How to Generate a GUID in PowerShell

Two Ways to Create a GUID

New-Guid
# Guid
# ----
# 3f2b8c1e-9d4a-4f6e-8b1a-2c7d5e9f0a13

[guid]::NewGuid()

New-Guid is a cmdlet available in Windows PowerShell 5.0 and later and in PowerShell 7 on Windows, macOS and Linux. [guid]::NewGuid() calls the .NET method directly and works everywhere PowerShell runs. Both produce random version 4 GUIDs.

Getting Just the String

The default output is a table with a "Guid" header. To get plain text:

$id = (New-Guid).Guid
$id = [guid]::NewGuid().ToString()
"$(New-Guid)"            # string interpolation also works

Formatting Options

$g = New-Guid
$g.ToString("N")         # 3f2b8c1e9d4a4f6e8b1a2c7d5e9f0a13
$g.ToString("B")         # {3f2b8c1e-9d4a-4f6e-8b1a-2c7d5e9f0a13}
$g.ToString("P")         # (3f2b8c1e-9d4a-4f6e-8b1a-2c7d5e9f0a13)
$g.ToString().ToUpper()  # 3F2B8C1E-9D4A-4F6E-8B1A-2C7D5E9F0A13

Copy a GUID to the Clipboard

(New-Guid).Guid | Set-Clipboard

Set-Clipboard is available on Windows PowerShell 5.0+ and PowerShell 7 on Windows. On macOS and Linux, pipe to pbcopy or xclip instead.

Generating Many GUIDs

1..100 | ForEach-Object { (New-Guid).Guid }

# Save to a file
1..1000 | ForEach-Object { (New-Guid).Guid } | Set-Content guids.txt

# As CSV with a header
1..50 | ForEach-Object { [pscustomobject]@{ Id = (New-Guid).Guid } } |
  Export-Csv ids.csv -NoTypeInformation

Validating a GUID String

$text = "{3F2B8C1E-9D4A-4F6E-8B1A-2C7D5E9F0A13}"
$parsed = [guid]::Empty
if ([guid]::TryParse($text, [ref]$parsed)) {
    "Valid: $parsed"
} else {
    "Not a GUID"
}

TryParse accepts several formats, including braces and the compact N form. For a stricter check, such as requiring the standard hyphenated form and a valid version digit, use a regular expression; UUID regex patterns has tested examples.

Time-Ordered GUIDs

PowerShell 7 runs on modern .NET, so on PowerShell versions built on .NET 9 or later you can call [guid]::CreateVersion7() for time-ordered GUIDs. Check your runtime with $PSVersionTable. Windows PowerShell 5.1 runs on .NET Framework and doesn't have this method. How to generate a GUID in C# covers version 7 in .NET.

Practical Uses in Scripts

• Unique file or folder names for temporary output
• Correlation IDs in log entries across script steps
• Product and component codes in installer projects, which commonly use braced uppercase GUIDs
• Test data for databases and APIs

Without a Shell

If you're on a machine without PowerShell, or you need a quick batch for a document or spreadsheet, the GUID generator creates up to 1,000 GUIDs in your browser, in standard, uppercase, braced or compact style, and downloads them as TXT, CSV or JSON. For GUIDs inside spreadsheets specifically, see how to generate GUIDs in Excel and Google Sheets.

Real-World Script Examples

Unique Temporary Folders

$work = Join-Path $env:TEMP ("build-" + (New-Guid).ToString("N"))
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $work | Out-Null
# ... do work ...
Remove-Item $work -Recurse -Force

A GUID in the folder name means parallel runs of the same script never collide.

Correlation IDs in Logs

$runId = (New-Guid).Guid
Write-Output "[$runId] Starting import"
# pass $runId to every log line and child script

When several scripts run at once, filtering logs by the run ID shows one run's story from start to finish.

Seeding Test Records

$users = 1..20 | ForEach-Object {
  [pscustomobject]@{ Id = (New-Guid).Guid; Name = "Test User $_" }
}
$users | ConvertTo-Json | Set-Content users.json

Troubleshooting

• "New-Guid is not recognized": you're on Windows PowerShell older than 5.0. Use [guid]::NewGuid() instead.
• Output shows a "Guid" header: you're printing the object. Use .Guid or .ToString().
• Values look identical in a loop: check that you're calling New-Guid inside the loop, not assigning one value before it.
• Braces missing in a config file: use the "B" format and match the case the file expects.

Summary

New-Guid or [guid]::NewGuid() creates a GUID; .Guid or .ToString(format) turns it into text. Loop for bulk generation, TryParse for validation, and Set-Clipboard for quick copying.