how to cheat at windows system administration using command line scripts

www.dbebooks.com - Free Books & magazines Pawan K. Bhardwaj Windows System Administration Using Command Line Scripts How to Cheat at 405_Script_FM.qxd 9/5/06 11:37 AM Page i Syngress Publishing, Inc., the author(s), and any person or firm involved in the writing, editing, or produc- tion (collectively “Makers”) of this book (“the Work”) do not guarantee or warrant the results to be obtained from the Work. There is no guarantee of any kind, expressed or implied, regarding the Work or its contents.The Work is sold AS IS and WITHOUT WARRANTY.You may have other legal rights, which vary from state to state. In no event will Makers be liable to you for damages, including any loss of profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising out from the Work or its contents. Because some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation may not apply to you. You should always use reasonable care, including backup and other appropriate precautions, when working with computers, networks, data, and files. Syngress Media®, Syngress®, “Career Advancement Through Skill Enhancement®,”“Ask the Author UPDATE®,” and “Hack Proofing®,” are registered trademarks of Syngress Publishing, Inc.“Syngress:The Definition of a Serious Security Library”™, “Mission Critical™,” and “The Only Way to Stop a Hacker is to Think Like One™” are trademarks of Syngress Publishing, Inc. Brands and product names mentioned in this book are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies. KEY SERIAL NUMBER 001 HJIRTCV764 002 PO9873D5FG 003 829KM8NJH2 004 94287PLK49 005 CVPLQ6WQ23 006 VBP965T5T5 007 HJJJ863WD3E 008 2987GVTWMK 009 629MP5SDJT 010 IMWQ295T6T PUBLISHED BY Syngress Publishing, Inc. 800 Hingham Street Rockland, MA 02370 How to Cheat at Windows System Administration Using Command Line Scripts Copyright © 2006 by Syngress Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the pub- lisher, with the exception that the program listings may be entered, stored, and executed in a computer system, but they may not be reproduced for publication. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ISBN: 1-59749-105-5 Publisher: Andrew Williams Page Layout and Art: Patricia Lupien Acquisitions Editor: Gary Byrne Copy Editor:Audrey Doyle Technical Editor: Kimon Andreou Indexer: Odessa&Cie Cover Designer: Michael Kavish Distributed by O’Reilly Media, Inc. in the United States and Canada. For information on rights, translations, and bulk sales, contact Matt Pedersen, Director of Sales and Rights, at Syngress Publishing; email matt@syng ress.com or fax to 781-681-3585. 405_Script_FM.qxd 9/5/06 11:37 AM Page ii iii Lead Author Pawan K. Bhardwaj (MCSE, MCT, Security+, Network+, I-Net+ and A+) is an independent technical trainer and author. He has been actively involved in Windows administration ever since Windows NT 3.51 was released. In the past 16 years he has worked at various system and network support levels for small and medium-sized companies. Some of his major projects included working for one of India’s largest newspaper groups and a large e-commerce organiza- tion in the United States where he had an active involvement in design and implementation of large-scale LAN and WAN solutions based on Windows technologies. Pawan was one of the first 100 in India to attain MCSE certifi- cation back in 1997. He teaches Windows administration and net- working classes and also acts as a consultant to training institutions. He has authored or contributed to more than 12 certification books by Syngress/McGraw Hill. He also coauthored MCSE 2003 Electives Exams in a Nutshell (O’Reilly Media, Inc., 2006). This book is dedicated to the loving memory of my father, Sudershan Bhardwaj, and my father-in-law, Ghanshyam Pandit, both of whom passed away during the writing of this book. —Pawan K. Bhardwaj Kimon Andreou is IT Portfolio Manager at Royal Caribbean International in Miami, FL. His expertise is in software develop- ment, software quality assurance, data warehousing, and data security. Kimon’s experience includes positions as CTO for Secure Discovery Solutions, an e-Discovery company; Manager of Support & QA at S-doc, a software security company; and as Chief Solution Architect Technical Editor and Reviewer 405_Script_FM.qxd 9/5/06 11:37 AM Page iii iviv for SPSS in the Enabling Technology Division. He also has led pro- jects in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Kimon holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the American College of Greece and a Master of Science in Management Information Systems from Florida International University. Kimon wrote Chapter 12. Brian Barber (MCSE, MCP+I, MCNE, CNE-5, CNE-4, CNA-3, CNA-GW) is coauthor of Syngress Publishing’s Configuring Exchange 2000 Server (ISBN: 1-928994-25-3), Configuring and Troubleshooting Windows XP Professional (ISBN: 1-928994-80-6), and two study guides for the MSCE on Windows Server 2003 track (exams 70-296 [ISBN: 1-932266-57-7] and 70-297 [ISBN: 1-932266-54-2]). He is a Senior Technology Consultant with Sierra Systems Consultants Inc. in Ottawa, Canada. He specializes in IT service management and tech- nical and infrastructure architecture, focusing on systems management, multiplatform integration, directory services, and messaging. In the past he has held the positions of Senior Technical Analyst at MetLife Canada and Senior Technical Coordinator at the LGS Group Inc. (now a part of IBM Global Services). Brian wrote Chapter 11. Dave Kleiman (CAS, CCE, CIFI, CISM, CISSP, ISSAP, ISSMP, MCSE) has worked in the Information Technology Security sector since 1990. Currently, he is the owner of SecurityBreach Response.com. A former Florida Certified Law Enforcement Officer, he specializes in litigation support, computer