How to generate a GUID with PowerShell on Windows 10
It’s rare that end users ever need to generate a GUID. Normally, if you need a GUID, you’re likely tinkering with the Windows registry or writing a script trying to reference a component on your system. In that case, you might wonder how you you can create a GUID. There are online apps that can do the trick however, you can also generate a GUID with PowerShell.
Generate GUID with PowerShell
Open PowerShell with admin rights and run the following command;
[guid]::NewGuid()
Tap enter and the output will generate a new GUID for you.
This is just the GUID that’s been generated. It doesn’t do or correspond to anything just yet. It is up to you to ‘connect’ it to something.
A GUID is basically a number but in a particular format. This number, in this format, is used on Windows 10, and on other systems, to reference various components. Some GUIDs are already set up on Windows 10 to identify features/items on it. For example, the power plans that you’ve created on your system have their own GUIDs. You can use them if you need to reference a power plan in a script. To view the GUID of your power plans, you can run the following command in Command Prompt.
powercfg -LIST
The only difference between these GUIDs and the one generated in PowerShell is that they’re already associated with something.
GUID web apps
Generating a GUID on Windows 10 without needing any extra apps is easy but you’ll still find a few web apps that offer to create a GUID for you. All you have to do is click a button to get it. These apps are safe and the GUIDs that they generate will work just as well as the one generated by PowerShell. The same limitation will apply i.e., unless you associate the GUID with something on Windows 10, it’s really just a number in a certain format.
A GUID can only be used for one item. For example, no two power plans have the same GUID. If they did, referencing them separately would be impossible. The same holds true for any other GUID that you generate and use.
As to where you can use a GUID, that really depends on the component itself i.e., whether or not it supports GUIDs. GUIDs are not the same on all systems. Even the same power plan on a Windows 10 system won’t have the same GUID however they can be exported if you export a power plan.
