CHANGELOG.md

Changelog for WinProfileOps

The format is based on and uses the types of changes according to Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

[Unreleased]

Fixed

• Removed bug from Process-RegistryProfiles regarding populating the FolderName variable.
• Refactored model to create a UserProfile object to better handel different removal scenarios.
• Fixed bug in Join-UserProfiles regarding User Folders with no resolvable SIDS

Added

Functions

• New helper function Validate-SIDFormat to verify SID value upon retrieval in Get-ProfilePathFromSID.

• Admin Detection and Environment Variable: Added logic to detect whether the current user is an administrator and set an environment variable WinProfileOps_IsAdmin accordingly.

  • If the user is an administrator, $env:WinProfileOps_IsAdmin is set to $true. If not, it's set to $false.

  • The environment variable is automatically removed when the module is unloaded or when PowerShell exits.

  • Registered an OnRemove script block and a PowerShell.Exiting event to ensure cleanup of the environment variable on module removal or session exit.

• Remove-UserProfilesFromRegistry: Added a new function to remove user profiles from the Windows registry based on SIDs, Usernames, or UserProfile objects.

  • Supports three parameter sets: UserProfileSet, SIDSet, and UserNameSet.

  • Can be run in AuditOnly mode, where no actual deletion is performed, or in deletion mode where profiles are removed.

  • Includes a Force switch to bypass confirmation prompts and a ComputerName parameter for targeting remote computers.

  • Graceful error handling and logging for cases where the registry key cannot be opened or profiles cannot be processed for specific computers.

Environment Variables

• $env:WinProfileOps_IsAdmin: A boolean value that determines if the current user has administrative privileges. This is set by checking the user's security role against the built-in Administrator group using Windows security principals.

• $env:WinProfileOps_RegistryPath: Specifies the registry path used to manage user profiles. Default value: "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList".

• $env:WinProfileOps_RegistryHive: Defines the registry hive to use, which is set to LocalMachine by default.

• $env:WinProfileOps_RegBackUpDirectory: Specifies the directory where registry backups are stored. Default value: "C:\LHStuff\RegBackUp".

• $env:WinProfileOps_ProfileFolderPath: The profile folder path, defaulting to the system drive's Users folder. Example: "C:\Users".

Changed

• Get-UserProfilesFromRegistry: Updated the function to handle scenarios where the current user does not have administrative privileges.

  • The function now checks if the user is an administrator by evaluating the WinProfileOps_IsAdmin environment variable.

  • If the user has administrator privileges, the function retrieves user profiles from the registry using Get-SIDProfileInfo.

  • A warning is logged when the fallback method is used, indicating that special system accounts are excluded.

• Updated UserProfile object creation in Test-OrphanedProfile for $AccessError scenarios.

• The module is now using WinRegOps version 0.4.0 for more refined registry value retrieval.

• Refactored Get-SIDFromUsername to use .NET classes (System.Security.Principal.NTAccount and System.Security.Principal.SecurityIdentifier) instead of relying on Get-CimInstance for SID resolution.

• Get-UserAccountFromSID and Get-SIDFromUsername now invoke locally / Remotely to resolve without null values

[0.2.0] - 2024-09-12

Added

• Added core functions

• configured WinRegOps as a dependant module

• Updated build file for release

• Comment-based help documentation added for the following public functions:

  • Get-AllUserProfiles
  • Get-OrphanedProfiles
  • Remove-OrphanedProfiles
  • Remove-SIDProfile
  • Get-UserProfileFolders
  • Get-RegistryUserProfiles
  • Get-UserFolders

• Comment-based help documentation added for the following public functions:

  • New-UserProfileObject
  • Remove-RegistryKeyForSID
  • Remove-ProfilesForSIDs
  • Get-RegistryKeyForSID
  • Get-SIDProfileInfo
  • Get-ProfilePathFromSID
  • Test-FolderExists
  • Test-OrphanedProfile
  • Test-SpecialAccount

• Implemented and completed Unit Tests for private functions

• Get-UserFolders

  • Added error handling using a try/catch block to ensure that if Get-ChildItem fails (e.g., due to permission issues), the function logs an error message and returns an empty array instead of throwing an unhandled exception.

  • Implemented an OutputType attribute for better PowerShell function introspection and to clearly indicate that the function returns an array of [PSCustomObject].

• Invoke-UserProfileAudit Supporting Functions:

  • These supporting functions are now utilized within Invoke-UserProfileAudit to audit user profiles from both the file system and registry sources.

    • Process-RegistryProfiles:

      • Processes profiles retrieved from the registry, compares them with folder profiles, and identifies orphaned profiles.

    • Process-FolderProfiles:

      • Processes user profiles from the folder system, identifies those without corresponding registry entries, and marks them as orphaned.

    • Test-ComputerReachability:

      • Encapsulates the common behavior of Test-ComputerPing to check if a computer is reachable before proceeding with operations like profile audits. This ensures consistent handling of unreachable computers across different functions.

Changed

• Moved Get-SIDProfileInfo to the private functions folder. It will serve as an internal function for Get-RegistryUserProfiles

• Get-SIDProfileInfo

  • Returns an empty array @() when no registry key or SIDs are found, improving handling for cases where there are no profiles.

  • Improved error handling to ensure proper error messages when the registry key or subkeys cannot be opened.

  • Enhanced handling of SIDs that are invalid or missing a ProfileImagePath, logging appropriate warnings or verbose messages.

  • Optimized function behavior to handle scenarios with no SIDs, invalid SID formats, and missing ProfileImagePath values gracefully.

• Get-UserFolders

  • The function now logs errors when folder retrieval fails, improving diagnostic feedback.

  • The default value for the ComputerName parameter is set to $env:COMPUTERNAME, ensuring local computer behavior by default without requiring the user to specify it manually.

  • Refined the Get-DirectoryPath call to ensure path conversion consistency across local and remote environments.

  • General code clean-up and improved resilience, returning an empty array when no folders are found or in case of failure, rather than proceeding without valid data.

• Get-UserProfilesFromRegistry

  • Added error handling using a try-catch block to capture and log errors during the retrieval of registry profiles.

  • Implemented a check using Test-ComputerPing to verify if the target computer is online or reachable before attempting to retrieve registry profiles.

  • Returns an empty array @() when the target computer is offline or unreachable, logging a warning in such cases.

  • Returns an empty array @() when an error occurs while accessing the registry profiles, logging an error message.

  • Integrated with the -ErrorAction Stop parameter when calling Get-SIDProfileInfo, ensuring that errors are caught and handled appropriately in the calling function.

• Get-UserProfilesFromFolders

  • Added error handling using a try-catch block to capture and log errors during the retrieval of user profile folders.

  • Implemented a check using Test-ComputerPing to verify if the target computer is online or reachable before attempting to retrieve user folders.

  • Returns an empty array @() when the target computer is offline or unreachable, logging a warning in such cases.

  • Returns an empty array @() when an error occurs while accessing the user folders, logging an error message.

• Invoke-UserProfileAudit

  • Renamed the previous Get-AllUserProfiles function to Invoke-UserProfileAudit.
  • Added Get-AllUserProfiles as an alias for Invoke-UserProfileAudit to maintain backward compatibility.

Removed

• Removed the old Get-AllUserProfiles function and replaced it with the new Invoke-UserProfileAudit function.

• Temporarily Removed functions (Remove-OrphanedProfiles and Remove-ProfilesForSIDs) related to Removing Users Folders and registry keys for further testing before implementing