A Power Tools Treasury: - PowerPoint Presentation

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A Power Tools Treasury: - PPT Presentation

great tools that many folks havent yet met or dont know well enough Presented by Mark Minasi helpminasicom 1 WSV350 Where The Treasury Came From Since late 1997 Ive written a monthly column first called This Old Resource Kit and later Windows Power Tools ID: 594163

power tools files windows tools power windows files file command control robocopy lets user vhd tool event volume vdisk

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Slide1

A Power Tools Treasury:great tools that many folks haven't yet met (or don't know well enough)

Presented by Mark Minasihelp@minasi.com

WSV350Slide2

Where The Treasury Came FromSince late 1997, I've written a monthly column first called "This Old Resource Kit" and later "Windows Power Tools"

In it, I try to find a utility program that most people don't know, or perhaps don't know in enough detail to know a trick or two inI've done this several times before, so consider this "volume 4"I've listed the ones I've covered before at the end of the talk so if you like, you can look into them

2Slide3

TopicsRobocopy

recipesWiping disksWrangling licensing with SLMGRFOR once, FOR now, FOR ever!Scriptable power configuration with powercfg

Partition Magic's replacement, Diskpart

3Slide4

TopicsEmailing from the command line

Automatic, scheduled event log archiving with wevtutilWatching your tickets with KLISTA SteadyState

replacement: SteadierStateOld faithfuls: a list of tools from past talks to look into

4Slide5

RobocopyEven if you've

heard of this…In short, it is a fast, reliable, flexible tool for bulk file copies, whether across networks or within systemsIt has, however, a very frightening syntax and so many pass it up, which is a shame

It's an even bigger shame as robocopy is in WinPE as well and thus is a welcome tool in repair/deployment scenarios

5Slide6

Robocopyuses

Simple block file transfersBuilt to be scheduled

Can be set up to automatically compare two copies of a set of files/folders and keep them in syncYou can control the bandwidth it usesYou can control its processor intensityBypasses common file/folder permission problems

6Slide7

Robocopybasic copying

robocopy

sourcedir destdir filespecex:

robocopy

c:\files e:\destfiles

This will copy all files at the top level of c:\files to e:\destfiles, creating the e:\destfiles folder if necessary

robocopy

c:\files e:\destfiles *.txt

Same, but only text files

7Slide8

Robocopyadd copying folders

add /s to copy subdirectories but only copies ones with files in themadd /e to copy all subdirectories, even the empty ones

add /lev:number to only copy the top number folder levels from the source

mov

to move, not copy

8Slide9

Robocopyadd the "

robo"

Moving big blocks of data often gets stopped for some reason/z = "if it fails, try it again in 30 seconds… one million times… until it works"/b = "if it fails because the admin lacks access to a file or two, get sneaky and use the backup privilege"

= both /b and /z

= change "

milllion

" /

= change 30s

9Slide10

Robocopykeeping two folders identical

The /mir ("mirror") option will

Scan the source and destination foldersLocate any folders on the destination that are no longer on the source and delete them on the destinationLocate files/folders changed or new on the source (relative to the destination) and update the destination

add /sec /

secfix

to keep NTFS ACLS synced

10Slide11

Robocopy"

I don't understand why it's doing what it's doing…"

Join the club!<grin>The answer is to get verbose loggingadd /v /log:filespecTechNet magazine also published a free GUI for it; search "Utility Spotlight

Robocopy

" and you'll find it

11Slide12

Robocopyrepeating something once I have it right: jobs

You can create a file with an ".rcj

" extension, or let Robocopy do it for you with the /save option, likerobocopy c:\src e:\dest /

mir

save:myjob

You can then re-do the command with

robocopy

job:myjob

Even create new ones

robocopy

job:myjob

secfix

/save:job2

12Slide13

Robocopyspeeding things up

If you find that you're moving data along but not maxing out the system RAM, CPU or disk-wise, create more than one thread with /

mt:numthreads. Manual says it can go to 128, I use 16… example with large file:robocopy

c:\files x:\

boot.wim

/mt:16

Here, I have a big file, know the permissions are okay, but want things to get speedy

That's about one quarter of what

Robocopy

can do but I can't spend more time on it… but start using it and you'll become a fan

13Slide14

Wiping DisksSo… how do you wipe volumes before discarding them? (I'll use E: in my examples)

