Windows Server

Windows Server

IIS backup and restore

Learn how to back up and restore IIS 10 webserver configuration with appcmd.exe and PowerShell

Windows Server

Install Windows Server Servicing Stack Updates (SSU) using PowerShell

Install Servicing Stack Updates (SSU) for Windows Server 2012R2, 2016 and Windows Server 2019 using PowerShell, without downtime.

Jan Reilink
2019-06-12

Windows Server

Import .reg file in Windows Registry silently

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.

Windows Server

Manually failover all databases in an SQL Server Database Mirroring configuration

A manual SQL Server failover can only be initiated from the principal server, and the mirrored database must be synchronized (that is, when the database is in the SYNCHRONIZED state). In this article I will show you how to manual failover mirrored SQL Server databases using Transact-SQL (T-SQL) in SQL Server 2017 and up.

Windows Server

List all SPNs used in your Active Directory

3 unique methods to list Service Principal Names (SPNs) in your Windows network quickly using PowerShell. An SPN or Service Principal Name is a unique identity for a service, mapped with a specific account (mostly service account).

Jan Reilink
2018-02-28

Windows Server

Windows Server 2016 VM on Hyper-V stuck at stopping

If a Windows Server 2016 guest VM on Hyper-V hangs while stopping after Windows Updates, and it won't reboot, it might be caused by the recovery debug information type set. Especially when you have moved the Windows PageFile to a different partition / VHDX

Jan Reilink
2018-02-28

Windows Server

How to: Determine installed .NET Framework versions

Users can install and run multiple .NET Framework versions on their computers. When you develop or deploy your app, you might need to know which .NET versions are installed on a machine and here is how to check the .NET version.

Jan Reilink
2017-09-07

Windows Server

How to determine if a SQL Server backup is compressed?

Compressed SQL Server backups can be verified in PowerShell using a handy PowerShell function. This comes in handy when you need to verify if existing SQL Server backups are compressed.

Jan Reilink
2017-08-31

Windows Server

How to unzip a file in PowerShell

Unzip a file on your PowerShell command-prompt may come in handy sometimes, even on your Windows 11/10 workstation. Use Expand-Archive for this, and all that is required is PowerShell 5.0+, or the .NET 4.5+ Framework to use System.IO.Compression.ZipFile.

Jan Reilink
2017-08-30

Windows Server

WsusPool keeps crashing: stops again and again

WSUS IIS Application Pool Advanced Settings

WSUSPool keeps stopping? 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.

Windows Server

What are 4 important security measures for Windows Server & IIS 10?

In this post I address four (4) important actionable security measures for your servers running Windows Server (AD DS, DFS, IIS) and RDP.

Windows Server

How to disable SMBv1 in Windows 10 and Windows Server

It is urged you disable SMBv1 in your Windows variant (Windows 10, 8.1, Server 2016, 2012 R2), and here is how if you haven't done so yet.

Jan Reilink
2017-05-13

Windows Server

Detect ethernet network speed in Windows

Being able to 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-prompt, use one of the following PowerShell / WMIC commands.

Jan Reilink
2017-05-12

Windows Server

Free up disk space in Windows Server – 5 extra methods

a row of trash cans sitting on top of a sidewalk

In this post I provide you with 5 ways to cleanup files and free up disk space in Windows Server 2016 (and older / newer Windows Server version), without using the Disk Cleanup Utility. Reclaim lots of lost gigabytes easy. Disk space usage is still an issue in Windows Server.

Windows Server

List all MAC addresses of all Hyper-V Virtual Machines

You sometimes need to list and get all MAC addresses of all Hyper-V virtual machines in your network. Either for your Hyper-V administration or provisioning if you don't set an unique MAC address automatically. Here is how to get all those MAC addresses easily with PowerShell.

Jan Reilink
2016-08-12

Windows Server

KMS Migration from 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012 R2 and KMS Activation Known Issues

Learn to migrate KMS from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012 R2 and KMS Activation Known Issues.

Jan Reilink
2016-06-02

Windows Server

How to install IIS URL Rewrite Module on Windows Server 2016 & IIS 10

IIS URL Rewrite Module error: IIS Version 7.0 or greater is required to install IIS URL Rewrite Module 2.

When you start to play with Windows Server 2016 and IIS 10, you'll get an error when you try to install the IIS URL Rewrite Module in IIS. The error occurs because the URL Rewrite Module installer contains an invalid version check for the IIS being used. Here is how to install IIS URL Rewrite Module 2 in IIS 10...