Tips, tricks, techniques, tools, and code for those who administer Windows desktops.

Posts by winadmin

Review: BackupPC 3.2.0

Sep20th
2011 Written by winadmin

As part of a project I’m involved with, I’ve begun looking at desktop backup solutions to replace our company’s obsolete Veritas NetBackup Professional 3.60 system.  Although our current system is at least 8 years old, it’s been difficult to find a modern replacement that offers the feature set we’re looking for, which includes:

  • Support for Windows XP and Windows 7 clients
  • Enable users to restore their own files and folders without administrator access
  • Enable users to initiate a backup anytime
  • Scheduled backups, which may be different for different groups of machines
  • Ability to set a limit on the total size of a backup, including different limits for different groups of users
  • Deduplication of the data stored on the server
  • Compression of data stored on the server
  • Bandwidth throttling for clients on slower connections
  • Robust reporting capabilities, including the ability to view statistics on data backed up by user, group, file extension, PC, etc.

Toward that end, I downloaded and installed the open source desktop backup solution BackupPC.  BackupPC describes itself as "a high-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up Linux, WinXX, and Mac OS X PCs and laptops to a server’s disk."

Continue reading “Review: BackupPC 3.2.0” »

Tools and Utilities    , , , ,

Breaking into Windows Administration – Part 3

Apr23rd
2011 Written by winadmin

In our first installment, we talked about the personal qualities that make for a good Windows Desktop Administrator.  In this article, we’ll talk about Scripting and why it’s extremely valuable to learn.

Scripting

Remember earlier when I told you about “productive laziness”?  If you’re “ordinary lazy” then you won’t be getting any work done.  Before long, your boss is going to notice that and send you packing.  But if you’re “productively lazy” you don’t want to do work that is boring, repetitive, and prone to mistakes.  That’s where scripting comes in.

There are many different scripting languages you can use in Windows.  Many beginners start with DOS batch scripts.  That’s a good place to get a feel for scripting.  Batch scripts are great for quick-and-dirty operations, like copying a bunch of files to every PC on your network.  You can do that in a couple of lines of scripting and be confident that it’s getting done methodically and consistently.  But there are many things batch scripts just can’t do.  For example, it’s difficult (if not impossible) to have a batch script create an Excel spreadsheet, populate it with data and formulas, then save it.  That’s where more powerful languages like VBScript come in.

VBScript based on the Visual Basic programming language and is very powerful.  With VBScript, you can contact machines across the network and change registry settings.  You can launch applications and send them commands to do things (like the spreadsheet example above).  You can read serial numbers, create Active Directory accounts, and any number of other things.  VBScript is something every desktop administrator should know how to use.  Otherwise, you’re probably spending a lot of time doing things that a script could handle for you automatically.  Have a look at the VBScript examples on this site to show you what it can do for you.

Powershell is the next step after VBScript.  This language is emerging as the gold standard with the rise of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.  It’s like mixing the best of DOS command prompts with the power of VBScript.

Learning VBScript

Below are some books on scripting that I’ve personally read and found useful to me.  If you are learning to script, these are excellent resources.  You may also want to do some Internet searches for tutorials on scripting and work your way through some of those.

WSH and VBScript Programming for the Absolute Beginner by Jerry Lee Ford Jr.

Advanced VBScript for Microsoft Windows Administrators by Don Jones and Jeffery Hicks

VBScript, WMI, and ADSI Unleashed: Using VBScript, WMI, and ADSI to Automate Windows Administration by Don Jones

 

Career Tips    , ,

VBScript String Functions and How to Use Them

Apr10th
2011 Written by winadmin

VBScript offers a number of functions for manipulating text strings.  We’re going to cover the syntax of these functions below and provide examples of how they can be used. 

