xPSDesiredStateConfiguration

The xPSDesiredStateConfiguration module contains the same resources as the module PSDscResources but also includes bugfixes and new features, including additional resources. Some resources in this module use the prefix 'x' to not conflict with the older built-in resources in the Windows PowerShell PSDesiredStateConfiguration module and the PSDscResources module. The prefix 'x' has no other meaning and does not indicate that these are experimental resources.

This module is no longer comparable with the module PSDscResources as they are completely separate modules and they have a different lifecycle. The xPSDesiredStateConfiguration module surpasses the PSDscResources module in both features and bugfixes.

The module xPSDesiredStateConfiguration is supported by the DSC community who fixes bugs and adds features.

The module PSDscResources is supported by Microsoft and is meant to be 1:1 replacement for the built-in resources (in Windows PowerShell), with the exception for the File resource. For that reason new features are no longer being added to the PSDscResource module, and bugfixes must be approved (most likely through a Microsoft Support case) to be merged. If you require new features or missing bugfixes, please migrate to xPSDesiredStateConfiguration and request/add the features or bugfixes against this module.

This module is automatically tested using PowerShell 5.1 on servers running Windows 2016 and Windows 2019, and is expected to work on other operating systems running PowerShell 5.1. While this module may work with PowerShell versions going back to PowerShell 4, there is no automatic testing performed for these versions, and thus no guarantee that the module will work as expected.

Code of Conduct

This project has adopted this code of conduct.

Releases

For each merge to the branch main a preview release will be deployed to PowerShell Gallery. Periodically a release version tag will be pushed which will deploy a full release to PowerShell Gallery.

Contributing

Please check out common DSC Community contributing guidelines.

Change log

A full list of changes in each version can be found in the change log.

Resources

• xArchive provides a mechanism to expand an archive (.zip) file to a specific path or remove an expanded archive (.zip) file from a specific path on a target node.
• xDscWebService configures an OData endpoint for DSC service to make a node a DSC pull server.
• xEnvironment provides a mechanism to configure and manage environment variables for a machine or process.
• xGroup provides a mechanism to manage local groups on a target node.
• xMsiPackage provides a mechanism to install and uninstall .msi packages.
• xPackage manages the installation of .msi and .exe packages.
• xRegistry provides a mechanism to manage registry keys and values on a target node.
• xRemoteFile ensures the presence of remote files on a local machine.
• xScript provides a mechanism to run PowerShell script blocks on a target node.
• xService provides a mechanism to configure and manage Windows services.
• xUser provides a mechanism to manage local users on the target node.
• xWindowsFeature provides a mechanism to install or uninstall Windows roles or features on a target node.
• xWindowsOptionalFeature provides a mechanism to enable or disable optional features on a target node.
• xWindowsPackageCab provides a mechanism to install or uninstall a package from a Windows cabinet (cab) file on a target node.
• xWindowsProcess provides a mechanism to start and stop a Windows process.

Composite Resources

• xFileUpload is a composite resource which ensures that local files exist on an SMB share.
• xGroupSet provides a mechanism to configure and manage multiple xGroup resources with common settings but different names.
• xProcessSet allows starting and stopping of a group of windows processes with no arguments.
• xServiceSet provides a mechanism to configure and manage multiple xService resources with common settings but different names.
• xWindowsFeatureSet provides a mechanism to configure and manage multiple xWindowsFeature resources on a target node.
• xWindowsOptionalFeatureSet provides a mechanism to configure and manage multiple xWindowsOptionalFeature resources on a target node.

Nano Server Support

The following resources and composite resources work on Nano Server:

• xGroup
• xService
• xScript
• xUser
• xWindowsOptionalFeature
• xWindowsOptionalFeatureSet
• xWindowsPackageCab

Register a Node with DSC Pull Server

This module contains an example meta configuration that can be used to configure the Local Configuration Manager to register with a DSC Pull Server.

LCM Register Node

Functions

This resource also contains support functions that can be used to manage a deployed DSC pull server.

Publish-ModuleToPullServer

Publishes a 'ModuleInfo' object(s) to the pull server module repository or user provided path. It accepts its input from a pipeline so it can be used in conjunction with Get-Module as in 'Get-Module -Name ModuleName' | Publish-Module

Publish-MofToPullServer

Publishes a 'FileInfo' object(s) to the pull server configuration repository. It accepts FileInfo input from a pipeline so it can be used in conjunction with Get-ChildItem .*.mof | Publish-MOFToPullServer