search_files.ps1

This is an adaptation of a simple script I wrote to search for files in Windows. The original is here in this repo.

This fork is adapted for AlphaFS which is an amazing little open source product that not only shows Microsoft how they ought to code their API, but also overcomes a number of issues I was having like 260-character limit for paths.

Installation

• First download the latest release of AlphaFS from their github-releases page.
• Create your scripts directory, like C:\scripts.
• Go to your scripts directory and unpack AlphaFS there.
• Clone or download contents of this git repo into your scripts directory.
• Edit search_files.ps1 and make sure the path on line 21 that starts Import-Module points to the correct AlphaFS file.
• Run script

Example of running script

.\search_files.ps1 -SearchPath "\\server01\D$" -Recurse -Filter "*.encrypted"

Parameters

• -SearchPath PATH - Path to search, defaults to current working directory.
• -OutputFile PATH - Output search results in CSV format.
• -Recurse BOOL - Do a recursive search, defaults to false.
• -Filter STRING - Search filter, defaults to wildcard.
• -MoveTo PATH - Move any file found to this dir, defaults to false.

Known issue

The DLL might become blocked for some reason, resulting in this error when you try to import-module.

PS C:\scripts> import-module -name "C:\scripts\AlphaFS.2.0.1\lib\net451\AlphaFS.dll"
import-module : Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\scripts\AlphaFS.2.0.1\lib\net451\AlphaFS.dll' or one of its
 dependencies. Operation is not supported. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131515)
At line:1 char:1
+ import-module -name "C:\scripts\AlphaFS.2.0.1\lib\net451\AlphaFS.dll"
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Import-Module], FileLoadException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.FileLoadException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ImportModuleCommand

According to gurus on IRC you need to unblock the DLL, close Powershell and try again.

• Unblock-File "C:\scripts\AlphaFS.2.0.1\lib\net451\AlphaFS.dll"
• Exit
• Open new Powershell session
• Import-Module "C:\scripts\AlphaFS.2.0.1\lib\net451\AlphaFS.dll"

Disclaimer

Get-AlphaFSChildItem.ps1 is a product of some kind soul at TechNet. That function made it much easier for me to use AlphaFS since they had already figured out their API. As I write this it is licensed under the MIT license.