forensic inves- Contributing Authors 405_Script_FM.qxd 9/5/06 11:37 AM Page iv v tigations, incident response, and intrusion analysis. He has developed a Windows Operating System lockdown tool, S-Lok (www.s- doc.com/products/slok.asp), which surpasses NSA, NIST, and Microsoft Common Criteria Guidelines. Dave was a contributing author for Microsoft Log Parser Toolkit (Syngress Publishing, ISBN: 1-932266-52-6) and Security Log Management: Identifying Patterns in the Chaos (Syngress Publishing, ISBN: 1-59749-042-3). He was also technical editor for Perfect Passwords: Selection, Protection,Authentication (Syngress Publishing, ISBN: 1-59749-041-5) and Winternals Defragmentation, Recovery, and Administration Field Guide (Syngress Publishing, ISBN: 1597490792). He is frequently a speaker at many national security conferences and is a regular contributor to security-related newsletters, Web sites, and Internet forums. Dave is a member of many professional security organizations, including the International Association of Counter Terrorism and Security Professionals (IACSP), International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners® (ISFCE), Information Systems Audit and Control Association® (ISACA), High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA), Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE),Anti Terrorism Accreditation Board (ATAB), and ASIS International®. He is also the Sector Chief for Information Technology at the FBI’s InfraGard® and Director of Education at the International Information Systems Forensics Association (IISFA). Dave cowrote Chapter 13. Mahesh Satyanarayana is a final-semester electronics and commu- nications engineering student at the Visveswaraiah Technological University in Shimoga, India. He expects to graduate this summer and has currently accepted an offer to work for Caritor Inc., an SEI-CMM Level 5 global consulting and systems integration com- pany, headquartered in San Ramon, CA. Caritor provides IT infras- tructure and business solutions to clients in several sectors 405_Script_FM.qxd 9/5/06 11:37 AM Page v vi worldwide. Mahesh will be joining the Architecture and Design domain at Caritor’s development center in Bangalore, India, where he will develop software systems for mobile devices. His areas of expertise include Windows security and related Microsoft program- ming technologies. He is also currently working toward adminis- trator-level certification on the Red Hat Linux platform. Mahesh wrote Appendix A. Some examples of syntax or code for the command utilities discussed in this book are available for download from www. syngress.com/solutions. Look for the Syngress icon in the margins indicating which examples are available from the companion Web site. Companion Web Site 405_Script_FM.qxd 9/5/06 11:37 AM Page vi Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv Part I Getting Started with Command Line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 1 Basics of the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Basics of the Windows Command Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 The MS-DOS Command Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Starting the Windows Command Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Customizing the Command Shell Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Customizing the Command Shell Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Internal Commands for the Command Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Getting Help for Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Command History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Displaying Previous Commands with Arrow Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Viewing the Command History in a Pop-Up Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Using Function Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Accessing the Windows Command Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Installing Windows Support Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Chapter 2 Using Batch Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Working Safely with the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Configuring the Command Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Using the Path Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Using the Set and Setx Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Changing Environment Variables in System Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Using Command Redirection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Command Redirection Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Input Redirection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Output Redirection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Redirecting Output to Other Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Error Handling with Redirection Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Using Groups of Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Using & for Sequential Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Using && and || for Conditional Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Grouping Sets of Commands with Parentheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Creating Batch Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Batch File Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Batch File Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 vii Contents 405_Script_TOC.qxd 9/5/06 1:48 PM Page vii viii Contents Chapter 3 Managing Scheduled Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 Scheduling Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 The Task Scheduler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 The Task Scheduler Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Accessing