Questions tagged [windows]

Windows is the brand name for a series of operating systems from Microsoft. Current versions are Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2022. Instead of tagging a post "Windows", try to use a tag for a specific version.

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5 answers
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Windows Active Directory naming best practices?

This is a Canonical Question about Active Directory domain naming. After experimenting with Windows domains and domain controllers in a virtual environment, I've realized that having an active ...
Anton Gogolev's user avatar
31 votes
5 answers
14k views

Why not use a WAMP stack?

This is a canonical question about the use of a *AMPP's stack. I recently had a talk with some experienced people and they suggested to me not to use a WAMP stack, and instead install apache, mysql ...
matang's user avatar
  • 446
151 votes
2 answers
327k views

What is Active Directory Domain Services and how does it work?

This is a Canonical Question about Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). What is Active Directory? What does it do and how does it work? How is Active Directory organized: Forest, Child Domain, ...
MDMarra's user avatar
  • 101k
82 votes
2 answers
171k views

How to configure a Windows machine to allow file sharing with a DNS alias

What process is necessary to configure a Windows environment to allow me to use DNS CNAME to reference servers? I want to do this so that I can name my servers something like SRV001, but still have \\...
Michael Ferrante's user avatar
31 votes
4 answers
82k views

How do I tell if my Windows server is swapping?

I'm using Process Explorer to monitor my windows server while it reconstructs some data. It's primarily a CPU intensive process, but I want to make sure it's not swapping. How can I tell if it is ...
churnd's user avatar
  • 4,087
75 votes
16 answers
62k views

Alternatives to Splunk?

I'm pretty impressed with Splunk, especially version 4. Pretty graphs, alerting (Enterprise only), and fast, accurate, searching. It's a great product. However, the cost just way too high to consider ...
MichaelGG's user avatar
  • 1,739
17 votes
2 answers
9k views

Website and Active Directory domain share the same name

In our network the name of the network domain is also the domain of the organization's website (say, example.com). Externally, people can enter example.com to visit our website, but internally, this ...
svandragt's user avatar
  • 352
46 votes
3 answers
94k views

What should the order of DNS servers be for an AD Domain Controller and Why?

This is a Canonical Question about Active Directory DNS Settings. Related: What is Active Directory Domain Services and how does it work? Assuming an environment with multiple domain controllers (...
MDMarra's user avatar
  • 101k
280 votes
160 answers
317k views

Useful Command-line Commands on Windows

The aim for this Wiki is to promote using a command to open up commonly used applications without having to go through many mouse clicks - thus saving time on monitoring and troubleshooting Windows ...
104 votes
2 answers
354k views

How can I connect to a Windows server using a Command Line Interface? (CLI)

Especially with the option to install Server Core in Server 2008 and above, connecting to Windows servers over a CLI is increasingly useful ability, if not one that's very widespread amongst Windows ...
HopelessN00b's user avatar
  • 53.9k
168 votes
5 answers
277k views

How to add dependency on a Windows Service AFTER the service is installed

I have a Windows Service that makes use of a SQL Server database. I don't have control over the installation of the service, but would like to add a dependency on the service to ensure that it starts ...
Rick's user avatar
  • 1,825
197 votes
5 answers
610k views

How to sleep in a batch file?

How to pause execution for a while in a Windows batch file between a command and the next one?
Massimo's user avatar
  • 70.7k
39 votes
9 answers
168k views

Which permissions/rights does a user need to have WMI access on remote machines?

I'm writing a monitoring service that uses WMI to get information from remote machines. Having local admin rights on all these machines is not possible for political reasons. Is this possible? What ...
jpoh's user avatar
  • 821
34 votes
5 answers
170k views

What is a system state backup for?

The windows backup utility comes with an option to backup the system-state. What is this for? Has it a real utility? Can I recover that windows on another machine?
FerranB's user avatar
  • 1,372
25 votes
0 answers
2k views

What should I name my Active Directory? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Windows AD Domain naming recommendations There are a lot of really screwed up configurations out there, because people didn't take a minute to sit down and think about ...
MDMarra's user avatar
  • 101k
20 votes
5 answers
28k views

How is Windows Server different from regular Windows?

I can run IIS on a normal installation, what is so different about windows server?
samoz's user avatar
  • 2,043
14 votes
1 answer
3k views

How can I back up my recommendation to NOT disable the Windows Firewall service?