If you know specifically which string function you are looking for, click its name below and you will jump straight to that example:

  • CStr (convert a value to a string)
  • InStr (is one string found inside another)
  • InStrRev (starting at the end of the string, is one string found inside another)
  • LCase (convert the string to all lowercase)
  • Left (retrieve a number of characters from the left or start of the string)
  • Len (return the length of the entire string)
  • LTrim (Remove spaces from the start of the string)
  • Mid (Return a specific number of characters from within the string) 
  • Replace (Replace a specific set of characters in the string with a different set of characters)
  • Right (return a number of characters from the end of the string)
  • RTrim (Remove spaces from the end of the string)
  • Space (return a string consisting of a specific number of spaces)
  • StrComp (compare two strings and return a result)
  • String (return a string that contains a specific number of a single character)
  • StrReverse (reverse the contents of a string)
  • Trim (Removes from both ends of the string)
  • UCase (convert the string to uppercase)

Detailed information appears for each function.

Continue reading “VBScript String Functions and How to Use Them” »

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Breaking into Windows Administration–Part 1

Apr9th
2011 Written by winadmin

This post is intended to provide advice to those seeking a career in Windows Desktop Administration.  The advice and suggestions in this post may not be applicable for every Windows Desktop Administration position, at every organization, in every country.  Take these recommendations as a starting point and tailor them to suit your own career goals and the needs of the organization you’re hoping to join.

This post assumes that the reader has a decent familiarity with Windows already, perhaps as a help desk technician, a person who does "some PC work on the side", or just a computer enthusiast hoping to turn his or her hobby into a career.  If I use terms in this article that are unfamiliar to you, you should take that as an opportunity to read about those topic areas and learn what you can about them.

There are a number of personal qualities that make for a good Windows Desktop Administrator:

  • A desire to learn:  The Windows desktop landscape is constantly changing.  There is always a new piece of hardware, a new application, a new scripting language, or a new "something" coming into your environment.  If you aren’t interested in learning new things, you will find yourself become obsolete quickly.
  • A touch of "productive laziness":  A good Windows administrator tries to avoid doing the same manual task repeatedly.  After doing the same thing a few times, a good administrator will ask the question "Is there a way I can automate this to save myself some time and improve my accuracy and efficiency?"  This should be followed by an effort to automate the task.
  • Communication skills:  Given the amount of change involved in desktop administration, communication is critical.  You need to let other IT infrastructure groups know what you are changing and when.  You need to let users know what is changing, why that’s a good thing, and how to cope with the change.  You need to keep your managers informed about what you’re doing.  You may even need to make presentations to convince those who control the budget to spend money on an idea you have.
  • Teamwork:  In all but the smallest shops, there is usually a team of IT people providing computing and networking services to end users.  You need to cooperate with teammates, colleagues in other areas, and the users themselves. 
  • A thick skin:  The nature of Windows Administration is such that when you are doing your job correctly, no one knows you exist.  They don’t get virus infections, their data is backed up, their systems run smoothly, their software is kept current, etc.  When you make a mistake, or when something unplanned happens, it can feel like everyone is out to get you.  You can’t let that get to you.  But you do need to listen, learn what you can from the feedback, and adjust your procedures accordingly.
  • A love of technology:  If you don’t like computers, and don’t have at least a little bit of passion for them, you’re going to burn out quickly in this job.  It’s all about technology and how you can help others get their work done with technology.
  • Problem-solving skills:  No matter how well you test things, how bullet-proof your designs, etc., things are going to break.  When they break, you need to be able to visualize how the troubled system works and troubleshoot the possible causes of failure.  If you don’t enjoy puzzles and mysteries, you may find desktop administration frustrating.

Let’s say you have all these skills and traits.  Is that enough?  No, probably not.  But it will help.  The rest of this article is intended to give you some advice and guidance on how to turn yourself into a great desktop administrator.

In the next installment, we’ll talk about scripting and why it’s a critical skill for a Windows Desktop Administrator.

Career Tips

VBScript to Get a PC’s Serial Number

Apr9th
2011 Written by winadmin

Most manufacturers of PC equipment incorporate an electronic serial number into their hardware.  This makes it easy for inventory systems to gather and track machines by their serial numbers.  You may find a need to obtain a PC’s serial number in  your script.  If WMI has the serial number in its data, this script will retrieve it for you. If not, it returns "".

