Exporting and Importing Credentials in PowerShell

Credential objects contain a username and a password. You can create them using Get-Credential, and then supply this object to any cmdlet that has the -Credential parameter.

However, what do you do if you want your scripts to run without user intervention yet securely? You do not want a credentials dialog to pop up, and you do not want to store the password information inside the script.

function Export-Credential

Here’s a solution: use the function Export-Credential to save the credential to file:

function Export-Credential 
{
   param
   (
     [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
     $Path,

     [System.Management.Automation.Credential()]
     [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
     $Credential
   )
    
  $CredentialCopy = $Credential | Select-Object *    
  $CredentialCopy.Password = $CredentialCopy.Password | ConvertFrom-SecureString    
  $CredentialCopy | Export-Clixml $Path
} 

This would save a credential for the user tobias to a file:

Note that while you do this, the credentials dialog pops up and securely asks for your password. The resulting file contains XML, and the password is encrypted.

function Import-Credential

Now, when you need the credential, use Import-Credential to get it back from file:

function Import-Credential 
{
   param
   (
     [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
     $Path
   )
    
  $CredentialCopy = Import-Clixml $path    
  $CredentialCopy.password = $CredentialCopy.Password | ConvertTo-SecureString    
  New-Object system.Management.Automation.PSCredential($CredentialCopy.username, $CredentialCopy.password)
}

The “secret” used for encryption and decryption is your identity, so only you (the user that exported the credential) can import it again. No need to hard-code secrets into your script.

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