I know from direct personal experience that disabling the Windows Firewall service on post-XP systems can lead to all sorts of networking problems, and that the proper way of disabling it is by ...
Massimo's user avatar
  • 70.7k
8 votes
6 answers
34k views

Windows Event Log - email notification

Is there an easy way to send an email when a particular severity of event from a particular service hits the Windows server event log? This is on Windows Server 2003, if it makes a difference. n.b. ...
Matt Howells's user avatar
171 votes
11 answers
347k views

Run a .bat file in a scheduled task without a window

I have a scheduled task that starts a batch script that runs robocopy every hour. Every time it runs a window pops up on the desktop with robocopy's output, which I don't really want to see. I ...
Tom Dunham's user avatar
  • 1,855
78 votes
8 answers
195k views

How does Windows decide which DNS Server to use when resolving names?

What algorithm does Windows use to decide which DNS Server it will query in order to resolve names? Let's say I have several interfaces, all active, some with no dns server specified, some told to ...
Artefacto's user avatar
  • 1,065
66 votes
9 answers
97k views

What's the best way to move c:\users to d:\users under vista/W7 [closed]

I just installed Windows 7 RC1 and want to move c:\users to d:\users. What's the best way to do this? Due to the fact that Windows 7 creates a reserved partition that is mounted as C: in the ...
Scott's user avatar
  • 1,072
15 votes
5 answers
4k views

Mercurial (hg) with active directory

Can I setup Mercurial to authenticate users on Active Directory? In my case, hg can run on Windows, Linux or FreeBSD, but I need to use AD users. Note: if it is possible, then please point me to a ...
Zote's user avatar
  • 473
210 votes
13 answers
565k views

hosts file ignored, how to troubleshoot?

The hosts file on Windows computers is used to bind certain name strings to specific IP addresses to override other name resolution methods. Often, one decides to change the hosts file, and discovers ...
Superbest's user avatar
  • 5,295
96 votes
6 answers
181k views

Boot and Install Windows from a USB thumb drive

Installing Windows from a thumb drive is vastly superior to burning a copy to a DVD which will fill some landfill somewhere with toxic stuff. Not to mention it's about 50x faster to install Windows ...
Omar Shahine's user avatar
  • 3,747
76 votes
4 answers
287k views

How to grant network access to LocalSystem account?

How do you grant access to network resources to the LocalSystem (NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM) account? Background When accessing the network, the LocalSystem account acts as the computer on the network: ...
Ian Boyd's user avatar
  • 5,343
72 votes
16 answers
293k views

How do I know if I'm working on a Virtual Machine or not?

Is there a way to know if the Windows machine I'm working on is virtual or physical? (I'm connecting with RDP to the machine. If it's a virtual machine it is working and handled by VMWare).
user avatar
62 votes
9 answers
92k views

How to zero fill a virtual disk's free space on windows for better compression?

How to zero fill a virtual disk's free space on windows for better compression? I would like a simple open source tool (or at least free) for that. It should probably write an as big as possible file ...
mit's user avatar
  • 1,934
49 votes
13 answers
331k views

How can an unauthenticated user access a windows share?

I have a directory shared on my computer, which is part of the domain. Is it possible to set up the share so that a user logged on to a different machine which is not part of the domain can access my ...
Jeremy's user avatar
  • 923
34 votes
9 answers
55k views

Does fail2ban do Windows?

Can anyone recommend a fail2ban-like tool for a Windows OS? I've got a couple of Windows Media servers that get hammered with brute force authentication attempts. I would like to plug these ...
nurikabe's user avatar
  • 462
29 votes
13 answers
29k views

Do I really need MS Active Directory? [closed]

I manage a shop of arround 30 machines and 2 terminal servers (one production, one standby.) Should I really deploy Active Directory in our network? Are there any really benefits, that could ballance ...
s.mihai's user avatar
  • 1,509
19 votes
3 answers
57k views

Is there a way to refresh computer group membership without rebooting?

