October, 2004

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I use a script to show me all the files in a folder? And then how can I modify that script so it shows me all the files in any subfolders of that folder? -- CS Hey, CS. Yesterday we showed everyone a script that changed...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I would like to be able to pause my script, then have it resume as soon as the user presses any key on the keyboard. How do I do that? -- AL Hey, AL. Boy, this question takes us back: “Press any key to continue,” along with “Abort...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I change a user’s password using a script? -- GO Hey, GO. You didn’t indicate whether you wanted to change the password for a local user or for an Active Directory user. But that’s OK: the processes are so similar we’ll...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I tell whether a value exists in the registry on a remote computer? -- AL Hey, AL. Full disclosure time: even though we go by the name The Scripting Guys , we don’t claim to know everything there is to know about scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I add a domain user to the local Administrators group in a computer? -- MB Hey, MB. One reason we started doing this column was because we wanted to know more about what system administrators do (and script) on a regular...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Can I use a script to change the timeout value for the screensaver on a computer? -- JN Hey, JN. For some reason, Microsoft’s scripting technologies come up a little short any time you’re talking about Windows settings and components...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How do I determine the OU a user account belongs to? -- CO Hey, CO. Ah, yes: the OU a user belongs to. No doubt a lot of you are thinking, “Well, there’s probably an OU property of some kind in Active Directory that gives you that...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I change a read-only file to a read-write file? -- WR Hey, WR. We don’t mean to shock you, but how can you change a read-only file to a read-write file? Why, by using a script, of course! We know: you never saw that coming...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I create a CSV file? -- LF Hey, LF. For those of you who aren’t up on your acronyms, CSV is short for comma-separated-values file, a text file in which individual elements are separated by commas. For example, say you have...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I know how to determine the amount of free space on a drive, but how can I determine the percentage of free disk space on a drive? -- MS Hey, JP. You’re right: determining the amount of free disk space on a drive is pretty easy...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Is it possible to have a script automatically run any time a file is added to a specific folder? -- MB Hey, WM. Yes, this is possible, thanks to the magic of WMI events, which allow you to write a script to monitor for something...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I count the number of lines in a text file? -- MS Hey, MS. It’s easy to tell that Microsoft’s scripting technologies weren’t written by people who do system administration for a living. Our scripting technologies are jam...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Is it possible to have a hyperlink to a Web page in a message box? -- CB Hey, CB. Sounds like you want to display a message box to users and, ideally, you’d like to include a hyperlink they could click on for more information. For...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Is there a way to determine the owner of a file by using a script? -- BD Hey, BD. As a matter of fact there is a way to use a script to determine the owner of the file, though it’s understandable why you might not be able to find...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Is there a way to retrieve just Failure Audit events from the Security event log? -- KA Hey, KA. Interesting, isn’t it: any time the subject is failure, people turn to the Scripting Guys. What makes you think we know anything about...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I tell which scripts are running on a computer? -- NW Hey, NW. This is a question we’re always a little reluctant to answer, because there’s a 50-50 chance you’ll be disappointed with what you hear. If you are running Windows...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a bunch of text files in a folder. Is there a way to print those files using a script? I know I can use Microsoft Word to print the files from a script, but I don’t have Microsoft Word installed on that computer. -- MA Hey...

Hey, Scripting Guy! A while back you showed how we could use the InputBox function to prompt a user to enter a value we could then use in our script. What I’d like to know is, is there any way I can take that value and use it in another script? -- JW...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I’d like to be able to read through a text file, select the lines that begin with a particular word (like Failure ), and then save only those lines back to the same text file. Is there any way to do that? -- AC Hey, AC. Hey, AC...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Can I add text to the Comments field of a file using a script? -- EF Hey, EF. For those of you who aren’t sure what EF is referring to, right-click a document in Windows Explorer and then click Properties . In the dialog box that...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Is it possible to search a computer for .MP3 files or other files my users aren’t supposed to have? -- AK Hey, AK. Once again it’s WMI to the rescue. Using the CIM_DataFile class it’s easy to search a computer for specific file...