Convert a secure string into an encrypted standard string.
Syntax ConvertFrom-SecureString [-secureString] SecureString [[-secureKey] SecureString] [CommonParameters ] ConvertFrom-SecureString [-secureString] SecureString [-key Byte[]] [CommonParameters ] key -secureString SecureString The secure string to convert to an encrypted standard string. -secureKey SecureString The encryption key as a secure string, this is converted to a byte array before being used as the key. -key Byte The encryption key as a byte array. Valid key lengths are 16, 24, and 32 bytes.
You can provide a -key either using a fixed array (of 16, 24, or 32 bytes), or with a random number generator.
Create a secure string by typing at the command prompt:
PS C:\> $secure = read-host -asSecureString
Convert a secure string stored in a variable to an encrypted standard string. The resulting encrypted standard string can be displayed by typing $encrypted:
PS C:\> $encrypted = Convertfrom-SecureString $secure
Convert a secure string using the Rijndael algorithm, the key is an array of 24 digits, all of which are less than 256, (24 * 8 bit bytes = 192 bits):
PS C:\> $key = (3,42,2,3,100,34,254,222,1,1,2,23,42,54,33,233,1,64,2,7,6,5,35,43)
PS C:\> $encrypted_standard_string = Convertfrom-SecureString $securestring -key $key
Prompt for credentials and store them in the users registry:
$cred = Get-Credential New-Item -Path HKCU:\Software\SS64 New-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\SS64 -Name UserName -Value ($cred.UserName) New-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\SS64 -Name Password -Value ($cred.Password | ConvertFrom-SecureString)
"The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants beyond everything else is safety" ~ H. L. Mencken
ConvertTo-SecureString - Convert to SecureString.
ConvertFrom-String - Extract and parse structured properties from string content.
ConvertFrom-StringData - Convert a string containing one or more key/value pairs to a hash table.
ConvertFrom-CSV - Create objects from CSV variable-length strings that are generated by ConvertTo-CSV.
Get-Credential - Get a security credential (username/password).
Read-Host - Read a line of input from the host console.