Use the New-ChromeWebApp Powershell function to automatically create Google Chrome web application shortcuts.

Example: Create a web application shortcut for JoseEspitia.com in the Start Menu

New-ChromeWebApp -Location "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Jose Espitia.lnk" -URL https://www.JoseEspitia.com -Icon https://www.JoseEspitia.com/favicon.ico

Function:

Function New-ChromeWebApp {

    <#  
 
    .SYNOPSIS Create Chrome Web Applications
 
    .PARAMETER Location - Specify location for the shortcut

    .PARAMETER URL - Specify the web apps URL

    .PARAMETER Icon - Specify location for shortcut icon

    .EXAMPLE - Create JoseEspitia.com web app in All Users start menu
    New-ChromeWebApp -Location "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Jose Espitia.lnk" -URL https://www.JoseEspitia.com -Icon https://www.JoseEspitia.com/favicon.ico
 
    #>

    param (
        [parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
        [string]$Location,
        [parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
        [string]$URL,
        [parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
        [string]$Icon

    )
    # Get Chrome.exe path
    $ChromeOpenCommand = (Get-ItemProperty Registry::HKCR\ChromeHTML\shell\open\command)."(Default)"
    $ChromeDefaultPath = $ChromeOpenCommand.Substring(0, $ChromeOpenCommand.IndexOf(' --'))

    # Create web app shortcut
    $Shortcut = (New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell).CreateShortcut("$Location") 
    $Shortcut.TargetPath = "$ChromeDefaultPath"
    $Shortcut.Arguments = "--app=$URL"
    $Shortcut.WorkingDirectory = "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application"
    $Shortcut.IconLocation = "$Icon"
    $Shortcut.Save()

}

Recently Adam Gross from A Square Dozen wrote a blog post on how to pin Microsoft Edge profile shortcuts to the taskbar and that got me thinking into how I could do this automatically. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a way to pin to the taskbar without a third party tool so I came up with the following solution that will create shortcuts for each of your profiles automatically on the desktop instead. The script will scan through %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge\UserData and locate any custom profiles that you may have created (Example: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge\UserData\Profile 1). It will then query each profile’s preference file and locate the name of the profile so it can be used for the shortcut name (Example: Edge – Jose). At the end of the script, it will also create a shortcut for your default profile.

Keep in mind this script will only work with the regular Edge channel and not the DEV,Beta or Canary channel since the “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe” is hard coded in the script. Hopefully this will help someone and if there is a way to pin to the taskbar by just using Powershell, please let me know!

$EdgeProfiles = Get-ChildItem "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Edge\User Data" | Where-Object { $_.Name -like "Profile *"}

ForEach($EdgeProfile in $EdgeProfiles.Name) {

    # Get Profile Name
    $Preferences = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\$EdgeProfile\Preferences"
    $Data = (ConvertFrom-Json (Get-content $Preferences -Raw))
    $ProfileName = $Data.Profile.Name

    # Create Shortcut on Desktop
    $TargetPath =  "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe"
    $ShortcutFile = "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\Edge - $ProfileName.lnk"
    $WScriptShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
    $Shortcut = $WScriptShell.CreateShortcut($ShortcutFile)
    $Shortcut.IconLocation = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\$EdgeProfile\Edge Profile.ico, 0"
    $Shortcut.Arguments =  "--profile-directory=""$EdgeProfile"""
    $Shortcut.TargetPath = $TargetPath
    $Shortcut.Save()

}

# Get Profile Name
$Preferences = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\Preferences"
$Data = (ConvertFrom-Json (Get-content $Preferences -Raw))
$ProfileName = $Data.Profile.Name

If($ProfileName -eq "Person 1") {

    $ProfileName = "Default"

}

# Create Shortcut on Desktop
$TargetPath =  "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe"
$ShortcutFile = "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\Edge - $ProfileName.lnk"
$WScriptShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$Shortcut = $WScriptShell.CreateShortcut($ShortcutFile)
$Shortcut.IconLocation = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\Edge Profile.ico, 0"
$Shortcut.Arguments =  "--profile-directory=""Default"""
$Shortcut.TargetPath = $TargetPath
$Shortcut.Save()

This small Powershell function can be used to determine if an SCCM client is connected to the Internet or Intranet. It is useful when you have a job that requires some type of network resource and it cannot run while your client is connected to a cloud management gateway. Using this example, you can easily determine the connection with the function and then decide to exit the script and run it at a later time.

