Install Windows Server 2008 Features with servermanagercmd.exe at the Command Prompt

Although Microsoft continues to expand PowerShell with more capability, the command prompt has not been left behind in Windows Server 2008. In fact, with this latest Windows Server release, the command prompt gains some capability, including a tool that allows administrators to add or remove features on a Windows Server 2008 installation with servermanagercmd.exe, which replicates some of the functionality from the Windows Server 2008 Server Manager. Through the use of various command line options, you can quickly and easily add or remove features and roles to or from your server.

The command requires a parameter indicating the action that you wish to perform and, for some parameters, additional information such as which features you want to manage. The list below outlines some of the parameters available with servermanagercmd.

• -query: Output a list of the roles and features currently installed on your server. This command also shows you the roles and features that are available, but not yet installed.
• -install: Installs the roles or features that you specify on the command line. Add -allSubFeatures to the command line when using -install in order to add the supporting roles/features to a specified parent role/feature. As you are well aware some components require a server reboot in order to complete. To automate a server restart that takes place after the installation of a role/feature requiring a restart, use -restart.
• -remove: This is the opposite of the install command and removes the specified roles or features.

The table below provides you with a complete list of the components installable using the servermanagercmd command. The first column is the overall feature name. For some features, roles, or services, there are multiple components available. The second column of the table gives you a complete list of all subcomponents while the third column is the identifier to use with the -install or -remove parameter.

