Here’s a tip from my colleague Ed Wilson (a.k.a. The Scripting Guy at Microsoft) that shows you how to use Windows PowerShell to report on BlueScreens.
Question: You have a user complaining of receiving the ‘Blue Screen of Death’ all the time. How can you use Windows PowerShell to determine actual frequency of occurances?
Answer: Use the Get-EventLog cmdlet to check the application log for a source from ‘Windows Error *’. Choose the timewritten and the message properties, filter on the word ‘bluescreen’ and sent the contents to a table for ease of viewing. This technique appears here.
Get-EventLog -LogName application -Newest 100 -Source ‘Windows Error*’ |
select timewritten, message | where message -match ‘bluescreen’ | ft -auto -wrap
Ed Wilson is the bestselling author of eight books about Windows Scripting, including Windows PowerShell 3.0 Step by Step, and Windows PowerShell 3.0 First Steps. He writes a daily blog about Windows PowerShell call Hey, Scripting Guy! that is hosted on the Microsoft TechNet Script Center; for more PowerTips check out the Hey, Scripting Guy! blog.