Archive - September 2013

"If you don't build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs." - Ambani

Index

Move User to Group
Countdown Timer
Run As Someone Else
Logon Script Copy Files
PowerShell Count Files
VBScript Count Files
PowerShell Bulk Create Users from CSV

Write Event Log Using PowerShell
Create Users in AD
Create a Restore Point
Repair BCD Repairs
Using Diskpart

Δ Monday, September 30th, 2013

Δ Move User to Group

This uses the dsget command to move a user from one group to another group.

Δ [email me]

Δ Friday, September 27th, 2013

Δ Countdown Timer

This will create a countdown clock based upon a specified date. You could use this as an
expiration date, or to logically run a task at that time.

Δ [email me]

Δ Wednesday, September 25th, 2013

Δ Run As Someone Else

The following script provides a function called Start-ProcessInteractive. You can specify a
target computer, a path to an executable on that computer and also some arguments. If
you do not specify a path and arguments, then the defaults will run a powershell command
and write a file into the target windows folder. That's a proof-of-concept, because if that
command works it illustrates that the PowerShell command was launched with full privileges.

The function schedules the task for the currently logged on user. If no currently logged on
user could be identified, then either no user was physically logged on, or the target machine
is running virtual machines in which case you can manually submit the user account you want
to schedule the command for.

function Start-ProcessInteractive {
 param(
 $filepath = 'powershell.exe',
 $arguments = '-noprofile -command Get-Date | Out-File $env:windir\testfile.txt',
 [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
 $computername
 )

function Execute-Tool($path) {
 $r = (Invoke-Expression $path) 2>&1
 if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) { Throw $r[0].Exception.Message }
 }

$computername | ForEach-Object {
 try {
 $username = Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystem -ComputerName $_ |
 Select-Object -ExpandProperty UserName
 } catch {}
 $computer = $_

if ($username -eq $null) {
 Write-Warning "On $computername no user is currently physically logged on."
$username = Read-Host "Enter username of logged on user at the remote system"
}
if ($username -ne ") {

$xml = @"

IgnoreNew
 false
 false
 true
 false
 false

true
 true
 false
 false
 false
 PT72H
 7

$filepath
 $arguments

$username
 InteractiveToken
 HighestAvailable

$jobname = 'remotejob{0}' -f (Get-Random)

try {
 $xml | Out-File "$env:temp\tj1.xml"
Execute-Tool "schtasks /CREATE /TN $jobname /XML $env:temp\tj1.xml /S $computer"
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
 Execute-Tool "schtasks /RUN /TN $jobname /S $computer"
Execute-Tool "schtasks /DELETE /TN $jobname /s $computer /F"
}
catch {
 Write-Warning "$_ (trying to access user '$username' on system '$computer')"
}
 }
 }
 }

Δ [email me]

Δ Friday, September 20th, 2013

Δ Logon Script Copy Files

This runs at logon to copy files to client machine.

Δ [email me]

Δ Wednesday, September 18th, 2013

Δ PowerShell Count Files

This script will count the numbers of files in a folder and output to file.

Δ [email me]

Δ Monday, September 16th, 2013

Δ VBScript Count Files

This script will count the numbers of files in a folder and output to file.

Δ [email me]

Δ Friday, September 13th, 2013

Δ PowerShell Bulk Create Users from CSV

This script uses the 'Active Directory module for Windows Powershell' but the key point
(that took me ages to work out, and seems mad) is you should not run it from a domain
controller! instead I ran it from a member server while logged in as a Domain Admin.

The CSV should have the following columns

FirstName
LastName
name
SamAccountName

When you run the script, it will create the users, using their login name as the Display name.

Import-Csv .\2012Users.csv | foreach-object { $userprinicpalname = $_.SamAccountName + "@yourdomain.com" New-ADUser -SamAccountName $_.SamAccountName -UserPrincipalName $userprinicpalname -Name $_.name -DisplayName $_.name -GivenName $_.FirstName -SurName $_.LastName -Path "OU=year7,OU=Pupils,DC=yourdomain,DC=com" -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString "Passwordgoeshere" -AsPlainText -force) -Enabled $True -ChangePasswordAtLogon $True -PassThru }

Δ [email me]

Δ Thursday, September 12th, 2013

Δ Write Event Log Using PowerShell

This will allow you to write to the event log using PowerShell.

Δ [email me]

Δ Tuesday, September 10th, 2013

Δ Create Users in AD

Using this PowerShell, and a CSV file, you can create Users is specified OU's in AD.

