Review the built-in providers in PowerShell
The generic commands that you use to work with providers offer a superset of every feature that a provider might support. For example, the Get-ChildItem command includes the –UseTransaction parameter. However, the only built-in provider that supports the Transactions capability is the Registry provider. If you try to use the -UseTransaction parameter in any other provider, you'll receive an error message. You'll also receive an error message whenever you use a common parameter that the provider doesn't support.
Running the Get-PSProvider cmdlet lists the capabilities of each provider that loads into Windows PowerShell. The capabilities of each provider will be different because each provider connects to a different underlying technology.
Some important capabilities include:
- ShouldProcess for providers that can support the –WhatIf and –Confirm parameters.
- Filter for providers that support filtering.
- Include for providers that can include items in the data store based on the name. Supports using wildcards.
- Exclude for providers that can exclude items in the data store based on the name. Supports using wildcards.
- ExpandWildcards for providers that support wildcards in their paths.
- Credentials for providers that support alternative credentials.
- Transactions for providers that support transacted operations.
You should always review the capabilities of a provider before you work with it. This helps you avoid unexpected errors when you try to use unsupported capabilities.