How to configure and access Azure via PowerShell

Firstly we will install Microsoft Azure Powershell with Microsoft Azure SDK:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=320376&clcid=0x409

Then we will load Microsoft Azure Powershell and run the following command to download your credentials and other connection information to hook up your powershell with your Azure account:

Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile

We will then download the file that is prompted to us and import it with the following command:

Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile <file-name>

We can then check the active subscripts with the following command:
Get-AzureSubscription

And return a list of our VM's:
Get-AzureVM