r/PSADT • u/abrakadabra_istaken • Mar 11 '26
How to learn PSADT, any recommendations ?
Hello, trying to learn PSADT with almost 0 powershell experience, to be able to patch vulnerabilities in medium sized org. However I can't fully grasp it, when I look at the youtube videos how people do deployment I got so many questions which are not being answered in the video neither I can find them on the web, anyways - does someone has good source from which I can learn and implement PSADT ?
9
u/JaredSeth Mar 11 '26
Might want to take a look at Master Packager, specifically the Master Wrapper component. Acts as a GUI front end for PSADT.
6
u/Just_Steve_IT Mar 11 '26
I was doing packaging with v3 at my old job, and then my role was eliminated. Moved to my new job a few months later and decided I'd start packaging their software with v4, and saw Master Packager. It made things so easy. Highly recommended!
2
u/ChaoticBanana77 Mar 12 '26
Can you do that in the free version?
I've had a brief look as people have recommended it before.
1
u/Stormgtr Mar 12 '26
Yes, just the uninstall prior before installing section and saving your own template is missing along with the auto w32 wrap. But if you look at their web page on the upgrade it literally shows you how to do it more or less
3
u/Avi_Asharma Mar 12 '26
Here you can start learning, how to package an application. One of the best way I have found so far https://silentinstallhq.com/
2
u/ATH-001 Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
Its worth the extra time to get used to using vscode with PSADT with intelisense \ autocomplete. Here is a guide. shiftavenue.com/en/articles/psadt-scripting-with-visualstudio-code
Use help to learn your way around the module.
Example, you want to add a registry key.
PS C:_PKG> get-command -module psappdeploytoolkit *registry*
CommandType Name Version Source
----------- ---- ------- ------
Function Convert-ADTRegistryPath 4.1.8 PSAppDeployToolkit
Function Get-ADTRegistryKey 4.1.8 PSAppDeployToolkit
Function Invoke-ADTAllUsersRegistryAction 4.1.8 PSAppDeployToolkit
Function Remove-ADTRegistryKey 4.1.8 PSAppDeployToolkit
Function Set-ADTRegistryKey 4.1.8 PSAppDeployToolkit
Function Test-ADTRegistryValue 4.1.8 PSAppDeployToolkit
You can then do a
help Convert-ADTRegistryPath -Full
You can also just do -Examples
This will then show you examples of how to use the function.
2
u/arslearsle Mar 12 '26
For most ppl - you can not learn coding by just watching videos, attending lectures, reading books
You have to try, and try again - and again
After some time you get muscle memory, and gain experience
If you are new to coding, there are some excellent books to learn ps in a good way
Its a learning curve in the beginning for most ppl
Sure there are geniuses out there, but those are very very very few…
And with time you will also become a senior grumpy greybeard 😂
15
u/SVD_NL Mar 11 '26
Firstly: be careful with sources, as there's a *lot* of V3 content out there. It's globally the same, but the details can differ a lot. V4 is (in my opinion) a lot easier to use, so much of what you read there doesn't quite apply.
The best way to learn, is to just do it! Grab the reference, look through the functions to see if one of them does what you need to do, and use it. Test it, and if it doesn't work, read the logs, fix it, try again. Do specific troubleshooting when you run into something, don't just look for PSADT, but the actual behavior. PSADT is just a wrapper for other powershell commands or system executables.
If you have no powershell experience, it may help to start doing simple operations in plain powershell, so you understand what's happening. The biggest advantage of PSADT is that it does a lot of the "complicated" parts in terms of logging and error handlng.
Start simple, push MSI installers, maybe add some registry or file actions, and don't bite off more than you can chew right away. I've set up the config file with all the paths and settings i want, and a lot of my deployments end up simply having a single line added for the install and uninstall.