What is this

This is my 7th time to install almost the same set of tools and click through the configurations on a work laptop. Frankly, I had enough.

Enough of installing stuff, having opened 3 laptops.
Enough of keeping settings in sync whenever my config evolves on one of my concurrent 3 work-laptops.
Enough of spending time on my mother's/dad's/< insert random relative here >'s machine's random state whenever I need to troubleshoot it.

Even if I have been documenting every config for the past 10 yeears in my notes.

I know, this will take 3 to 5 years in total to touch the Big 3.

I am too lazy to go back to the old days (and I don't have the time or device).

When I spent 8 hours a day in ssh screens with vim.
Or the time when I was fighting a macbook for more than a year.

As of this writing (late 2022) I am using Windows and WSL, so the repo will resemble this.

So I am automating the hell out of my config. For myself. But feel free to use this if you want.

Background

I have Software Engineering and DevOps background, the latter with a lot of exposure to

Python, Powershell, Bash
Puppet, Chocolatey, Ansible, Terraform, Docker
Ini, json, yaml
IntelliJ, Visual Studio Code, Vim

Scripted/compiled/configured software and tooling on Windows, Linux, even Mac.

This exposure will show on my structure and the technologies applied.

Configuring your work machine is hard

Even if I want to treat it as a cattle, it is still a pet. Sometimes there are parts that need to be left alone, so immutability is a no-no.
It is also not enough to just put all your config files, GPOs, registries, heck, even tool binaries into version control or some storage provider so you sync it everywhere.
- Some of these will be user/domain/environment specific.
- Some update will bring in/remove new/old settings, that you will want to make use of.
- For me, tjhis approach would be dirty, and not elegant enough.
I have to work with managed corporate workstations/laptops where although I have admin right, but cannot ditch all their managed config.
My mantra is (taken from Zolaly): take as many defaults as possible, don't fight the stream too much, configure 15%.
- I do have my quirks, where I really need my way all the way till death. But I keep these to a minimum.
- I try to play nice with the ecosystem, always considering what is the most maintainable solution.

Design Considerations

Idempotence
Additive config instead of replacing
- State needs to be picked up dynamically
Modularity, Single Responsibility Principle
Dependencies as Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG), where
- each node makes sense to grab and start
- each node lists all of their dependencies
Should not matter where you cd
Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY)
- Least amount of copy-pasting boilerplate, supporting code (e.g. dot-sourcing)
- No amount of copy-pasting business-critical code/data (in this case config)
Secure credentials at rest: no plaintext passwords
Generalizing
- Although I will compromise somewhat on that in this case, as this repo represents how I organize my setup

Quick start

Download: https://github.com/systematicguy/myconfig/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
Unzip to somewhere (e.g. in your userfolder)
Copy local_config/UserConfig.template.psd1 to local_config/UserConfig.psd1, edit it, remove the Draft entry.
Start powershell 5 as Administrator
Prepare your environment running windows/OneTimeDscPrepare.ps1
```
windows\OneTimeDscPrepare.ps1
```
Run
- any of the tools ps1 script in the tools folder in any order
- any of the scripts in the scripts folder
  
  e.g.
```
scripts\CorporateMachine.ps1

# or

tools\GitConfig.ps1
tools\SshKey.ps1
tools\TotalCommander.ps1
```
Between runs you can avoid multiple prompts for credential via dotsourcing the variable into your scope:
```
. .\helpers\UserCredential.ps1
```
DSC generates mof files, containing only encrypted credentials. You can cleanup the certificate after configuration running windows/DscCleanupCert.ps1
```
windows\DscCleanupCert.ps1
```

Desired State Configuration (DSC)

Prerequisites

The following might be needed even if we only do everything only locally:

PS > Set-WsManQuickConfig -Force

See windows/OneTimeDscPrepare.ps1

DSC Powershell version lesson learned

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/dsc/overview?view=powershell-7.2

They have removed DSC from 7.2: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/dsc/overview?view=powershell-7.2 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/overview?view=dsc-2.0

The lowest installable version is 2.0.5 from the gallery. https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages?q=PSDesiredStateConfiguration

Anyways, I tried with 7.2 as admin, it partially worked, but not any more once started to use cChoco.