What is is your CSV

Travis, Garden, 2013, tgarden, Travis Garden, pca.hq/PCA OU/Domain Users/Students/Class 2013 Payton,
Gas,2015,pgas,Payton Gas,pca.hq/PCA OU/Domain Users/Students/Class 2015
Alaura,Gate,2014,agate,Alaura Gate,pca.hq/PCA OU/Domain Users/Students/Class 2014

Δ [email me]

Δ Monday, September 9th, 2013

Δ Create a Restore Point

This VBScript creates a restore point.

Δ [email me]

Δ Friday, September 6th, 2013

Δ Repair BCD Repairs

The reason that you are getting this error is because the Windows Boot Manager (Bootmgr)
entry is not present in the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store or that the Boot\BCD file on
the active partition is damaged or missing. That is why you are now getting the "NoOSInstalled
under signature 07″ message after trying the Start-up Repair option as suggested by tf76. To
rectify your problem you can rebuild the BCD store using the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows
Recovery Environment.


Do this by following these steps:

1. Re-start the computer, pressing the F8 key at the same time (Windows Recovery Console is part of Win 7 installation, no need to use your installation DVD).

2. Select "Repair Your Computer" from the screen that appears. Windows loads the necessary files.Click NEXT

3. Select a language and a keyboard on the screen that appears and then click Next.(Windows will now search for installed operating systems, if you only have one, Win 7, it will be selected otherwise Click the operating system that you want to repair).Click NEXT.

4. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.

5. Type Bootrec /RebuildBcd and ENTER.

6. If Bootrec.exe runs successfully, you will see the installation path of the Windows directory. To add the entry to the BCD store, type Yes. A confirmation message appears that indicates the entry was added successfully.

7. If Bootrec.exe does not find any missing Windows installations, you must remove the BCD store, and then you must re-create it.Do this by typing the following commands.

Bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup – press ENTER

ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old – ENTER

Bootrec /rebuildbcd – ENTER

8. Restart the computer and you should be good to go.

Δ [email me]

Δ Thursday, September 5th, 2013

Δ Using Diskpart

To use the command line to bring a disk online, create a partition, and format it, run the
following commands:


C:\> Diskpart

DISKPART> list disk
 DISKPART> select disk (id)
 DISKPART> online disk (if the disk is not online)
 DISKPART> attributes disk clear readonly
 DISKPART> clean
 DISKPART> convert mbr (or gpt)
 DISKPART> create partition primary
 DISKPART> select part 1
 DISKPART> active (if this is the boot partition)
 DISKPART> format fs=ntfs label=(name) quick
 DISKPART> assign letter (letter)
 DISKPART> list volume

 

The following are common errors displayed if you miss a step:

DISKPART> clean

DiskPart has encountered an error: The media is write protected. See the System Event Log for more information.

Resolution: run "attributes disk clear readonly" before trying to clean the volume and create the partition.

 

DISKPART> convert mbr

Virtual Disk Service error: The specified disk is not convertible. CDROMs and DVDs are examples of disks that are not convertable.

Resolution: clear all data off the disk before converting by running the clean command.

 

DISKPART> create partition primary

Virtual Disk Service error: There is not enough usable space for this operation.

Resolution: run "clean" before trying to create the partition.

 

DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

Virtual Disk Service error: The volume is not online.

Resolution: online the disk, create the partition, and convert to mbr before formatting.

 

The following are common errors displayed if there is a hardware problem:

DISKPART> clean

DiskPart has encountered an error: The device is not ready. See the System Event Log for more information.

Resolution: If the event log entry states "The driver detected a controller error on \Device", the problem is likely your storage controller on your mainboard. Check your hard drive connections and reload your storage conroller driver. If the event log entry states "VDS fails to write boot code on a disk during clean operation. Error code: 80070015@02070008″, the hard drive itself has failed.

 

The following are common errors you may see if there is a hardware problem:

DISKPART> clean 

DiskPart has encountered an error: The media is write protected. See the System Event Log for more information.

Resolution: Running "attributes disk clear readonly", as mentioned above, is the first step. Next, the disk is may be locked by an active process, in which case a reboot generally clears the error.

If the disk is a USB flash drive, check that it does not have a write protect switch. The Imation Clip and the Kanguru Flash Blu II, for example, both have this feature and will cause the above error if protected. USB devices may also need a low-level format to reset the drive. In these cases, please see the manufacturer for such tools. (Patroit has such a tool here.)

If the disk is SAN attached storage, check that the LUN is not presented in a read-only state. Windows Server 2008 also has a condition were SAN storage is erroneously reported as read-only. See the Microsoft article 971436 for details and a hotfix.

Δ [email me]

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   I'm a Computer
   Systems Engineer

   Living and Loving Life

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