Windows OS

My plan was to write down various useful commands for Windows in one place, along with a very brief description and example of common usage. I got some basics together but wanted to expand and fix it, but months go by and nothing, so I'm posting it in a not-so-finished state. Here you will find commands for use within the domain, but also for local matters. These are mostly commands used from the command line that are included with Windows. However, some are from Support Tools or Windows Resource Kits. I welcome your comments and additions in the comments.

The updated article briefly describes DFS Namespaces and their conversion to Windows Server 2008 mode. It also discusses the DFS Replication feature. It mentions special one-way replication. Mostly discusses monitoring and control of replications. Different errors that occur and some solutions to fix them. Finally, Access-Based Enumeration is mentioned to hide folders that the user is not authorized to access.

It's been about three weeks since the final version of Microsoft's new server, Windows Server 2012, was released. That version is referred to as RTM, which stands for Release to Manufacturing. Immediately after release it is only available through some channels, but will soon be available for general purchase. The installation is really simple, this article just highlights one issue when installing into a virtual machine in VMware ESXi 5. And offers screnshots for reference.

The new Windows Server 2012 also brings a new version of Active Directory Domain Services. One of the new features is the installation method, which no longer uses dcpromo, but PowerShell or Server Manager.

Let's mention a few ways to configure a local user account from the command line (using a script). As the main purpose is to bulk change local accounts on different computers in the (Active Directory) network environment. The article presents various configuration options and concludes with an example of bulk change of local user passwords. It is not a detailed script, everyone can customize it according to their needs.

Data security is becoming more and more important, for example with the approaching GDPR. One security option is to encrypt entire disks and secure the boot process of the operating system. Microsoft has long had BitLocker, which is a free tool included with many editions of Windows. It works relatively simply and well (the load should be a few units of percent) and has features for business use. A common concern is that if the computer or disk crashes, we will no longer be able to access the data. But even if we have keys stored in the TPM chip, recovery keys are created that can be backed up to AD DS, for example, and used on another computer to access the data.

From the user's point of view, using BitLocker should be just as easy for any type of disk. From an administrator's perspective, the most complex configuration is for system disks, which we covered last time. In this article, we'll take a brief look at encryption for removable drives, BitLocker To Go, which is very similar to BitLocker Drive Encryption for Fixed Data Drives.

A summary of the basics of encryption. Terms, types of cryptographic algorithms (cipher), what algorithms to use, how secure encrypted data is.

The article describes the possibility of creating backups, or rather copies of data, for a home environment (or small business). It describes a specific case of backing up files to external USB drives while minimizing the time and amount of data transferred. The open source tool FreeFileSync is used.

This article provides more general information on how to change the password of a domain user (who is active with a valid password) in a corporate environment with a Microsoft domain. The detailed options depend on the environment, and the services used, of the company in question. We do not deal here with password expiration situations, where a change dialog may pop up. Instead, we will look at situations where the user is working remotely. When we change the password of a domain account, we often have to take a few extra steps because the old password is used differently. The situation is somewhat similar when the username is changed (for example, when changing the last name).

The successor to the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system is Windows 11, which has been around for quite some time. A computer with correctly licensed Windows 10 can be upgraded to Windows 11 for free. However, the device must meet the minimum HW requirements (two 64-bit cores, 4GB RAM, UEFI, TPM 2.0). The new system brings some changes to the user interface. We will look at a few options to customize their appearance and use.

I needed to find out how to set the options in a corporate environment to open a certain page (address) after starting a regular web browser. I practically tested the latest versions of Microsoft Edge (Chromium), Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox web browsers. I looked at local configuration options and then at central configuration using Group Policy. Everything is only briefly described.

When we work on a computer under a domain account and access resources on the network where permissions are controlled using security groups. If our account is included in a new group (to gain new access), the change will only take effect after the computer is restarted or the user logs out and logs in. In the case of Kerberos authentication (not NTLM), we can trigger a new acquisition of tickets (with the klist command) that contain the current group membership. Under certain conditions, we will immediately gain access given by the new group. First, in the article, we will look at displaying a list of groups of which the current user is a member.