March, 2009

Hey, Scripting Guy! We had this guy a while back who went around and created all kinds of goofy scheduled tasks using the AT command. He did not document anything, and many of the scheduled jobs do not work anyway. And we are not sure what the ones that...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have to be able to create a simple scheduled task via script on a number of computers. I do not need to do anything fancy, but it needs to be quick and easy to do. Do you have any ideas that can help me? - JW Hi JW, The word...

Determining if SQL Is Installed; How to Read Paired Information into a Dictionary Object Hey, Scripting Guy! Being an avid reader of your columns for the last several years has been a blast. I wrote you once before but with no success (in terms of a reply...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have several computers that seem to be identical, but they act like they are different. I mean, the same person set the computers up, so I imagine he followed the checklist and the machines should therefore be the same. But something...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have certain accounts that are local accounts. These accounts are created when the computer is built, and the passwords are set and that is it. For as long as the computer exists, these accounts are never touched, and the passwords...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I enjoyed your article yesterday about creating a local user account. However, for my purposes I need to be able to create more than one user. Also I would like to be able to assign values to attributes such as the description. If...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have an application that runs on our local computers. It is a rather old application, and of course it is mission critical. Because this application is not Active Directory integrated, it means that I need to create a local user...

Troubleshooting an Active Directory HTA Hey, Scripting Guy! I have created an HTML Application (HTA) to prompt a support person for their administrative ID and password and a computer name that they wish to delete from Active Directory. The script...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We are in the situation where we are closing a number of remote offices, and I need to quickly be able to generate a list of the computers that are contained in those remote offices. Basically I need to be able to generate a report...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We created some groups that were used by our student interns. The student interns have now returned to college (yeah, it was a while ago). To be honest, I had actually forgotten about these groups, but the other day I was doing some...

Hey Scripting Guy! It seems that searching Active Directory from within Windows PowerShell is rather easy. But what I do not get is the syntax for the query. In the past I used something that looked more like SQL that the examples you show. What gives...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I am just getting started using Windows PowerShell, and while it is pretty cool, I really need to be able to search Active Directory. I tried to adapt some old VBScripts I found laying around on the Internet, but it gets pretty long...

How Can I Get Active Directory Information About Currently Logged-On Users? Hey, Scripting Guy! I need your help. How do I get currently logged-on users from Active Directory? - HS Hi HS, There is no way to accurately obtain this information...

Hey, Scripting Guy! You are not going to believe this. We recently deployed a Microsoft Update, and it is not working well for us. I tested it, of course, but for some reason it is not playing well with our systems. I now need to determine what the problem...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Reporting on whether a Windows Update is installed or not is pretty cool. However, what happens when I determine the update has not been applied? Am I supposed to call the user and talk them through connecting to the Microsoft Update...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I am curious about the updates that are available from Windows Update. The whole process seems so nebulous. It is like some kind of Impressionist painting that suggests things, but I never really get a feel for the updates that are...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have Windows Update configured on all our workstations at work. Automatically, the workstations check for new updates, and download and install the updates that are required. This happens without user intervention, or from intervention...

How Can I Select Domain Workstations with a WMI Filter? Hey, Scripting Guy! Can you confirm that the below WMI filter will select domain workstations? SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystem WHERE strComputerRole = "Member Workstation" - IB ...

I want to tell you that I love your articles. I have learned more about tea in the last three months than I ever thought was possible. In fact, if truth be told, I never thought about tea that much. I do like the can of tea from the vending machine, if...

We are pretty well annoyed at you guys. We spent all this time and energy creating all these VBScripts over the last nine years. We have several hundred VBScripts that we use in production, and with uncertain economic times, you are now telling me I have...

I was looking through some of the scripts in the Script Repository that use WMI, and they seem to make sense. In fact, they seem annoyingly repetitive. That is not my question. My question is how in the heck do you know which WMI class to use, or which...

I have been looking at Windows PowerShell, and think it would be cool to use. We use WMI a lot at work, and I am wondering if I can gather the same kinds of information using Windows PowerShell that we use VBScript for? Is Windows PowerShell designed...