In this post I showed you how you can use PowerShell to install Windows Updates. Quickly and silently. This makes the use of PSWindowsUpdate module perfect for your day to day automation. The module even supports scheduling (on remote computers too!), it has the ability to search WSUS and Windows Update for updates, scheduling and performing the download and installation of updates.
Tag: Windows
Send email with PowerShell
In this post I provide you with a small PowerShell function you can use to send email over a TLS secured SMTP connection with SMTP authentication. As a framework you can use in your own scripting and extend it. You can even create a PowerShell module of it.
Configure Windows Debugging Symbols in WinDbg
Before you can properly debug crash and memory dumps in Windows (Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows Server), you need to install WinDbg -Windows Debugger- and its debugging symbols. In this article I explain how to set up these debugging symbols for WinDbg in Windows. Debug BSOD like a boss!
Extract files from an MSI package
To extract all files from a .msi file, use the following msiexec command and arguments. Windows has the ability to allow the MSI package (.msi file) contents to be extracted using the command line or via a script.
Windows 11/10 and WSL 2 DevOps environment
In this post I showed you how you can turn Windows 11 and Windows 10 with WSL into a fully fledged development environment. Here are the settings and tools I use for DevOps/SysOps on Windows. It may take some getting used to, but if you’re as shortcut-Ninja as I’m (I alt-tab, ctrl-c/ctrl-v a lot), you can work pretty fast in this set up.
Emulate ternary operator in PowerShell
Emulate ternary or conditional operator in PowerShell 5. It takes three operands: a condition followed by a question mark (?), then an expression to execute if the condition is truthy followed by a colon (:), and finally the expression to execute if the condition is falsy. This operator is frequently used as an alternative to an if…else statement.
Setting up Monit monitoring in Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL
How to install and configure Monit monitoring in Windows 10 WSL. Set up a Monit monitoring service for your websites and services. A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog article about setting up Monit monitoring on an Ubuntu VM on Hyper-V. Now it’s time to do the same, but then in Windows Subsystem for Linux, or WSL. For this, I use Ubuntu.
Silently import .reg file in your Windows registry
Learn how to silently import a .reg file into your Windows Registry. This neat regedit trick comes in handy quite often. The regedit command is valid for Windows 11, 10, Windows Server 2022, 2019 and older
WsusPool keeps crashing: stops again and again
Sometimes you find your WSUS server keeps crashing over and over again. The WSUS application pool periodically stops, WSUS is unavailable and/or the WSUS management console hangs. When you start to investigate as to why Windows Server Update Services crashes, you notice the error messagesbeing logged in the HTTPErr log files. In the Eventlog you might find errors indicating that the WSUS administration console is unable to connect to WSUS Server via remote API. Sometimes clients checking for Windows Updates would quickly error out with a code 0x80244021, which indicates the inability to reach WSUS. Here is how to improve Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) availability.
Merge multiple files into one new file in Windows
Merge multiple files into one new file in Windows. If you need to merge (concatenate multiple text files into one new file in Windows, you can use the copy command in cmd.exe, and here is how.
How to disable SMBv1 in Windows 10 and Windows Server
The WannaCry/WanaCrypt0r worm exploits a vulnerability in Windows Server Message Block (SMB) version 1 (SMBv1), and it spreads like wildfire. Disable SMBv1 to prevent prevent Petya / NotPetya, WannaCry / WanaCrypt0r ransomware from spreading through your network.
How to detect ethernet network speed in Windows
Detect the ethernet network speed using PowerShell or WMI is perfect for Windows Server Core. If you ever need to lookup the speed of your ethernet network card in Windows, on the command-line, use one of the following WMIC commands on your PowerShell prompt
Generate pseudo-random passwords with OpenSSL
Generate a random password using OpenSSL. OpenSSL comes in handy when you need to generate pseudorandom strings, for example to be used for passwords. In this short post I’ll give you a quick example on how to generate random passwords with OpenSSL in Linux (Bash), Windows and PHP, perfect for use with for system accounts and services accounts.
Tunnel RDP through SSH & PuTTY
How to tunnel Remote Desktop (RDP) over SSH with PuTTY. Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to perform remote administration on a Windows Server, and the RDP port 3389 is blocked on a firewall? Did you know you can tunnel RDP over SSH with PuTTY? This particularly comes in handy when there is no VPN available to the remote network… Here is how to set up a RDP SSH tunnel with PuTTY.
Software deployment through WDS
In my environment, I had to set up a new Windows Deployment Services (WDS) configuration for Windows 8.1 Enterprise. To roll out in our office (some 20+ workstations). I wanted to install some additional software at the same time, without using Microsoft Deployment Workbench (using FirstLogonCommands), because I find the interface too slow. The solution? Read on…