With version 5 all stuff works.

We cannot even uninstall Powershell 5.1 as it relies on .NET framework, with parts not opensourced, whereas Powershell 7.2 is relying on .NET core.

Read more here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/70931513/how-to-uninstall-powershell-5-1-on-windows-after-installing-72

Useful resources

DSC howto, show-case

Notable examples from this repo

Get-DscResource

PS > Get-DscResource

ImplementedAs   Name                      ModuleName                     Version    Properties
-------------   ----                      ----------                     -------    ----------
Binary          File                                                                {DestinationPath, Attributes, Checksum, Content...
Binary          SignatureValidation                                                 {SignedItemType, TrustedStorePath}
PowerShell      cChocoConfig              cChoco                         2.5.0.0    {ConfigName, DependsOn, Ensure, PsDscRunAsCrede...
PowerShell      cChocoFeature             cChoco                         2.5.0.0    {FeatureName, DependsOn, Ensure, PsDscRunAsCred...
PowerShell      cChocoInstaller           cChoco                         2.5.0.0    {InstallDir, ChocoInstallScriptUrl, DependsOn, ...
PowerShell      cChocoPackageInstaller    cChoco                         2.5.0.0    {Name, AutoUpgrade, chocoParams, DependsOn...}
Composite       cChocoPackageInstallerSet cChoco                         2.5.0.0    {DependsOn, PsDscRunAsCredential, Name, Ensure...}
PowerShell      cChocoSource              cChoco                         2.5.0.0    {Name, Credentials, DependsOn, Ensure...}
PowerShell      IniSettingsFile           FileContentDsc                 1.3.0.151  {Key, Path, Section, DependsOn...}
PowerShell      KeyValuePairFile          FileContentDsc                 1.3.0.151  {Name, Path, DependsOn, Encoding...}
PowerShell      ReplaceText               FileContentDsc                 1.3.0.151  {Path, Search, AllowAppend, DependsOn...}
PowerShell      PackageManagement         PackageManagement              1.0.0.1    {Name, AdditionalParameters, DependsOn, Ensure...}
PowerShell      PackageManagementSource   PackageManagement              1.0.0.1    {Name, ProviderName, SourceUri, DependsOn...}
PowerShell      Archive                   PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {Destination, Path, Checksum, Credential...}
PowerShell      Environment               PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {Name, DependsOn, Ensure, Path...}
PowerShell      Group                     PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {GroupName, Credential, DependsOn, Description...}
Composite       GroupSet                  PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {DependsOn, PsDscRunAsCredential, GroupName, En...
Binary          Log                       PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {Message, DependsOn, PsDscRunAsCredential}
PowerShell      Package                   PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {Name, Path, ProductId, Arguments...}
Composite       ProcessSet                PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {DependsOn, PsDscRunAsCredential, Path, Credent...
PowerShell      Registry                  PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {Key, ValueName, DependsOn, Ensure...}
PowerShell      Script                    PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {GetScript, SetScript, TestScript, Credential...}
PowerShell      Service                   PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {Name, BuiltInAccount, Credential, Dependencies...
Composite       ServiceSet                PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {DependsOn, PsDscRunAsCredential, Name, Startup...
PowerShell      User                      PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {UserName, DependsOn, Description, Disabled...}
PowerShell      WaitForAll                PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {NodeName, ResourceName, DependsOn, PsDscRunAsC...
PowerShell      WaitForAny                PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {NodeName, ResourceName, DependsOn, PsDscRunAsC...
PowerShell      WaitForSome               PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {NodeCount, NodeName, ResourceName, DependsOn...}
PowerShell      WindowsFeature            PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {Name, Credential, DependsOn, Ensure...}
Composite       WindowsFeatureSet         PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {DependsOn, PsDscRunAsCredential, Name, Ensure...}
PowerShell      WindowsOptionalFeature    PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {Name, DependsOn, Ensure, LogLevel...}
Composite       WindowsOptionalFeatureSet PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {DependsOn, PsDscRunAsCredential, Name, Ensure...}
PowerShell      WindowsPackageCab         PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {Ensure, Name, SourcePath, DependsOn...}
PowerShell      WindowsProcess            PSDesiredStateConfiguration    1.1        {Arguments, Path, Credential, DependsOn...}

