qwinsta /server:somesrv equivalent in Powershell? - powershell

Question

When I run the qwinsta /server:somesrv command in cmd I can get a listing of all the current RDP sessions that are logged into a particular Windows server.
SESSIONNAME USERNAME ID STATE TYPE DEVICE
console 0 Conn wdcon
rdp-tcp 65536 Listen rdpwd
rdp-tcp#594 tom1 1 Active rdpwd
rdp-tcp#595 bob1 2 Active rdpwd
Is it possible to get a list like this on a remote server from Powershell so that the data can be used elsewhere?

Answer 1

There are multiple alternatives:
Use the Terminal Services PowerShell Module. Easy solution.
Writing a powershell wrapper that parses the output of qwinsta to objects. Easy solution. See example below
Use the Cassia.DLL .Net wrapper to access the native APIs that qwinsta runs behind the scene. This is the class that the TS Module uses. More difficult, but will have the benefit of being customized to your needs.
Go crazy and use the Native Methods that Cassia.DLL accesses using P/Invoke (wtsapi32.dll, kernel32.dll, winsta.dll). Hard and overcomplicated.
PowerShell-wrapper for qwinsta
function Get-TSSessions {
param(
$ComputerName = "localhost"
)
qwinsta /server:$ComputerName |
#Parse output
ForEach-Object {
$_.Trim() -replace "\s+",","
} |
#Convert to objects
ConvertFrom-Csv
}
Get-TSSessions -ComputerName "localhost" | ft -AutoSize
SESSIONNAME USERNAME ID STATE TYPE DEVICE
----------- -------- -- ----- ---- ------
services 0 Disc
console Frode 1 Active
rdp-tcp 65537 Listen
#This is objects, so we can manipulate the results to get the info we want. Active sessions only:
Get-TSSessions -ComputerName "localhost" | ? { $_.State -eq 'Active' } | ft -AutoSize SessionName, UserName, ID
SESSIONNAME USERNAME ID
----------- -------- --
console Frode 1

Answer 2

I used to use Terminal Services PowerShell Module (now in codeplex archive), but it was two years ago. I can't put my hand on it, but it also exists a function on gitshub or another site that embeded QWinsta/RmWinsta.