Remotely Query IE Version Using Powershell (.Net / WMI)

In this post i will show you how to get the IE version from remote computers using Powershell.

The way i will do it is with Remote Registry Query, which this can help you for future use and not just for the IE version,
There are two ways to do this, I'm sure you will find them both on the Internet but i though it could be nice to get the both methods on one post.

Option 1: Remote Registry Query Using .Net

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###### Get IE Version From Remote Computer ######

######                .NET                 ######

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### Important ###

#

# In order to use the .NET framework to open the Registry on 

# remote computer the Remote Registry service must be turn on!

#

### Important ###

# Read remote machines from a list

$list = Get-Content C:\Temp\List.txt

# Define the key to retreive

$hklm = "LocalMachine"

$keyname = 'SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer'

# Foreach loop for the list of machines,

# and capture the result to a new object for export later to CSV

$CSVOutput = foreach ($machine in $list) {

$output = "" | Select-Object -Property Machine, Value

$reg = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey($hklm, $machine)

$key = $reg.OpenSubkey($keyname)

# Value to search for under the defined Hive & Key

$value = $key.GetValue('svcVersion')

# On IE11 the value behind the svcVersion key, on lower version the value behind Version,

# So, the below just check if the above $Version is not empty, and if it doesn it means 

# we have a lower version. and pull the old Version key.

if ($value -eq $null) {$value = $key.GetValue('Version') } # END IF Get Value

# Push the result to the $Output variable we have created

$output.Machine = $machine

$output.Value = $value

$output

} # END foreach CSVOutput loop

# Change the output path to ever you want

$CSVOutput | Export-Csv C:\Temp\IEVer.csv 

Option 2: Remote Registry Query Using WMI

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###### Get IE Version From Remote Computer ######

######                 WMI                 ######

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### WMI Regitry Hive

# HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (2147483648 (0x80000000))

# HKEY_CURRENT_USER (2147483649 (0x80000001))

# HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (2147483650 (0x80000002))

# HKEY_USERS (2147483651 (0x80000003))

# HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG (2147483653 (0x80000005))

# Read remote machines from a list

$list = Get-Content C:\Temp\List.txt

# Define the key to retreive

$hklm = 2147483650

$key = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer"

# Foreach loop for the list of machines,

# and capture the result to a new object for export later to CSV

$CSVOutput = foreach ($machine in $list) {

$output = "" | Select-Object -Property Machine, IEVersion

$wmi = ""

$Version = ""

# Value to search for under the defined Hive & Key

$value = "svcVersion"

# initial the WMI instance & Query the key for a specific value

$wmi = Get-WmiObject -List -Namespace "root\default" -ComputerName $machine | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "StdRegProv"}

$Version = ($wmi.GetStringValue($hklm,$key,$value)).svalue

# On IE11 the value behind the svcVersion key, on lower version the value behind Version,

# So, the below just check if the above $Version is not empty, and if it doesn 

# it means we have a lower version and pull the old Version key.

if ($Version -eq $null) {$value = "Version"; $Version = ($wmi.GetStringValue($hklm,$key,$value)).svalue}

# Push the result to the $Output variable we have created

$output.Machine = $machine

$output.IEVersion = $Version

$output

} # END foreach CSVOutput loop

# Change the output path to ever you want

$CSVOutput | Export-Csv C:\Temp\IEVer.csv 

Enjoy!

"Telnet" in PowerShell Style

I guess that I'm not the only one that had a connection test to perform and found out that the Telnet Client is not installed on the system.

And again, Powershell to the rescue...

I decided to write a small PowerShell function to perform the same concavity test as Telnet will, and in order to perform this test we will leverage the System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient .NET object,
You may read some more about it at:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.sockets.tcpclient%28v=vs.110%29.aspx

And now for the function:

 
# PowerShell PSTelnet function

function PSTelnet([string]$Destination, [int]$Port) {

  

  # Create a TcpClient .NET object  

  $TCPClient = New-Object System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient

    

    # Try & Catch

    try {

          $TCPClient.Connect($Destination, $Port)

        } # END try

    catch [System.Net.Sockets.SocketException] {

            Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "`nPSTelnet failed to connect with the following error:`n"

            Write-Output -ForegroundColor Red $Error.Item(0)

          } #END cache

  

  # Test if the connection established

  if ($TCPClient.Connected) {

    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green "`nPSTelnet Successfully Connected"

    } # END if

  # Close and reset the connection

  $TCPClient.Close()

} # END of function

### Example of usage

PSTelnet -Destionation 127.0.0.1 -Port 445

### Example of output

PSTelnet Successfully Connected

Hope this helps,

Enjoy.

"Ping" in PowerShell style

Hi,

This PowerShell script will retrieve the IP address of a remote computer on the network,
You may provide a list of Hostnames that the script will go through.

# Set Error Action to Silently Continue
# This is in order to continue without any error in case you encounter one
$ErrorActionPreference = "SilentlyContinue"

# Get a list of computers from a TXT file
$list = Get-Content C:\Temp\Hosts.txt


# Create Ping .Net object
$Ping = New-Object System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping

# Global var to contain all results
$BigResult = `
foreach ($l in $list) {

$Result = "" | Select-Object -Property Hostname, IP

$PingResult = ""
    
    # Try & Catch
    try {
    $PingResult = $Ping.Send($l)
    } 
        catch [System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingException]
        {
            $PingResult = ""
        } # END Try & Catch

# Check the PingResult var for successfull ping
if ($PingResult.Status -eq "Success") {
    
    $Result.IP = $PingResult.Address
    $Result.Hostname = $l

} else {
        
        $Result.IP = "Failed To Retrieve"
        $Result.Hostname = $l

    }

$Result

} # END foreach loop

# Display Output To Screen
$BigResult

# Save Output To CSV File
$BigResult | Export-Csv C:\Temp\IP.csv

Enjoy!