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Get-AuthenticodeSignature

  • Reference
Module:
Microsoft.PowerShell.Security

Gets information about the Authenticode signature for a file.

Syntax

Get-AuthenticodeSignature
   [-FilePath] <String[]>
   [<CommonParameters>]
Get-AuthenticodeSignature
   -LiteralPath <String[]>
   [<CommonParameters>]
Get-AuthenticodeSignature
   -SourcePathOrExtension <String[]>
   -Content <Byte[]>
   [<CommonParameters>]

Description

This cmdlet is only available on the Windows platform.

The Get-AuthenticodeSignature cmdlet gets information about the Authenticode signature for a file or file content as a byte array. If the file is both embedded signed and Windows catalog signed, the Windows catalog signature is used. If the file is not signed, the information is retrieved, but the fields are blank.

Examples

Example 1: Get the Authenticode signature for a file

Get-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath "C:\Test\NewScript.ps1"

This command gets information about the Authenticode signature in the NewScript.ps1 file. It uses the FilePath parameter to specify the file.

Example 2: Get the Authenticode signature for multiple files

Get-AuthenticodeSignature test.ps1, test1.ps1, sign-file.ps1, makexml.ps1

This command gets information about the Authenticode signature for the four files listed at the command line. In this example, the name of the FilePath parameter, which is optional, is omitted.

Example 3: Get only valid Authenticode signatures for multiple files

Get-ChildItem $PSHOME\*.* | ForEach-object {Get-AuthenticodeSignature $_} | Where-Object {$_.status -eq "Valid"}

This command lists all of the files in the $PSHOME directory that have a valid Authenticode signature. The $PSHOME automatic variable contains the path to the PowerShell installation directory.

The command uses the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to get the files in the $PSHOME directory. It uses a pattern of . to exclude directories (although it also excludes files without a dot in the filename).

The command uses a pipeline operator (|) to send the files in $PSHOME to the ForEach-Object cmdlet, where Get-AuthenticodeSignature is called for each file.

The results of the Get-AuthenticodeSignature command are sent to a Where-Object command that selects only the signature objects with a status of Valid.

Example 4: Get the Authenticode signature for a file content specified as byte array

Get-AuthenticodeSignature -Content (Get-Content foo.ps1 -AsByteStream) -SourcePathorExtension ps1

This command gets information about the Authenticode signature for the content of a file. In this example, the file extension is specified along with the content of the file.

Parameters

-Content

Contents of a file as a byte array for which the Authenticode signature is retrieved. This parameter must be used with SourcePathOrExtension parameter. The contents of the file must be in Unicode (UTF-16LE) format.

Type:Byte[]
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-FilePath

Specifies the path to the file to examine. Wildcards are permitted, but they must lead to a single file. It is not necessary to type FilePath at the command line when you specify a value for this parameter.

Type:String[]
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:True

-LiteralPath

Specifies the path to the file being examined. Unlike FilePath, the value of the LiteralPath parameter is used exactly as it is typed. No characters are interpreted as wildcards. If the path includes an escape character, enclose it in single quotation marks. Single quotation marks tell PowerShell not to interpret any characters as escape characters.

Type:String[]
Aliases:PSPath
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-SourcePathOrExtension

Path to the file or file type of the content for which the Authenticode signature is retrieved. This parameter is used with Content where file content is passed as a byte array.

Type:String[]
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

Inputs

String

You can pipe a string that contains a file path to this cmdlet.

Outputs

Signature

This cmdlet returns a signature object for each signature that it gets.

Notes

This cmdlet is only available on Windows platforms.

For information about Authenticode signatures in PowerShell, see about_Signing.