rhymeswithmogul / pspasswordgenerator

A PowerShell module to generate passwords as random as you want them.

PowerShell PSPasswordGenerator Module

This module provides a convenient way to generate passwords that are at most as cryptographically secure as the Get-Random cmdlet's source of entropy can provide.

Installation

You can install the PSPasswordGenerator module from the PowerShell Gallery:

Install-Module [-Name] PSPasswordGenerator [-Repository PSGallery]

Or, do a git clone into your ${env:PSModulePath} and work with the latest development version.

This module is compatible with PowerShell 7, and it will be compatible with the legacy version of Windows PowerShell 5.1 for as long as possible.

Usage

By default, this cmdlet returns password as a SecureString object. This is great for PowerShell scripting, as the password is protected in memory. For example, you could build a PSCredential object with the highest entropy possible that's still compatible with Active Directory Domain Services. This is a way to configure a Windows Server DHCP Server service.

PS> Import-Module PSPasswordGenerator
PS> $passwd = Get-RandomPassword -Length 240 -UseExtendedAscii -UseAmbigiousCharacters
PS> $credentials = [Management.Automation.PSCredential]::new('DOMAIN\_ServiceAccount', $passwd)

PS> Import-Module DHCPServer
PS> Set-DHCPServerDNSCredential -Credential $credentials

However, in many cases, you might be using this module to generate random passwords for use outside of PowerShell. In that case, supply the -AsPlainText parameter. (As this is a valid use, I won't make you also include the -Force parameter.)

PS> Get-RandomPassword -Length 32 -AsPlainText
i%eS+R5y4q^4wZ#E>(kNCKuU]R}hQZ"H

Or, you can make something secure but a lot more human-friendly with the new word list support! (BYO wordlist.)

PS> Get-RandomPassword -Words 3 -WordList 'my-wordlist.txt'
illustration.Mainspring"Muleteer

Then, copy and paste that into whatever service or device is asking for a password.

Disclaimers

This module is not developed, endorsed, or known by Microsoft.

pspasswordgenerator's Issues

Enhancement Request - Add an Exclude Parameter

When making passwords with the command, some systems specify certain characters cannot be used. I ran into this issue when using the command to make a password for my hypervisor.

I am imaging a list of symbols in an exclude switch/parameter.

Get-RandomPassword -length 20 -exclude %[$

Function 'New-RandomPassword' has verb that could change system state. Therefore, the function has to support 'ShouldProcess'.

Codacy detected an issue:

Message: Function 'New-RandomPassword' has verb that could change system state. Therefore, the function has to support 'ShouldProcess'.

Occurred on:

• Commit: d5c5891
• File: src/PSPasswordGenerator.psm1
• LineNum: 23
• Code: Function New-RandomPassword {

Currently on:

• Commit: 6a2e0b5
• File: src/PSPasswordGenerator.psm1
• LineNum: 23

Avoid using ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText

Codacy detected an issue:

Message: File 'PSPasswordGenerator.psm1' uses ConvertTo-SecureString with plaintext. This will expose secure information. Encrypted standard strings should be used instead.

We're building the password in plain text in memory, before converting it to a SecureString. There's got to be a better way.

Occurred on:

• Commit: d5c5891
• File: src/PSPasswordGenerator.psm1
• LineNum: 141
• Code: $ss = ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force -String $ret

Currently on:

• Commit: 6a2e0b5
• File: src/PSPasswordGenerator.psm1
• LineNum: 80