> Get-DscResource -Name File | Select -ExpandProperty Properties

Name                 PropertyType   IsMandatory Values
----                 ------------   ----------- ------
DestinationPath      [string]              True {}
Attributes           [string[]]           False {Archive, Hidden, ReadOnly, System}
Checksum             [string]             False {CreatedDate, ModifiedDate, SHA-1, SHA-256...}
Contents             [string]             False {}
Credential           [PSCredential]       False {}
DependsOn            [string[]]           False {}
Ensure               [string]             False {Absent, Present}
Force                [bool]               False {}
MatchSource          [bool]               False {}
PsDscRunAsCredential [PSCredential]       False {}
Recurse              [bool]               False {}
SourcePath           [string]             False {}
Type                 [string]             False {Directory, File}

DSC File Resource

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/reference/resources/windows/fileresource?view=dsc-1.1

DSC Script Resource

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/reference/resources/windows/scriptresource?view=dsc-1.1

https://powershellmagazine.com/2014/08/13/running-commands-as-another-user-using-dsc-script-resource/

Impersonation, certificate-encrypted credentials

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43040896/write-to-a-variable-from-dsc-script-resource

It is not possible to pass an external variable to Script. Before executing every Test/Set function the LCM resets the state of the Runspace - i.e all variables are cleared. Therefore if you want to pass information, the best way is to write to a file and read from it.

https://blog.jermdavis.dev/posts/2015/wait-who-is-dsc-running-as-again

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/pull-server/secureMOF?view=dsc-1.1&viewFallbackFrom=powershell-7.2

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/configurations/configdata?view=dsc-1.1

https://serverfault.com/questions/632390/protecting-credentials-in-desired-state-configuration-using-certificates

Credential vs PsDscRunAsCredential

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/configurations/configdatacredentials?view=dsc-1.1 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/configurations/runasuser?view=dsc-1.1

From the docs:

DSC configuration resources run as Local System by default. However, some resources need a credential, for example when the Package resource needs to install software under a specific user account.
Earlier resources used a hard-coded Credential property name to handle this. WMF 5.0 added an automatic PsDscRunAsCredential property for all resources. Newer resources and custom resources can use this automatic property instead of creating their own property for credentials.

PS > Get-DscResource -Name cChocopackageInstaller -Syntax
cChocoPackageInstaller [String] #ResourceName
{
    Name = [string]
    [AutoUpgrade = [bool]]
    [chocoParams = [string]]
    [DependsOn = [string[]]]
    [Ensure = [string]{ Absent | Present }]
    [MinimumVersion = [string]]
    [Params = [string]]
    [PsDscRunAsCredential = [PSCredential]]
    [Source = [string]]
    [Version = [string]]
}

PS > Get-DscResource -Name Script -Syntax
Script [String] #ResourceName
{
    GetScript = [string]
    SetScript = [string]
    TestScript = [string]
    [Credential = [PSCredential]]
    [DependsOn = [string[]]]
    [PsDscRunAsCredential = [PSCredential]]
}

Redirect Script output

A DSC Configuration's Script output would make it fail.

| Out-Null was not enoguh to suppress all output, this is what worked for me:

command *> $null
if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
    throw "Exited with $LASTEXITCODE"
}

ComputerManagement DSC

https://github.com/dsccommunity/ComputerManagementDsc

PendingReboot
PowerPlan
ScheduledTask: https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/ComputerManagementDsc/5.1.0.0/Content/Examples%5CResources%5CScheduledTask%5C1-CreateScheduledTaskOnce.ps1
RemoteDesktopAdmin
PowerShellExecutionPolicy
SystemLocale
WindowsCapability

xPSDesiredStateConfiguration

https://github.com/dsccommunity/xPSDesiredStateConfiguration/blob/main/source/Examples/Resources/xRemoteFile/1-xRemoteFile_DownloadFile_Config.ps1

xRemoteFile

DSC Choco

https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/cChoco/2.3.1.0/Content/ExampleConfig.ps1

https://docs.chocolatey.org/en-us/features/integrations#powershell-dsc

Install-Module -Name cChoco

configuration BaseMachineConfig
{
    Import-DscResource -ModuleName PSDesiredStateConfiguration
    Import-DscResource -ModuleName cChoco

