How To List Files on Remote Server PowerShell

Overview

In this post / guide we will demonstrate, listing files on a remote server’s in a specific directory.

• If the file doesn’t exist a message will be displayed.
• If the user doesn’t key any file, an error message will be displayed.

Applies To

Tested on Windows 10, Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2012.

Pre-Requisites

To run this script, Execution Policy should be set to either of these “AllSigned” or “RemoteSigned” or “Unrestricted”, you can get current execution policy by running the command; “Get-ExecutionPolicy”.

Policy	Purpose
Restricted	No scripts can be run. Windows PowerShell can be used only in interactive mode.
AllSigned	Only scripts signed by a trusted publisher can be run.
RemoteSigned	Downloaded scripts must be signed by a trusted publisher before they can be run.
Unrestricted	No restrictions; all Windows PowerShell scripts can be run.

Current Execution Policy

To know the current run the PowerShell cmdlet; Get-ExecutionPolicy

To list execution policies that can be configured run the PowerShell cmdlet; Get-ExecutionPolicy -List

PowerShell Script – List File – Remote Server

This script will read drive and folder from user input, we will list files on a remote server in a specific folder and drive based on user input. In this script we will limit the listing only to first files only.

Code Snippet – List Files

The code snippet is for demonstrating “List Files on a remote server on a specific drive”.

Powershell Code Snippet – List Files

Clear-Host
Set-Location $env:USERPROFILE
Push-Location $env:USERPROFILE
#
# Set Output file Location
#
$OutPutFilename=$env:USERPROFILE+"\Desktop\FileLists.txt"
$ServersFilename=$env:USERPROFILE+"\Desktop\ServerNames.txt"
$ReadDrive=Read-Host "Enter the Drive"
#
# Remove string :\
#
$DriveName=($ReadDrive).Contains(":\")
if ($DriveName=$true) {
    $ReadDrive=$ReadDrive.Remove(1,2)
}
$ReadDirectory=Read-Host "Enter the Directory to List (exclude drive)"
#
# Remove Output file if file already exists.
#
if (Test-Path $OutPutFilename) {
    Remove-Item $OutPutFilename
    }
Get-Content $ServersFilename | ForEach-Object {
    if (-Not (Test-Connection -ComputerName $_ -Count 1 -Quiet)) {
        Write-Host Server - $_ `t Is currently down or Unreachable -ForegroundColor White -BackgroundColor Red
        return
    } else {
        Write-Host `nServer - $_ `t Is Reachable -ForegroundColor Green -BackgroundColor Black
        Write-host \\$_\$ReadDrive$\$ReadDirectory
        if (Test-Path -Path \\$_\$ReadDrive$\$ReadDirectory) {
        $GCCount=(Get-Childitem "\\$_\$ReadDrive$\$ReadDirectory" -Filter *.txt).count
            if ($GCCount -ge 1) {
                Write-Host Searching .... "\\$_\$ReadDrive$\$ReadDirectory"
                Write-Host File listing count is $GCCount -ForegroundColor Yellow -BackgroundColor Black
                Get-Childitem "\\$_\$ReadDrive$\$ReadDirectory" -Filter *.txt | select @{n='ComputerName'; e={_$}}, FullName, LastAccessTime | select -first 5 | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File -Append $OutPutFilename
            }
        } else {
            Write-Host "`n$_ - Path Not Found `n" -BackgroundColor Red -ForegroundColor Yellow
        }
        return
    }
}
Invoke-Item $OutPutFilename

PowerShell Execution – User Input

When script is executed; when the files are found, list will be saved into file a text file and subsequently file will be launched, after completion of the script execution.

PowerShell Output – List Files

When script is executed, if the files are found script will list files to a text file.

PowerShell Output – Path Not Found

When script is executed, if the files are not found, a message will be displayed, as shown below;

PowerShell Output – Server Unreachable

When script is executed, if server is unreachable or down, a message will be displayed, as shown below;

PowerShell Output – File List

When script is executed, if the files are found script will list files to a text file.

SlideShare Information

A step by step guide is uploaded to slideshare.

How To List Files on Remote Server - PowerShell from VCP Muthukrishna