the Task Scheduler Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 Configuring the Properties of the Task Scheduler Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62 Managing Tasks Using the Task Scheduler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Managing the Properties of Scheduled Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Monitoring Tasks in the Scheduled Tasks Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 Creating New Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Deleting a Scheduled Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Running a Scheduled Task Immediately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Enabling or Disabling a Scheduled Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 Ending a Running Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 Event-Based Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 The schtasks Command-Line Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Creating and Running Tasks Using schtasks /Create . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Managing Tasks with schtasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86 Using schtasks /Query to Query a Scheduled Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86 Modifying a Scheduled Task with schtasks /Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 Running a Scheduled Task with schtasks /Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 Ending Running Tasks with schtasks /End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92 Deleting Scheduled Tasks with schtasks /Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94 Part II Basic Windows Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Chapter 4 Managing Files and Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 Using Wildcards in Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 File and Folder Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 Viewing Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100 Changing Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 Basic File and Folder Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 Copying Files with the Copy Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102 Copying Files and Directories with the Xcopy Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106 Renaming Files with the Rename (Ren) Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113 Moving Files Using the Move Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113 Deleting Files with the Del (Erase) Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115 Comparing Files with the Comp Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116 Comparing Files with the FC Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118 Sorting Files with the Sort Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121 Recovering Files with the Recover Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123 Decompressing Files with the Expand Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123 Duplicating and Comparing Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125 Duplicating Disks with the Diskcopy Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125 Comparing Two Disks with the Diskcomp Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127 Directory-Specific Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129 Displaying the Directory Structure (Tree) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129 405_Script_TOC.qxd 9/5/06 1:48 PM Page viii Contents ix Creating a New Directory with MD or Mkdir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130 Removing a Directory with RD or Rmdir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131 Removing a Directory Tree with the Deltree Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134 Chapter 5 Maintaining Hard Disks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136 Physical and Logical Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136 Physical Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136 Logical Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136 Understanding Basic and Dynamic Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136 Basic Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137 Dynamic Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138 Tasks Common to Basic and Dynamic Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140 Supported File Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140 Formatting a Disk or Partition with the Format Command . . . . . . . . . . . . .141 Converting File Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145 Converting a File System with the Convert Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147 Examining Volume Serial Numbers with the Vol Command . . . . . . . . . . . .148 Managing Volume Labels with the Label Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149 Maintaining Disks and File Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150 Using the Fsutil Utility for Advanced Disk Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151 Checking Available Disk Space with the Freedisk Command . . . . . . . . . . . .156 Saving Disk Space with the Compact Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157 Managing Mounted Volumes with the Mountvol Command . . . . . . . . . . . .160 Checking and Fixing Bad Sectors with the Chkdsk Command . . . . . . . . . . .161 Defragmenting Disks with the Defrag Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165 Checking Autocheck Status with the Chkntfs Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170 Chapter 6 Managing Hard Disks with the Diskpart Utility . . . . . . . . . . 