Function Get-CMGStatus {

    <#
  
    .SYNOPSIS
    Queries SCCM connection type to determine if the PC is connected to a CMG
  
    #>

    $ClientInfo = Get-WmiObject -namespace root\ccm -Class ClientInfo

    If($ClientInfo.InInternet) {

        Return $True

    }
    Else {
        
        Return $False

    }

}

Office 365 ProPlus has four different update channels:

• Monthly Channel (Targeted)
• Monthly Channel
• Semi-annual Channel (Targeted)
• Semi-annual Channel

In order to switch your client to different channels, you must change the CDNBaseUrl and UpdateChannel registry keys in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration. In the Set-Office365Channel function we will be using C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun\OfficeC2RClient.exe to update the CDNBaseUrl key and we will be automatically setting the UpdateChannel key. We are updating the UpdateChannel key because in my testing, SCCM would not deploy the new update channel patches if you did not set this key. After these two tasks are complete, the function will run a hardware inventory scan so SCCM can update the channel in the console.

How to use Set-Office365Channel:

• Switch to Monthly Channel (Targeted)
  Set-Office365Channel -UpdateChannel Insiders
• Switch to Monthly Channel
  Set-Office365Channel -UpdateChannel Monthly
• Switch to Semi-annual Channel (Targeted)
  Set-Office365Channel -UpdateChannel Targeted
• Switch to Semi-annual Channel
  Set-Office365Channel -UpdateChannel Broad

Function Set-Office365Channel {

    <#  

    .SYNOPSIS Change Office 365 Update Channel 

    .PARAMETER UpdateChannel Provide update channel that you would like to use 

    .EXAMPLE - Switch to Monthly Channel (Targeted) 
    Set-Office365Channel -UpdateChannel Insiders

    .EXAMPLE - Switch to Monthly Channel 
    Set-Office365Channel -UpdateChannel Monthly

    .EXAMPLE - Semi-annual Channel (Targeted) 
    Set-Office365Channel -UpdateChannel Targeted

    .EXAMPLE - Semi-annual Channel 
    Set-Office365Channel -UpdateChannel Broad

    #>

    param (
        # Provide update channel that you would like to use
        [parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
        [ValidateSet('Insiders', 'Monthly', 'Targeted', 'Broad')]
        [string]$UpdateChannel
    )

    $Channel = Switch ($UpdateChannel) {

        "Insiders" {"http://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/64256afe-f5d9-4f86-8936-8840a6a4f5be"}
        "Monthly" {"http://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/492350f6-3a01-4f97-b9c0-c7c6ddf67d60"}
        "Targeted" {"http://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/b8f9b850-328d-4355-9145-c59439a0c4cf"}
        "Broad" {"http://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/7ffbc6bf-bc32-4f92-8982-f9dd17fd3114"}

    }

    $Configuration = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration"

    If((Get-ItemProperty $Configuration).CDNBaseUrl -ne "$Channel") {

        # Update Channel
        Start-Process "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun\OfficeC2RClient.exe" -ArgumentList "/changesetting Channel=$UpdateChannel"
        Set-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration" -Name UpdateChannel -Value "$Channel" -Force

        # Trigger Hardware Inventory
        Invoke-WmiMethod -Namespace "root\ccm" -Class "SMS_Client" -Name "TriggerSchedule" -ArgumentList "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}"

    }

}