Why isn’t Get-ChildItem -Exclude working as expected?

Using `-Exclude` can be puzzling at times. A common issue is that it applies to the last component of the path first. For instance, if you run `Get-ChildItem -Path C: -Exclude Windows`, it may not work as expected due to a known bug with root directories. Instead, using `Get-Item -Path 'C:*' -Exclude 'Windows'` works much better, or even filtering the results afterward with `| Where-Object Name -NE 'Windows'`.

Just a heads-up about the `-Exclude` parameter: It can get a bit tricky! As you might find on the Microsoft documentation, it doesn't exclude by string match as you might expect. Also, keep in mind that using `-Exclude` works differently based on whether you have a trailing asterisk `*` in your path. You may want to adjust your command to `Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:*' -Exclude 'Windows'`. Give it a shot!

It sounds like you're using `-Exclude` incorrectly. Generally, the `-Exclude` parameter works best when used with `-Recurse`. For example, `Get-ChildItem -Path 'MyDir' -Recurse -Exclude 'Dir_2'` would show contents from the directories except for `Dir_2`. If you need to filter out directories or files directly listed, try using `Where-Object`. Here's an example: `Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:' | Where-Object -Property Name -NotLike 'windows'`. This way, you can achieve what you want more effectively.