    Node "localhost"
    {
        cChocoInstaller InstallChoco
        {
            InstallDir = "c:\ProgramData\chocolatey"
        }

        cChocoPackageInstaller InstallVsCode
        {
            Name      = "vscode"
            DependsOn = "[cChocoInstaller]InstallChoco"
        }

        cChocoPackageInstaller InstallGit
        {
            Name      = "git"
            DependsOn = "[cChocoInstaller]InstallChoco"
        }

        # or

        cChocoPackageInstallerSet InstallSomeStuff
        {
            Ensure = 'Present'
            Name = @(
                "git"
                "vscode"
            )
            DependsOn = "[cChocoInstaller]installChoco"
        }
    }
}

DSC IniSettingsFile

https://github.com/dsccommunity/FileContentDsc

Install-Module -Name FileContentDsc -Force

Configuration IniSettingsFile_SetPlainTextEntry_Config
{
    Import-DSCResource -ModuleName FileContentDsc

    Node localhost
    {
        IniSettingsFile SetLogging
        {
            Path    = 'c:\myapp\myapp.ini'
            Section = 'Logging'
            Key     = 'Level'
            Text    = 'Information'
        }
    }
}

DSC json

https://github.com/mkht/DSCR_FileContent#examples-2

Install-Module -Name DSCR_FileContent -Force

Configuration Example1 {
    Import-DscResource -ModuleName DSCR_FileContent
    JsonFile String {
        Path = 'C:\Test.json'
        Key = 'StringValue'
        Value = '"Apple"'
    }
    JsonFile Bool {
        Path = 'C:\Test.json'
        Key = 'BoolValue'
        Value = 'true'
    }
    JsonFile Array {
        Path = 'C:\Test.json'
        Key = "ArrayValue"
        Value = '[true, 123, "banana"]'
    }
}

Configuration Example2 {
    Import-DscResource -ModuleName DSCR_FileContent
    JsonFile Dictionary {
        Path = 'C:\Test2.json'
        Key = 'KeyA'
        Value = '{"Ame":false,"Gura":true}'
    }
    JsonFile SubDictionary {
        Path = 'C:\Test2.json'
        Key = 'KeyB/SubKeyB'
        Value = 'Ina'
    }
    #If the key name contains a slash, please escape it with a backslash
    JsonFile SubDictionaryWithSlash {
        Path = 'C:\Test2.json'
        Key = 'KeyB/Sub\/\/Key'
        Value = 'Kiara'
    }
}

Yaml

https://github.com/cloudbase/powershell-yaml

Install-Module powershell-yaml

Get-Content .\tools\windows\auto_dark_mode\config.yaml | ConvertFrom-Yaml | ConvertTo-Yaml | Out-File "test.yaml"

Merge Yaml

https://github.com/dfinke/PSYamlQuery

Note: don't install with powershell-yaml together at the same time.

Install-Package: The following commands are already available on this system:'ConvertTo-Yaml'. This module 'PSYamlQuery' may override the existing commands. If you still want to install this module
'PSYamlQuery',
use -AllowClobber parameter.

choco install yq -y
Install-Module -Name PSYamlQuery

Look out!

To merge lists, use the -Append switch.
Merging will leave keys having value in place. So if you want to override, put your config first, then merge the target.

