diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/powershell.ps1 b/lib/ansible/module_utils/powershell.ps1
index 34f80fcd47..54d2eedc4f 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/powershell.ps1
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/powershell.ps1
@@ -27,4 +27,23 @@
 # USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 #
 
+# Helper function to parse Ansible JSON arguments from a file passed as
+# the single argument to the module
+Function Parse-Args($arguments)
+{
+    $parameters = New-Object psobject;
+    If ($arguments.Length -gt 0)
+    {
+        $parameters = Get-Content $arguments[0] | ConvertFrom-Json;
+    }
+    $parameters;
+}
+
+# Helper function to set an "attribute" on a psobject instance in powershell.
+# This is a convenience to make adding Members to the object easier and
+# slightly more pythonic
+Function Set-Attr($obj, $name, $value)
+{
+    $obj | Add-Member -Force -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $name -Value $value
+}
 
diff --git a/library/windows/assemble.ps1 b/library/windows/assemble.ps1
index dc95d1b9f5..90266a9e6b 100644
--- a/library/windows/assemble.ps1
+++ b/library/windows/assemble.ps1
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 #!powershell
 # WANT_JSON
+# POWERSHELL_COMMON
 
-If ($args.Length -gt 0)
-{
-   $params = Get-Content $args[0] | ConvertFrom-Json;
-}
+$params = Parse-Args $args;
 
 $data = 'FIXME';
 
 $result = New-Object psobject;
-$result | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name fixme -Value $data;
+Set-Attr $result "fixme" $data;
 echo $result | ConvertTo-Json;
diff --git a/library/windows/async_wrapper.ps1 b/library/windows/async_wrapper.ps1
index dc95d1b9f5..90266a9e6b 100644
--- a/library/windows/async_wrapper.ps1
+++ b/library/windows/async_wrapper.ps1
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 #!powershell
 # WANT_JSON
+# POWERSHELL_COMMON
 
-If ($args.Length -gt 0)
-{
-   $params = Get-Content $args[0] | ConvertFrom-Json;
-}
+$params = Parse-Args $args;
 
 $data = 'FIXME';
 
 $result = New-Object psobject;
-$result | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name fixme -Value $data;
+Set-Attr $result "fixme" $data;
 echo $result | ConvertTo-Json;
diff --git a/library/windows/command.ps1 b/library/windows/command.ps1
index dc95d1b9f5..90266a9e6b 100644
--- a/library/windows/command.ps1
+++ b/library/windows/command.ps1
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 #!powershell
 # WANT_JSON
+# POWERSHELL_COMMON
 
-If ($args.Length -gt 0)
-{
-   $params = Get-Content $args[0] | ConvertFrom-Json;
-}
+$params = Parse-Args $args;
 
 $data = 'FIXME';
 
 $result = New-Object psobject;
-$result | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name fixme -Value $data;
+Set-Attr $result "fixme" $data;
 echo $result | ConvertTo-Json;
diff --git a/library/windows/copy.ps1 b/library/windows/copy.ps1
index dc95d1b9f5..90266a9e6b 100644
--- a/library/windows/copy.ps1
+++ b/library/windows/copy.ps1
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 #!powershell
 # WANT_JSON
+# POWERSHELL_COMMON
 
-If ($args.Length -gt 0)
-{
-   $params = Get-Content $args[0] | ConvertFrom-Json;
-}
+$params = Parse-Args $args;
 
 $data = 'FIXME';
 
 $result = New-Object psobject;
-$result | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name fixme -Value $data;
+Set-Attr $result "fixme" $data;
 echo $result | ConvertTo-Json;
diff --git a/library/windows/file.ps1 b/library/windows/file.ps1
index dc95d1b9f5..90266a9e6b 100644
--- a/library/windows/file.ps1
+++ b/library/windows/file.ps1
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 #!powershell
 # WANT_JSON
+# POWERSHELL_COMMON
 
-If ($args.Length -gt 0)
-{
-   $params = Get-Content $args[0] | ConvertFrom-Json;
-}
+$params = Parse-Args $args;
 
 $data = 'FIXME';
 
 $result = New-Object psobject;
-$result | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name fixme -Value $data;
+Set-Attr $result "fixme" $data;
 echo $result | ConvertTo-Json;
diff --git a/library/windows/ping.ps1 b/library/windows/ping.ps1
index 8e5fc1f2c9..5550092a41 100644
--- a/library/windows/ping.ps1
+++ b/library/windows/ping.ps1
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 #!powershell
 # WANT_JSON
+# POWERSHELL_COMMON
 
-If ($args.Length -gt 0)
-{
-   $params = Get-Content $args[0] | ConvertFrom-Json;
-}
+$params = Parse-Args $args;
 
 $data = 'pong';
 If ($params.data.GetType)
@@ -13,5 +11,5 @@ If ($params.data.GetType)
 }
 
 $result = New-Object psobject;
-$result | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name ping -Value $data;
+Set-Attr $result "ping" $data;
 echo $result | ConvertTo-Json;
diff --git a/library/windows/slurp.ps1 b/library/windows/slurp.ps1
index 6678b9a8d8..041e678d52 100644
--- a/library/windows/slurp.ps1
+++ b/library/windows/slurp.ps1
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
 #!powershell
 # WANT_JSON
+# POWERSHELL_COMMON
 
-$params = New-Object psobject;
-If ($args.Length -gt 0)
-{
-   $params = Get-Content $args[0] | ConvertFrom-Json;
-}
+$params = Parse-Args $args;
 
 $src = '';
 If ($params.src.GetType)
@@ -28,6 +25,6 @@ $bytes = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($src);
 $content = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String($bytes);
 
