3. You select the desired ones and press Enter. The selected service objects are passed for restart.

Example 3: Cleaning the “Downloads” Folder from Large Files

Over time, the “Downloads” folder gets cluttered with unnecessary files. Let’s find and delete the largest ones.


# --- STEP 1: Configure the path to the 'Downloads' directory
$DownloadsPath = "E:\Users\user\Downloads" # <--- CHANGE THIS LINE TO YOUR PATH
===========================================================================

# Check: if the path is not specified or the folder does not exist - exit.
if ([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($DownloadsPath) -or (-not (Test-Path -Path $DownloadsPath))) {
    Write-Error "'Downloads' folder not found at the specified path: '$DownloadsPath'. Please check the path in the SETUP block at the beginning of the script."
    return
}

# --- STEP 2: Inform the user and collect data ---
Write-Host "Starting scan of folder '$DownloadsPath'. This may take some time..." -ForegroundColor Cyan

$files = Get-ChildItem -Path $DownloadsPath -File -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | \
    Sort-Object -Property Length -Descending

# --- STEP 3: Check for files and call interactive window ---
if ($files) {
    Write-Host "Scan complete. Found $($files.Count) files. Opening selection window..." -ForegroundColor Green

    $filesToShow = $files | Select-Object FullName, @{Name="SizeMB"; Expression={[math]::Round($_.Length / 1MB, 2)}}, LastWriteTime

    $filesToDelete = $filesToShow | Out-ConsoleGridView -OutputMode Multiple -Title "Select files to delete from '$DownloadsPath'"

    # --- STEP 4: Process user selection ---
    if ($filesToDelete) {
        Write-Host "The following files will be deleted:" -ForegroundColor Yellow
        $filesToDelete | Format-Table -AutoSize

        $filesToDelete.FullName | Remove-Item -WhatIf -Verbose
    } else {
        Write-Host "Operation cancelled. No files selected." -ForegroundColor Yellow
    }
} else {
    Write-Host "No files found in folder '$DownloadsPath'." -ForegroundColor Yellow
}

Clear-DownloadsFolder.ps1

Downloads Content

  1. We get all files, sort them by size, and use Select-Object to create a convenient SizeMB column.
  2. In Out-ConsoleGridView, you see a sorted list where you can easily select old and large .iso or .zip files.
  3. After selection, their full paths are passed to Remove-Item.

Example 4: Adding Users to an Active Directory Group

An indispensable tool for AD administrators.

# Get users from the Marketing department
$users = Get-ADUser -Filter 'Department -eq "Marketing"' -Properties DisplayName

# Interactively select who to add
$usersToAdd = $users | Select-Object Name, DisplayName | Out-ConsoleGridView -OutputMode Multiple

if ($usersToAdd) {
    Add-ADGroupMember -Identity "Marketing-Global-Group" -Members $usersToAdd -WhatIf
}

Instead of manually entering usernames, you get a convenient list where you can quickly find and select the desired employees by last name or login.

Example 5: Find out which programs are using the internet right now

One of the common tasks: “Which program is slowing down the internet?” or “Who is sending data where?”. With Out-ConsoleGridView, you can get a clear and interactive answer.

Inside the table:

  • Type chrome or msedge in the filter field to see all active connections of your browser.
  • Enter an IP address (e.g., 151.101.1.69 from the RemoteAddress column) to see which other processes are connected to the same server.
# Get all active TCP connections
$connections = Get-NetTCPConnection -State Established | \
    Select-Object RemoteAddress, RemotePort, OwningProcess, @{Name="ProcessName"; Expression={(Get-Process -Id $_.OwningProcess -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).ProcessName}}

# Output to an interactive table for analysis
$connections | Out-ConsoleGridView -Title "Active Internet Connections"
  1. Get-NetTCPConnection -State Established collects all established network connections.
  2. Using Select-Object, we form a convenient report: we add the process name (ProcessName) to its ID (OwningProcess) to make it clear which program established the connection.
  3. Out-ConsoleGridView shows you a live picture of network activity.

Net

Example 6: Analyzing Software and Update Installations

We will search for events from the source **”MsiInstaller“**. It is responsible for installing, updating, and uninstalling most programs (in .msi format), as well as many Windows update components.

# Search for the last 100 events from the Windows Installer (MsiInstaller)
# These events are present on any system
$installEvents = Get-WinEvent -ProviderName 'MsiInstaller' -MaxEvents 100

# If events are found, output them in a convenient format
if ($installEvents) {
    $installEvents | \
        # Select only the most useful: time, message, and event ID
        # ID 11707 - successful installation, ID 11708 - failed installation
        Select-Object TimeCreated, Id, Message |\
        Out-ConsoleGridView -Title "Software Installation Log (MsiInstaller)"
} else {
    Write-Warning "No events found from 'MsiInstaller'. This is very unusual."
}

Inside the table:

  • You can filter the list by program name (e.g., Edge or Office) to see its entire update history.
  • You can sort by Id to find failed installations (11708).