override.yml

a: simple
b: [1, 2]
d: hi

target.yml

a: something
b: [3, 4]
c:
  test: 2
  other: true

Merge-Yaml override.yml target.yml -Append

Result

a: simple
b: [1, 2, 3, 4]
d: hi
c:
  test: 2
  other: true

PS > Import-Yaml .\tools\windows\auto_dark_mode\config.yaml

AppsSwitch                : @{Component=; Enabled=True}
AutoThemeSwitchingEnabled : True
Autostart                 : @{Validate=True}
ColorFilterSwitch         : @{Component=; Enabled=False}
Events                    : @{DarkThemeOnBattery=False; SystemResumeTrigger=True}
GPUMonitoring             : @{Enabled=False; MonitorTimeSpanMin=1; Samples=1; Threshold=30}
Hotkeys                   : @{Enabled=False; ForceDarkHotkey=; ForceLightHotkey=; NoForceHotkey=}
Location                  : @{CustomLat=47.285561; CustomLon=7.94759; Enabled=True; PollingCooldownTimeSpan=1.00:00:00; SunriseOffsetMin=120; SunsetOffsetMin=-80; UseGeolocatorService=False}
OfficeSwitch              : @{Component=; Enabled=True}
Sunrise                   : 11.10.2021 07:00:00
Sunset                    : 11.10.2021 20:00:00
SystemSwitch              : @{Component=; Enabled=True}
Tunable                   : @{BatterySliderDefaultValue=25; Debug=False; DebugTimerMessage=False; DisableEnergySaverOnThemeSwitch=False; ShowTrayIcon=True; UICulture=en; UseLogonTask=False}
Updater                   : @{AutoInstall=False; CheckOnStart=False; DaysBetweenUpdateCheck=7; DownloadBaseUrl=; Enabled=True; HashCustomUrl=; Silent=False; VersionQueryUrl=; ZipCustomUrl=}
WallpaperSwitch           : @{Component=; Enabled=False}
WindowsThemeMode          : @{DarkThemePath=; Enabled=False; LightThemePath=; MonitorActiveTheme=False}


PS > Import-Yaml .\tools\windows\auto_dark_mode\config.yaml AutoThemeSwitchingEnabled
True

PS > Import-Yaml .\tools\windows\auto_dark_mode\config.yaml SystemSwitch | ConvertTo-Yaml
Component:
  Mode: Switch
  TaskbarColorOnAdaptive: false
  TaskbarColorWhenNonAdaptive: Light
  TaskbarSwitchDelay: 1200
Enabled: true

About Docker

https://dscottraynsford.wordpress.com/2016/10/15/install-docker-on-windows-server-2016-using-dsc/

Downloading something via authenticated WebClient

Sometimes your corporate environment just won't let random connections go outbound, you have to use your credentials to download stuff.

Script InstallPoetry
{
    PsDscRunAsCredential = $UserCredential
    GetScript = {
        #Do Nothing
    }
    SetScript = {
        $proxyCredential = $using:UserCredentialAtAd
        $webClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
        $webClient.Proxy.Credentials = $proxyCredential.GetNetworkCredential()
        $webClient.DownloadString("https://install.python-poetry.org") | python | Out-File $using:outputFile -Encoding ASCII -Append
        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
            throw "Exited with $LASTEXITCODE"
        }
    }
    TestScript = {
        $false
    }
}

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 259 Commits
.vscode		.vscode
ansible		ansible
config		config
helpers		helpers
local_config		local_config
scripts		scripts
tools		tools
windows		windows
.gitignore		.gitignore
ConfigureCheckout.ps1		ConfigureCheckout.ps1
LICENSE.txt		LICENSE.txt
README.md		README.md
_TODO.md		_TODO.md

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Repository files navigation

What is this

Background

Configuring your work machine is hard

Design Considerations

Quick start

Desired State Configuration (DSC)

Prerequisites

DSC Powershell version lesson learned

Useful resources

DSC howto, show-case

Notable examples from this repo

Get-DscResource

DSC File Resource

DSC Script Resource

Impersonation, certificate-encrypted credentials

Credential vs PsDscRunAsCredential

Redirect Script output

ComputerManagement DSC

xPSDesiredStateConfiguration

DSC Choco

DSC IniSettingsFile

DSC json

Yaml

Merge Yaml

About Docker

Downloading something via authenticated WebClient

About

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License

systematicguy/myconfig

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Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

What is this

Background

Configuring your work machine is hard

Design Considerations

Quick start

Desired State Configuration (DSC)

Prerequisites

DSC Powershell version lesson learned

Useful resources

DSC howto, show-case

Notable examples from this repo

Get-DscResource

DSC File Resource

DSC Script Resource

Impersonation, certificate-encrypted credentials

Credential vs PsDscRunAsCredential

Redirect Script output

ComputerManagement DSC

xPSDesiredStateConfiguration

DSC Choco

DSC IniSettingsFile

DSC json

Yaml

Merge Yaml

About Docker

Downloading something via authenticated WebClient

About

Resources

License

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