ConvertTo-SecureString - Powershell 1.0 CmdLet
Microsoft Windows PowerShell is a command-line shell and scripting tool based on the Microsoft .NET Framework. It is designed for system administrators, engineers and developers to control and automate the administration of Windows and applications.
More than hundred command-line tools (so called "cmdlets") can be used to perform system administration tasks and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). These cmdlets are easy to use, with standard naming conventions and common parameters, and standard tools for piping, sorting, filtering, and formatting data and objects.
ConvertTo-SecureString
Description Convert an encrypted standard string into a secure string Usage Options -String The string to convert to a secure string -secureKey The encryption key as a secure string, this is converted to a byte array before being used as the key. Valid key lengths are 16, 24, and 32 bytes -key Byte The encryption key as a byte array. Valid key lengths are 16, 24, and 32 bytes -asPlainText A plain text string to convert to a secure string. The text is not encrypted so the input is not protected/confidential To use this option, you must also specify -Force -force Set this to confirm that you understand the security risks of using PlainText CommonParameters The common parameters: -Verbose, -Debug,-ErrorAction, -ErrorVariable, -OutVariable Example(s) Create a secure string from plain text: PS C:\>$my_secure_password_string = convertto-securestring "P@ssW0rD!" -asplaintext -force Creates a secure string using the Read-Host cmdlet: PS C:\>$my_secure_password_string = read-host -assecurestring Save an encrypted string to disc: PS C:\>$my_encrypted_string = convertfrom-securestring $my_secure_password_string -key (1..16) PS C:\>$my_encrypted_string > password.txt Read an encrypted string from disc and convert back to a secure string: PS C:\>$my_secure_password_string = convertto-securestring (get-content password.txt) -key (1..16)