'
' Gets the serial number for the PC hardware
'
function getPCSerialNumber(strComputer)

   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2") 

   Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery( _
       "SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystemProduct",,48) 

   theValue = ""

   For Each objItem in colItems 
       theValue = objItem.IdentifyingNumber
   Next

   getPCSerialNumber = theValue

end function
VBScript    , , ,

VBScript to Retrieve Windows Version Number

Apr9th
2011 Written by winadmin

The following code uses WMI to determine the version number of the Windows OS installed on a given computer on the network.

'
' Get Operating System Version
'
'
function getOSVersion(strComputer)

   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2") 

   Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery( _
         "SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem",,48) 

   For Each objItem in colItems 
       theValue = objItem.Version
   Next

   getOSVersion = theValue

end function
VBScript    , , , ,

VBScript to Get the Windows OS Name for a PC

Apr9th
2011 Written by winadmin

The following code retrieves a string containing the name of the Windows OS variant installed on the machine in question.  It uses WMI to do this, so non-Windows OS machines will not respond.

'
' Get Operating System Name
'
'
function getOSName(strComputer)

   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2") 

   Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery( _
         "SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem",,48) 

   For Each objItem in colItems 
       theValue = objItem.Caption
   Next

   getOSName = theValue

end function
VBScript    , , ,

VBScript to Return a PC Model Name

Apr9th
2011 Written by winadmin

You may have a need to limit where your VBScript runs based on the model name of the PC it’s running on.  Maybe you only want to run it on a Dell Optiplex GX280, for instance.  The following code uses WMI to attempt to identify the PC’s model name, if it has one.  If a model name is found, its text is returned.  If not, the string "<UNKNOWN>" is returned.

'
' Get the PC's model
'
'
function getPCModel(strComputer)

   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2") 

   theValue = ""

   Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery( _
       "SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystem",,48) 
   For Each objItem in colItems 
       theValue = objItem.Model
   Next

   getPCModel = theValue

end function
VBScript    , , ,

VBScript to Retrieve a PC’s BIOS Version Number

Apr9th
2011 Written by winadmin

It can be helpful for inventory and troubleshooting purposes to know the BIOS version for a given PC on your network.  The following code uses WMI to attempt to find the BIOS version number for a specified machine.  It returns "<unknown>" if it can’t find one.

'
' Get the BIOS version of the specified PC
'
'
function getBIOSVersion(strComputer)

   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2") 

   Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery( _
       "SELECT * FROM Win32_BIOS",,48) 

   For Each objItem in colItems 
       If isNull(objItem.BIOSVersion) Then
           theValue = ""
       Else
           theValue = Join(objItem.BIOSVersion, ",")
       End If
   Next

   getBIOSVersion = theValue
 
end function
VBScript    , , , ,

VBScript to Retrieve a User’s SID

Apr9th
2011 Written by winadmin

You may need to retrieve a user’s Windows Security ID (SID) so that you can search for registry keys based on it, look the user up in Active Directory, etc.  The following code will retrieve a user’s SID based on their account name and the name of a machine where that account exists.

For local accounts on a PC, supply the PC name and account name to the function to retrieve the SID.  For domain accounts, you can supply a domain controller name and user name to retrieve the SID from Active Directory.

'
' Gets a SID, given a PC and user.  If you're looking up the SID
' for a local account, you need to supply the PC name and the user
' name.  If it's a domain account, you can specify a domain server,
' or a PC on the domain.
'
' Example:
' mySid = getUserSid("PC12345","myLocalAcct")
'
Function getUserSid(thePC, theUser)

    Dim objWMIService, objAccount, theSid

	Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & thePC & "\root\cimv2")
	
	Set objAccount = objWMIService.Get("Win32_UserAccount.Name='" & _
	                 theUser & "',Domain='" & thePC & "'")
	
	theSid = objAccount.SID
	
	Set objAccount = Nothing
	Set objWMIService = Nothing
	
	getUserSid = theSid

End Function
VBScript    , , ,
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