If using Bitlocker, try this (it's instantaneous):manage-

bde –forcerecovery e:These will take longer:

format e: /

numberofpasses

format e: /p:3

format e:, and then type

cipher /

w:e

14Slide15

Wrangling Licensesan evil, but a necessary one…

Slmgr.vbs lets you script or quickly access a lot of things about Win 7 licensingFirst, tell the system to use the command-line scripting engine

cscript //h:cscript

Then

slmgr

commands, like

slmgr

–

xpr

(shows remaining time before grace period expires)

15Slide16

What SLMGR Can Do

slmgr –rearm gives you 30 (Win 7)/60 (2008 R2) more days' grace periodslmgr

–dli, -dlv return licensing infoslmgr –upk

removes a product key

slmgr

–

ipk

key

installs a product key

slmgr

–

ato

activates Windows 7

slmgr

–

skms

kmsservernameorip

port#

activates with KMS location information, e.g.

slmgr

–

skms

kms1.bigfirm.com

16Slide17

FORthe original Windows power tool

Most folks hate scripting, but know that one of the beauties of scripting is that it lets you take one simple command and tell the computer to re-do it "x" times, or under some conditions, or something like that

FOR lets you do that in several ways – by the numbers, with the contents of a file, with the contents of a folder, and more

17Slide18

FOR and FilesEver worked with a CLI program that didn't take wild cards? FOR can help

for %a in (searchitem) do (something with %a)Example: my own chml tool can't take wildcards, like

chml b*.txt, but this would work:for %a in (b*.txt) do (chml

%a)

18Slide19

FOR by the Numbers: /LSuppose I needed 500 test user accounts

I can create one user account like this:net user user001 swordfish /addBut 499 more? That's where FOR helps

for /L %i in (1,1,500) do (net user user%i swordfish /add)

19Slide20

For and File Contents: /FRemember the first example being able to have Windows re-execute an app over and over but to feed it a different file every time?

That only let us specify files with wildcardsNow take it a step further with for /f, which lets us get more refined with lists of filenames rather than just wildcard patterns

20Slide21

For /F ExampleI was looking over a few hundred pictures but didn't have my usual tools (

Lightroom etc).So basically I was just flipping through the pictures with one window and typing the names of the good ones in a Notepad window and the excellent ones in another Notepad window (I had very little screen space and so couldn't have a bunch of Explorer windows open)

21Slide22

For /F ExampleUltimately I wanted to copy just good pictures and the excellent pictures into another folder

This command did it:for /f %i in (c:\pix\good.txt

c:\pix\great.txt) do copy c:\newpics\%i c:\keepers

22Slide23

Seize the Power(cfg)

Powercfg is a power-related CLI tool that made its debut in XP SP2 and has changed significantly in Vista and then Windows 7Big uses:Set power profiles from the CLI, simplifying deployment and changes

Control power things that you can't get to from the GUIDiagnose sleep-related disordersSmoke out power-suckers

23Slide24

Powercfg and Power Setup

To choose a particular power profile ("balanced," "max savings," etc), usepowercfg –setactive

GUID-of-power-schemeYou can get the GUIDs withpowercfg

-list

24Slide25

Powercfg and Hibernation

Ever notice that you can't really control sleep and hibernation in Vista and Win 7?

25Slide26

Powercfg and Hibernation

Run "powercfg –h on" and you'll get the power to control hibernation again

26Slide27

Powercfg and Laptops

Ever had a laptop that can't seem to sleep, or wakes up at undesired and unpleasant times? Find out why it woke:powercfg –

lastwakeFind out what's not working that should be to let you get max power savings:

powerfg

-energy

27Slide28

VHD Resize

As you probably know, VHDs are the way that Microsoft packages the imaginary hard drives that virtual machines need on MS's VM management tools (VMWare uses VMDKs, in contrast)You may also know that with Win 7/R2, VHDs aren't just for VMs, as they can be attached to physical systemsSlide29

VHD Resize

Sometimes it'd be convenient to be able to compact or expand a VHDThis wasn't really possible pre-Hyper-V, but do you really want to fire up a Hyper-V server just to resize a VHD?The easier way is to learn a bit of

diskpartSlide30

What You Need

Assume we've got a VHD named "test.vhd"It must be an expandable VHD…fixed VHDs cannot be shrunk, as it's really just a compactionThe diskpart

command is "compact vdisk"You can enlarge either fixed or expandable VHDs, in contrastDiskpart command is "expand vdisk"Slide31