 $result = New-Object psobject;
-$result | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name content -Value $content;
-$result | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name encoding -Value 'base64';
+Set-Attr $result "content" $content;
+Set-Attr $result "encoding" "base64";
 echo $result | ConvertTo-Json;
diff --git a/library/windows/stat.ps1 b/library/windows/stat.ps1
index 14e00d8f55..b7654a1010 100644
--- a/library/windows/stat.ps1
+++ b/library/windows/stat.ps1
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
 #!powershell
 # WANT_JSON
+# POWERSHELL_COMMON
 
-$params = New-Object psobject;
-If ($args.Length -gt 0)
-{
-   $params = Get-Content $args[0] | ConvertFrom-Json;
-}
+$params = Parse-Args $args;
 
 $path = '';
 If ($params.path.GetType)
@@ -22,30 +19,30 @@ If ($params.get_md5.GetType)
 $stat = New-Object psobject;
 If (Test-Path $path)
 {
-   $stat | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name exists -Value $TRUE;
+   Set-Attr $stat "exists" $TRUE;
    $info = Get-Item $path;
    If ($info.Directory) # Only files have the .Directory attribute.
    {
-      $stat | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name isdir -Value $FALSE;
-      $stat | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name size -Value $info.Length;
+      Set-Attr $stat "isdir" $FALSE;
+      Set-Attr $stat "size" $info.Length;
    }
    Else
    {
-      $stat | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name isdir -Value $TRUE;
+      Set-Attr $stat "isdir" $TRUE;
    }
 }
 Else
 {
-   $stat | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name exists -Value $FALSE;
+   Set-Attr $stat "exists" $FALSE;
 }
 
 If ($get_md5 -and $stat.exists -and -not $stat.isdir)
 {
    $path_md5 = (Get-FileHash -Path $path -Algorithm MD5).Hash.ToLower();
-   $stat | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name md5 -Value $path_md5;
+   Set-Attr $stat "md5" $path_md5;
 }
 
 $result = New-Object psobject;
-$result | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name stat -Value $stat;
-$result | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name changed -Value $FALSE;
+Set-Attr $result "stat" $stat;
+Set-Attr $result "changed" $FALSE;
 echo $result | ConvertTo-Json;
diff --git a/library/windows/win_ping b/library/windows/win_ping
deleted file mode 100644
index c8e3042dee..0000000000
--- a/library/windows/win_ping
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,87 +0,0 @@
-#!powershell
-# WANT_JSON
-
-If ($args.Length -gt 0)
-{
-   $params = Get-Content $args[0] | ConvertFrom-Json;
-}
-
-$data = 'pong';
-If ($params.data.GetType)
-{
-   $data = $params.data;
-}
-
-$result = New-Object psobject;
-$result | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name ping -Value $data;
-echo $result | ConvertTo-Json;
-
-#   _______ _     _
-#  |__   __| |   (_)
-#     | |  | |__  _ ___
-#     | |  | '_ \| / __|
-#     | |  | | | | \__ \
-#   __|_|  |_| |_|_|___/
-#  |_   _|
-#    | |  ___
-#    | | / __|
-#   _| |_\__ \
-#  |___/\|___/
-#     /  \
-#    / /\ \
-#   / ____ \
-#  /_/    \_\
-#  | |
-#  | |     __ _ _ __ __ _  ___
-#  | |    / _` | '__/ _` |/ _ \
-#  | |___| (_| | | | (_| |  __/
-#  |______\__,_|_|  \__, |\___|
-#                    __/ |
-#   ____  _         |___/
-#  |  _ \| |          | |
-#  | |_) | | ___   ___| | __
-#  |  _ <| |/ _ \ / __| |/ /
-#  | |_) | | (_) | (__|   <
-#  |____/|_|\___/ \___|_|\_\
-#   / __ \ / _|
-#  | |  | | |_
-#  | |  | |  _|
-#  | |__| | |
-#   \____/|_|         __  __
-#   / ____| |        / _|/ _|
-#  | (___ | |_ _   _| |_| |_
-#   \___ \| __| | | |  _|  _|
-#   ____) | |_| |_| | | | |
-#  |_____/ \__|\__,_|_| |_|
-#       | |         | |
-#       | |_   _ ___| |_
-#   _   | | | | / __| __|
-#  | |__| | |_| \__ \ |_
-#   \____/_\__,_|___/\__|
-#  |__   __|
-#     | | ___
-#     | |/ _ \
-#     | | (_) |
-#   __|_|\___/   _
-#  |  \/  |     | |
-#  | \  / | __ _| | _____
-#  | |\/| |/ _` | |/ / _ \
-#  | |  | | (_| |   <  __/
-#  |_|__|_|\__,_|_|\_\___|
-#  |__   __| |
-#     | |  | |__   ___
-#     | |  | '_ \ / _ \
-#     | |  | | | |  __/
-#   __|_|_ |_| |_|\___|
-#  |  ____(_) |
-#  | |__   _| | ___
-#  |  __| | | |/ _ \
-#  | |    | | |  __/
-#  |_|__  |_|_|\___|
-#  |  _ \(_)
-#  | |_) |_  __ _  __ _  ___ _ __
-#  |  _ <| |/ _` |/ _` |/ _ \ '__|
-#  | |_) | | (_| | (_| |  __/ |
-#  |____/|_|\__, |\__, |\___|_|
-#            __/ | __/ |
-#           |___/ |___/
diff --git a/library/windows/win_ping.ps1 b/library/windows/win_ping.ps1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5550092a41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/library/windows/win_ping.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!powershell
+# WANT_JSON
+# POWERSHELL_COMMON
+
+$params = Parse-Args $args;
+
+$data = 'pong';
+If ($params.data.GetType)
+{
+   $data = $params.data;
+}
+
+$result = New-Object psobject;
+Set-Attr $result "ping" $data;
+echo $result | ConvertTo-Json;