sysop@hub:~/tools/powershell-playground$
powershell-playground
FS01 is a small company file server with a few problems: printing is down, memory is short, the disk is nearly full and somebody keeps guessing a password. You are the new admin. The PowerShell session is pretend and runs in this tab, with about fifty cmdlets and a real object pipeline. Twelve missions take you from Get-Command to a CSV report.
Enter runs the line. Tab completes cmdlet names, parameters, property names and paths once you have typed something; with an empty line it leaves the terminal as usual. Arrow up brings back earlier commands, Ctrl L clears the screen. Upper and lower case do not matter.
what is in the box
| You can | With |
|---|---|
| Find your way | Get-Command Get-Help Get-Member Get-Alias Get-History |
| Work on objects | Where-Object Select-Object Sort-Object Group-Object Measure-Object ForEach-Object, joined with | |
| Show and export | Format-Table Format-List Out-String Out-File Out-Null Export-Csv Import-Csv ConvertTo-Csv ConvertTo-Json Write-Output Write-Host Clear-Host |
| Services and processes | Get-Service Start-Service Stop-Service Restart-Service Set-Service Get-Process Stop-Process: they change the pretend server, and -WhatIf works |
| Files and folders | Get-ChildItem Get-Content Set-Location Get-Location Test-Path on the drives C: and D: |
| Logs and accounts | Get-WinEvent Get-LocalUser Get-LocalGroup Get-LocalGroupMember Get-ADUser Disable-ADAccount Enable-ADAccount |
| Disks and network | Get-Volume Get-Disk Get-NetIPAddress Test-Connection Test-NetConnection |
| The language | Variables, strings, numbers with KB MB GB, -eq -ne -gt -lt -like -match -contains -in, -and -or -not, + - * /, script blocks, hash tables, Get-Date and a few methods such as .ToUpper() and .AddDays(-30) |
This is a teaching model, not PowerShell: the cmdlets know their common parameters, not all of them, there is no .NET behind the objects, no if, loops or functions, and no real system. The clock stands still at 6 October 2026, 08:30. Failed logon events carry the account as a ready-made property here; on a real server you dig it out of the event message. The short names work too: gsv, ps, ls, where, select, sort, group, measure, ft, fl, gm. What you type stays in this tab, and is replayed when you reload it. Keep going with the PowerShell cheat sheet, the scripting cheat sheet, Bash and PowerShell side by side, the Active Directory cheat sheet and the event ID reference. Same idea for other shells: the Linux playground and the SQL playground.