To Shrink

First, select the vhd to give it the focus:diskpart

select vdisk file=e:\test.vhdThen compact it with compact vdisk:

compact vdiskSlide32

To Expand

Again, select:diskpart

select vdisk file=e:\test.vhdNow use "expand vdisk maximum=dddd

expand vdisk maximum=1000Slide33

Partition/Volume ResizeTo shrink (or enlarge) a partition/volume, start

diskpart and select the partition/volumeThen you can either tell diskpart how much to shrink the volume with the command

shrink desired=megabytes minimum=megabytesOr find out how far it could shrink the volume:

shrink

querymax

Just "shrink" shrinks it as much as possible

33Slide34

Shrink Querymax Example

34Slide35

Volume ExtensionSimilar syntax

extend just extends the current volume as far as it can go on this diskextend size=megabytes

extends it as far as specifiedYou can also go to Disk Manager, right-click on a partition/volume and do the same things from the GUI

35Slide36

Mklink: Symbolic Links

Lets you make Windows think that a file share is a subdirectoryHelps if you run out of letters or need to "lie" to Windows, leading it to believe that a share is actually a local foldermklink

/d c:\myphotos \\S2\photosMakes Windows think the share \\S2\photos is a local folder "c:\myphotos"

36Slide37

Automating Email Notifications

Many's the time that I've cooked up a batch file or some other scheduled task and wished that I could have it email me when doneSo how to tell your system to e-mail you from a command line?

Heck, if you've got an SMS phone, then you could even have it text youAnswer: blat, from www.blat.net

37Slide38

Blat

Command-line SMTP client; example:blat - -body “Event ID 763 happened!” –server mail.bigfirm.com –to mark@mmco.com –f noone@bigfirm.com –subject “Event 763 alert” –u

joe –pw swordfishThe "blat - -body" is no typo

38Slide39

More Blat

The –u and –pw assume that your SMTP server needs logons; BLAT supports GSSAPI so it can do secure logons to Microsoft and other SMTP serversFree downloadEven includes the source

You can pre-store most of the parameters in the RegistryAnd if you're using PowerShell (you should!), there's send-mailmessage

39Slide40

Schedule-able Event Loggingwevtutil

does a number of things and is CLI and so can be scheduledTo back up and clear a log, usewevtutil cl logname /

bu:filetobackuptoexample:wevtutil

cl Security /

:\\s1\

centralELbackups

\01012001.evtx

40Slide41

Extract a Critical SummaryCommand to get all "critical "or "events" from the System log

wevtutil qe System "/q:*[System [(Level=1 or Level=2)]]" /

f:textDemystified, that'swevtutil

logname

"q:

xpathquery

" /

f:text

(You need /

f:text

because the default is XML. No, I have no idea why…)

41Slide42

Creating Xpath Query Strings

Ready for the good news: you don't have to create Xpath strings… Event Viewer will do it for youGo to the Event Viewer GUI and use the GUI tool to create the "give me Error or Critical stuff" query: right click the log, choose Filter Current Log and use the check boxes and text fields to create the query

42Slide43

You'll see something like this:Now click the "XML" button…

43Slide44

Now take the stuff between "Select" and "/Select," pop it into the "/q:" part and you've got your command

(Take the output, blat it to your phone….)

44Slide45

KLISTA big security concern nowadays is, "did Kerberos or NTLM log me on?"

KLIST is the quick and easy answerIf KLIST returns no data, you were logged on with NTLMIf it shows you your Kerberos tickets, you were logged on with Kerberos

45Slide46

WHOAMIVery useful tool for smoking out "why can't I…" sorts of issues

To testOpen a command promptRun whoami

/all /fo list > mysec.txtRun the appIf it fails, look in mysec.txt for your privileges and group memberships… you have what you need to figure out why it failed

46Slide47

SteadierStateMany of us have public-access computers (school labs, libraries,

etc)Need a fast way to un-do whatever the public user didMicrosoft used to offer a free utility called "SteadyState" to accomplish that, but doesn't any longer

If you're using Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate, I've created a (free) similar tool www.steadierstate.com

47Slide48

Thanks!I hope I showed you at least one neat new power tool

I'd love to hear about your favorites, feel free to drop me a lineI'm at help@minasi.comDon’t forget the evaluationsThanks for attending!

48Slide49