How to Install SysInternals in Powershell to Allow CLI Access

Introduction

SysInternals is a suite of powerful tools for Windows operating system that can help users to diagnose and troubleshoot various issues. These tools can be used for a variety of tasks, including managing processes, monitoring system performance, and troubleshooting file system issues. The SysInternals suite includes several command-line tools that can be used to perform these tasks, including handle and junction. In this blog post, we will discuss how to install SysInternals in PowerShell to allow CLI access.

Installing SysInternals using Chocolatey

Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows that can be used to install software packages from the command line. It is similar to apt-get or yum on Linux. The easiest way to install SysInternals is by using Chocolatey. Here are the steps to install SysInternals using Chocolatey:

1. Open PowerShell as an administrator.
2. Run the following command to install Chocolatey:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

3. Once Chocolatey is installed, run the following command to install SysInternals:

choco install sysinternals

4. This will install all the tools included in the SysInternals suite and make them available from the command line.

Installing SysInternals manually

If you prefer to install SysInternals manually, here are the steps to follow:

1. Go to the SysInternals website and download the suite of tools.
2. Extract the contents of the downloaded ZIP file to a folder on your computer.
3. Open PowerShell as an administrator.
4. Navigate to the folder where you extracted the SysInternals tools.
5. Run the following command to add the folder to your system’s PATH environment variable:

$env:Path += ";C:pathtosysinternals"

6. You can now access the SysInternals tools from the command line.

Using the handle tool

The handle tool is a command-line utility that can be used to view and manage open handles in Windows. An open handle is a reference to a file, registry key, or other resource that is being used by a process. If a file is locked by a process, you can use the handle tool to find out which process has the file open and close the handle to release the lock. Here’s how to use the handle tool:

1. Open PowerShell as an administrator.
2. Type handle.exe to view a list of open handles.
3. Type handle.exe <filename> to view a list of open handles for a specific file.
4. Type handle.exe -p <processId> to view a list of open handles for a specific process.
5. Type handle.exe -c <handleNumber> -p <processId> to close a specific handle for a specific process.

Using the junction tool

The junction tool is a command-line utility that can be used to create and manage directory junctions in Windows. A directory junction is a type of symbolic link that points to a directory. Junctions can be used to create shortcuts to directories or to redirect a directory to a different location. Here’s how to use the junction tool:

1. Open PowerShell as an administrator.
2. Type junction.exe <link> <target> to create a junction that points to the target directory.
3. Type junction.exe -d <link> to delete a junction.
4. Type junction.exe -s <link> to display the target of a junction.
5. You can also use the mklink command to create a junction. Type mklink /J <link> <target> to create a junction that points to the target directory.

Conclusion

SysInternals is a powerful suite of tools that can be used to diagnose and troubleshoot various issues on Windows. By installing SysInternals in PowerShell, you can easily access these tools from the command line and use them to manage processes, monitor system performance, and troubleshoot file system issues. The handle and junction tools are particularly useful for managing open handles and creating directory junctions. With these tools at your disposal, you can become a more effective Windows power user.

To install SysInternals using Chocolatey, first make sure you have Chocolatey installed on your system. If you don’t, you can install it by running the following command in an elevated (administrator) PowerShell window:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

Once Chocolatey is installed, you can install the SysInternals suite by running the following command in an elevated PowerShell window:

choco install sysinternals

This will install the SysInternals suite and make all of the executables available in your $Path, so you can run them from anywhere.

Alternatively, you can install individual SysInternals tools by specifying the specific tool name instead of sysinternals. For example, to install just the handle tool, you can run:

choco install sysinternals.handle

This will install just the handle tool and make it available in your $Path. You can repeat this process for any other SysInternals tools that you want to install.

Package managers like Chocolatey are very useful, but it can be easy to forget how to use them if you don’t use them frequently.

If you prefer, you can also simply download the entire Sysinternals suite, unzip it to a location of your choice on your system, and add the folder containing the tools to your PATH environment variable. This way, you can easily access any of the Sysinternals tools from the command line.