Download Files With BITS

by Oct 14, 2009

Windows 7 comes with a new module called BitsTransfer. This allows you to schedule downloads so they can download in the background using the BITS service. The main advantage is that BITS can download even large files dependably because it can resume the download even when you reboot the machine. First import the module like this to use BITS for downloads:

Import-Module BitsTransfer

Next, you would probably like to know which new cmdlets have been added:

Get-Command -Module Bits*

Use Start-BitsTransfer to actually download a file with BITS,. The next line will download the free 32bit PowerShellPlus trial to your hard disk and store it as psplus32.zip (to get the 64bit version, simply visit www.idera.com and grab the link).

Start-BitsTransfer http://downloads.idera.com/products/IderaPowerShellPlusInstallationKit.zip `
$home\psplus32bit.zip

You will notice a nice progress bar that will display and indicate download progress.

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