171 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172 The Diskpart Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172 The Object in Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172 Diskpart Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174 Scripting with Diskpart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191 Diskpart Error Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192 Obtaining Volume Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194 Understanding Volume Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195 Managing Dynamic Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197 Simple Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197 Striped Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198 Managing Fault-Tolerant Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198 Mirrored Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199 RAID 5 Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201 Part III Managing Windows Systems and Printers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Chapter 7 System Services, Drivers, and the Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206 405_Script_TOC.qxd 9/5/06 1:48 PM Page ix [...]... Welcome to How to Cheat at Windows System Administration Using Command- Line Scripts This book is designed to help you learn the power of Windows command shell.There was a time in the history of computers when there was no graphical user interface (GUI), and every small and big task was performed using the commands and batch files.With every new version of Windows, Microsoft is trying to ease administrators’... explain how to work safely with the command line using a nonadministrative account.While working with the command shell, you sometimes need to specify a path where commands or batch files are located.You will learn how to change or modify the command path by modifying the environment variable either from the command prompt or from the System Properties dialog box.This chapter also explains how to change command. .. logs Monitoring is an important aspect of system and network administration, and you cannot ignore it.The command- line utilities related to managing Windows event logs covered in this chapter include Eventcreate, Eventtriggers, and Eventquery.You will learn how to view system services and applications using the TaskList command and how to terminate nonresponsive processes using the TaskKill command. This... medium-sized organization, you can complete most of your everyday administration tasks via Windows GUIs But you may not realize that an even more powerful interface exists within the Windows operating system: the command line Most administrators think the command line has something to do with programming.This is not true.The Windows command line is actually another type of administration utility that is much... operating system to date We will begin our discussion with the MS-DOS command shell, and then move on to the Windows command shell We will discuss different methods you can use to access the command shell and how you can configure its properties to customize its look and functionality We also will look at the internal commands built into the command shell itself.The Windows command shell keeps a history... processing Using pause in a batch file is different from using the Ctrl + C key combination.This key combination stops the batch program from processing and asks the user whether she wants to terminate the procedure ■ PopD Changes the directory stored by the PushD command as the current working directory in a batch file.The PushD command creates a virtual directory, and repeated use of the PushD command creates... used commands in its command history buffer; we will discuss how to manage the command history buffer and different ways to access and reuse commands Later in this chapter, we will discuss how you can refer to the command library or the command reference and install additional advanced sets of commands from the Windows Support Tools 405_Script_01.qxd 9/5/06 10:06 AM Page 5 Basics of the Command Line. .. command- line utilities is to determine the different methods you can use to start the Windows command shell.The Windows command shell, in turn, starts the command interpreter The Windows command shell is actually an application built into the Windows operating system CMD.exe is the command interpreter that accepts your commands and executes them in the way you want.You can access the Windows command shell in... that have open command strings defined.The open command string specifies the open command used to open the file type ■ Goto Used to direct the command interpreter to jump to a command specified with the label.You use it in batch files to direct the processing from the command identified by the label ■ If Used in batch files to perform conditional processing of commands If the condition is satisfied, the command. .. administrator Although the importance of Windows GUIs should not be underrated, the command- line tools have their own importance and utility when it comes to increasing efficiency, boosting effectiveness, and saving time Command- line tools are both problem solvers as well as time-savers Not many administrators explore the usefulness of these tools.The purpose of this book is to let administrators know how to . 457 405_Script_TOC.qxd 9/5/06 1:48 PM Page xiv Welcome to How to Cheat at Windows System Administration Using Command- Line Scripts. This book is designed to help you learn the power of Windows command. BY Syngress Publishing, Inc. 800 Hingham Street Rockland, MA 02370 How to Cheat at Windows System Administration Using Command Line Scripts Copyright © 2006 by Syngress Publishing, Inc. All rights. www.dbebooks.com - Free Books & magazines Pawan K. Bhardwaj Windows System Administration Using Command Line Scripts How to Cheat at 405_Script_FM.qxd 9/5/06 11:37 AM Page i Syngress Publishing,