I am using Windows Server 2008 R2 and have a windows service running under "network service" account in computer ComputerA. This windows service want to access a share folde (on another computer ...
pkuneal's user avatar
  • 191
17 votes
6 answers
78k views

Windows7 - “The specified network password is not correct.” when the password is in fact correct

I have a samba server setup for some time now. It is a Hardware NAS - which unfortunately does not provide access to the Samba logs. (the exact model of the NAS is called Addonics NAS Adapter ) I ...
Win7 Home User's user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
136k views

Using ICACLS to set permissions on user directories

I'm trying to reset permissions on user directories and having a bit of trouble with the last step of my script. My script basically takes ownership of the entire user directory, resets the ...
pk.'s user avatar
  • 6,511
14 votes
3 answers
11k views

Removing old computers on a domain

The Windows Domain I manage has hundreds of computer names which I don't recognise and I'd like to remove old ones which aren't in use before trying to track down the misnamed ones. Is there someway ...
Ryaner's user avatar
  • 3,117
9 votes
6 answers
12k views

What are the popular (free?) options for application deployment? [closed]

I manage a small school network with about 150 machines. I am looking for an easy way to deploy software to all the machines without having to visit each one. I've used Symantec Ghost to get the ...
Philip's user avatar
  • 650
5 votes
7 answers
56k views

Windows networking performance (SMB/CIFS)

Are there registry settings or other settings available to tune Windows networking (SMB/CIFS) performance? I'm trying to get maximum throughput for large file copy operations but any settings would ...
Luke Quinane's user avatar
4 votes
5 answers
14k views

TeamViewer VPN Linux-to-Windows equivalent

I have a Linux Computer that I want to connect via VPN to a Windows Computer, but I need it to be easy to connect like TeamViewer is. I need it to be real simple because I'm setting this up for ...
PTSupport's user avatar
145 votes
8 answers
731k views

In Windows, using the command line, how do you check if a remote port is open?

What is a simple way in Windows to test if traffic gets through to a specific port on a remote machine?
Matt's user avatar
  • 1,631
98 votes
6 answers
542k views

How to delete cached temporarily credentials for a network share on a Windows machine without rebooting or logging off [duplicate]

This is more of a curiosity then a real problem, I am just to lazy to reboot or log off my laptop. I have connected to a network share on a Windows server with domain credentials from a non-domain ...
ralz's user avatar
  • 2,761
69 votes
9 answers
217k views

How can I automatically restart a Windows service if it crashes?

I have a Windows service that exits unexpectedly every few days. Is there a simple way to monitor it to make sure it gets restarted quickly if it crashes?
Liam's user avatar
  • 1,401
66 votes
5 answers
193k views

How do I grant start/stop/restart permissions on a service to an arbitrary user or group on a non-domain-member server?

We have a suite of Windows Services running on our servers which perform a bunch of automated tasks independently of one another, with the exception of one service which looks after the other services....
abitgone's user avatar
  • 1,343
53 votes
50 answers
11k views

Tools a Windows administrator cannot live without

As a Windows administrator, what tools do you feel you cannot live without?
49 votes
13 answers
64k views

Ban IP address based on X number of unsuccessful login attempts?

Is it possible to ban an IP address after X number of unsuccessful login attempts to a Windows Server? Not to a particular account, which I know how to do, but to the whole machine. We get hit pretty ...
HeavyWave's user avatar
  • 745
38 votes
5 answers
357k views

How to route different traffic thru different network interfaces (in Windows)

I've searched for details on how to do this but I've been unsuccessful - I wondered if someone could offer up some advice. So, let's say I have 2 network cards (LAN and 3G in my instance), both ...
user avatar
37 votes
4 answers
254k views

Which is the default TCP connect timeout in Windows?

Which is the default TCP connect timeout in Windows? There is a registry key to configure it or it's set dynamically?
Renan Vinícius Mozone's user avatar
35 votes
7 answers
60k views

Is there an equivalent of SU for Windows

Is there a way (when logged in as an administrator, or as a member of the administrators group) to masquerade as a non-privileged user? Especially in an AD environment. e.g., in the Unix world I ...
BIBD's user avatar
  • 1,866
32 votes
3 answers
39k views

What is Group Policy and how does it work?

This is a Canonical Question about Active Directory Group Policy Basics What is Group Policy? How does it work and why should I use it? Note: This is a Question & Answer to new administrator ...
MDMarra's user avatar
  • 101k
20 votes
2 answers
139k views

Command to remove computer from non-existant domain

I lost my domain controller machine, and then add new domain controller but with a new domain. How do I remove network machines from old domain using command line and add to new domain? Machines ...
Dmitriy Kudinov's user avatar
19 votes
13 answers
25k views

What are good tools to show disk usage (for Windows)? [closed]

I like to use TreeSize and WinDirStat. What else is out there, and why should I use it?
Nathan Bedford's user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
159k views

List user's folder access permissions

I have a user in a domain who has access to multiple subfolders in multiple folders. His rights were defined pretty granularly. Now he's leaving the company but will continue to work for a firm as a ...
imagodei's user avatar
  • 499

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