Example 7: Interactive Program Uninstallation

# Registry paths where information about installed programs is stored
$registryPaths = @(
    'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*',
    'HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall*'
)

# Collect data from the registry, removing system components that do not have a name
$installedPrograms = Get-ItemProperty $registryPaths | \
    Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -and $_.UninstallString } |\
    Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Publisher, InstallDate |
    Sort-Object DisplayName

# If programs are found, output to an interactive table
if ($installedPrograms) {
    $programsToUninstall = $installedPrograms | Out-ConsoleGridView -OutputMode Multiple -Title "Select programs to uninstall"

    if ($programsToUninstall) {
        Write-Host "The following programs will be uninstalled:" -ForegroundColor Yellow
        $programsToUninstall | Format-Table -AutoSize

        # This block is more complex, as Uninstall-Package will not work here.
        # We launch the uninstallation command from the registry.
        foreach ($program in $programsToUninstall) {
            # Find the original program object with the uninstallation string
            $fullProgramInfo = Get-ItemProperty $registryPaths | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -eq $program.DisplayName }

            if ($fullProgramInfo.UninstallString) {
                Write-Host "Launching uninstaller for '$($program.DisplayName)'..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
                # WARNING: This will launch the program's standard GUI uninstaller.
                # WhatIf will not work here, be careful.
                # cmd.exe /c $fullProgramInfo.UninstallString
            }
        }
        Write-Warning "To actually uninstall programs, uncomment the line 'cmd.exe /c ...' in the script."
    }
} else {
    Write-Warning "Could not find installed programs in the registry."
}

You are absolutely right. The Active Directory example is not suitable for a regular user and requires a special environment.

Let’s replace it with a much more universal and understandable scenario that perfectly demonstrates the power of chaining Out-ConsoleGridView and will be useful to any user.

Example 8: Chaining Out-ConsoleGridView

This is the most powerful technique. The output of one interactive session becomes the input for another. **Task:** Select one of your project folders, and then select specific files from it to create a ZIP archive.

# --- STEP 1: Universally find the "Documents" folder ---
$SearchPath = [System.Environment]::GetFolderPath('MyDocuments')

# --- STEP 2: Interactively select one folder from the specified location ---
$selectedFolder = Get-ChildItem -Path $SearchPath -Directory | \
    Out-ConsoleGridView -Title "Select folder to archive"

if ($selectedFolder) {
    # --- STEP 3: If a folder is selected, get its files and select which ones to archive ---
    $filesToArchive = Get-ChildItem -Path $selectedFolder.FullName -File | \
        Out-ConsoleGridView -OutputMode Multiple -Title "Select files to archive from '$($selectedFolder.Name)'"

    if ($filesToArchive) {
        # --- STEP 4: Perform the action with universal paths ---
        $archiveName = "Archive-$($selectedFolder.Name)-$(Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd').zip"

        # UNIVERSAL WAY TO GET THE DESKTOP PATH
        $desktopPath = [System.Environment]::GetFolderPath('Desktop')
        $destinationPath = Join-Path -Path $desktopPath -ChildPath $archiveName

        # Create the archive
        Compress-Archive -Path $filesToArchive.FullName -DestinationPath $destinationPath -WhatIf

        Write-Host "Archive '$archiveName' will be created on your desktop at path '$destinationPath'." -ForegroundColor Green
    }
}
  1. The first Out-ConsoleGridView shows you a list of folders inside your “Documents”. You can quickly find the desired one by typing part of its name and selecting **one** folder.
  2. If a folder was selected, the script immediately opens a **second** Out-ConsoleGridView, which now shows the **files inside** that folder.
  3. You select **one or more** files with the Space key and press Enter.
  4. The script takes the selected files and creates a ZIP archive from them on your desktop.

This turns a complex multi-step task (find a folder, find files in it, copy their paths, run the archiving command) into an intuitive two-step interactive process.

Example 9: Managing Optional Windows Components

# --- Example 9 : Managing Optional Windows Components ---

# Get only enabled components
$features = Get-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online | Where-Object { $_.State -eq 'Enabled' }

$featuresToDisable = $features | Select-Object FeatureName, DisplayName |
    Out-ConsoleGridView -OutputMode Multiple -Title "Select components to disable"

if ($featuresToDisable) {
    # WARN THE USER ABOUT IRREVERSIBILITY
    Write-Host "WARNING! The following components will be immediately disabled." -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "This operation does not support safe mode -WhatIf."
    $featuresToDisable | Select-Object DisplayName

    # Manually request confirmation
    $confirmation = Read-Host "Continue? (y/n)"

    if ($confirmation -eq 'y') {
        foreach($feature in $featuresToDisable){
            Write-Host "Disabling component '$($feature.DisplayName)'..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
            Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName $feature.FeatureName
        }
        Write-Host "Operation completed. A reboot may be required." -ForegroundColor Green
    } else {
        Write-Host "Operation cancelled."
    }
}

You can easily find and disable unnecessary components, such as Telnet-Client or Windows-Sandbox.

Example 10: Managing Hyper-V Virtual Machines

Quickly stop several virtual machines for host maintenance.

# Get only running VMs
$vms = Get-VM | Where-Object { $_.State -eq 'Running' }

$vmsToStop = $vms | Select-Object Name, State, Uptime |
    Out-ConsoleGridView -OutputMode Multiple -Title "Select VMs to stop"

if ($vmsToStop) {
    $vmsToStop | Stop-VM -WhatIf
}

You get a list of only running machines and can interactively select those that need to be safely shut down.

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