Role / Service or Main Feature	R/S/F Name	Installatiom command
DHCP Server	DHCP Server	DHCP
Print Services	Print Server	Print-Services
	Internet Printing	Print-Internet
	LPD Service	Print-LPD-Service
Terminal Services	Terminal Services	Terminal-Services
	Terminal Server	TS-Terminal-Server
	TS Licensing	TS-Licensing
	TS Gateway	TS-Gateway
	TS Web Access	TS-Web-Access
	TS Session Broker	TS-Session-Broker
Active Directory Domain Services	AD	N/A
	Active Directory Domain Controller	ADDS-Domain-Controller
	Identity Management for UNIX	ADDS-Identity-Management
	Server for Network Information Service	ADDS-NIS
	Password Synchronization	ADDS-Password-Sync
DNS Server	DNS
File Services	File Services	N/A
	Distributed File System (DFS)	FS-DFS
	DFS Namespace	FS-DFS-Namespace
	DFS Replication	FS-DFS-Replication
	File Server Resource Manager	FS-Resource-Manager
	Services for Network File System	FS-NFS-Services
	Windows Search Service	FS-Search-Service
	Windows Server 2003 File Services	FS-Win2003-Services
	File Replication Service	FS-Replication
	Indexing Service	FS-Indexing-Service
Web Server	Web Server (IIS)	Web-Server
	Internet Information Services	Web-WebServer
	Common HTTP Features	Web-Common-Http
	Static Content	Web-Static-Content
	Default Document	Web-Default-Doc
	Directory Browsing	Web-Dir-Browsing
	HTTP Errors	Web-Http-Errors
	HTTP Redirection	Web-Http-Redirect
	Application Development	Web-App-Development
	ASP.NET	Web-Asp-Net
	.NET Extensibility	Web-Net-Ext
	ASP	Web-ASP
	CGI	Web-CGI
	ISAPI Extensions	Web-ISAPI-Ext
	ISAPI Filters	Web-ISAPI-Filter
	Server Side Includes	Web-Includes
	Health and Diagnostics	Web-Health
	HTTP Logging	Web-Http-Logging
	Logging Tools	Web-Log-Libraries
	Request Monitor	Web-Request-Monitor
	Tracing	Web-Http-Tracing
	Custom Logging	Web-Custom-Logging
	ODBC Logging	Web-ODBC-Logging
	Security	Web-Security
	Basic Authentication	Web-Basic-Auth
	Windows Authentication	Web-Windows-Auth
	Digest Authentication	Web-Digest-Auth
	Client Certificate Mapping Authentication	Web-Client-Auth
	IIS Client Certificate Mapping Authentication	Web-Cert-Auth
	URL Authorization	Web-Url-Auth
	Request Filtering	Web-Filtering
	IP and Domain Restrictions	Web-IP-Security
	Performance	Web-Performance
	Static Content Compression	Web-Stat-Compression
	Dynamic Content Compression	Web-Dyn-Compression
	Management Tools	Web-Mgmt-Tools
	IIS Management Console	Web-Mgmt-Console
	IIS Management Scripts and Tools	Web-Scripting-Tools
	Management Service	Web-Mgmt-Service
	IIS 6 Management Compatibility	Web-Mgmt-Compat
	IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility	Web-Metabase
	IIS 6 WMI Compatibility	Web-WMI
	IIS 6 Scripting Tools	Web-Lgcy-Scripting
	IIS 6 Management Console	Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console
	FTP Publishing Service	Web-Ftp-Publishing
	FTP Server	Web-Ftp-Server
	FTP Management Console	Web-Ftp-Mgmt-Console
Active Directory Federation Services	ADFS	None
	Federation Service	ADFS-Federation
	Federation Service Proxy	ADFS-Proxy
	Web Agents	ADFS-Web-Agents
	Claims-aware Agent	ADFS-Claims
	Windows Token-based Agent	ADFS-Windows-Token
Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services	Formerly ADAM	ADLDS
Application Server	Application Server	Application-Server
	Application Server Core	AS-AppServer-Core
	Web Server Support	AS-Web-Support
	COM+ Network Access	AS-Ent-Services
	TCP Port Sharing	AS-TCP-Port-Sharing
	Windows Process Activation Service Support	AS-WAS-Support
	HTTP Activation	AS-HTTP-Activation
	Message Queuing Activation	AS-MSMQ-Activation
	TCP Activation	AS-TCP-Activation
	Named Pipes Activation	AS-Named-Pipes
	Distributed Transaction Support	AS-Dist-Transaction
	Incoming Remote Transactions	AS-Incoming-Trans
	Outgoing Remote Transactions	AS-Outgoing-Trans
	WS-Atomic Transaction Support	AS-WS-Atomic
Active Directory Certificate Services	Active Directory Certificate Services	N/A
	Certification Authority	ADCS-Cert-Authority or AD-Certificate
	Online Certificate Status Protocol	ADCS-Online-Cert
Fax Server	Fax Server	Fax
Network Policy and Access Services	Network Policy and Access Services	NPAS
	Network Policy Server	NPAS-Policy-Server
	NPAS Routing and Remote Access Services	NPAS-RRAS-Services
	Remote Access Service	NPAS-RRAS
	Routing	NPAS-Routing
	Health Registration Authority	NPAS-Health
Windows Deployment Services	Windows Deployment Services	WDS
Hyper-V	Hyper-V	Hyper-V
Failover Clustering	Failover Clustering	Failover-Clustering
Network Load Balancing	Network Load Balancing	NLB
Desktop Experience	Desktop Experience	Desktop-Experience
.NET Framework 3.0 Features	.NET Framework 3.0 Features	NET-Framework
.NET Framework 3.0	.NET Framework 3.0	NET-Framework-Core
XPS Viewer	XPS Viewer	NET-XPS-Viewer
Windows Communication Foundation Activation Components	Windows Communication Foundation Activation Components	NET-Win-CFAC
HTTP Activation	HTTP Activation	NET-HTTP-Activation
Non-HTTP Activation	Non-HTTP Activation	NET-Non-HTTP-Activ
Windows System Resource Manager	Windows System Resource Manager	WSRM
Wireless Networking	Wireless Networking	Wireless-Networking
Windows Server Backup	Windows Server Backup	Backup
WINS Server	WINS Server	WINS-Server
Remote Assistance	Remote Assistance	Remote-Assistance
Simple TCP/IP Services	Simple TCP/IP Services	Simple-TCPIP
Telnet Client	Telnet Client	Telnet-Client
Telnet Server	Telnet Server	Telnet-Server
Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications	Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications	Subsystem-UNIX-Apps
RPC over HTTP Proxy	RPC over HTTP Proxy	RPC-over-HTTP-Proxy
SMTP Server	SMTP Server	SMTP-Server
LPR Port Monitor	LPR Port Monitor	LPR-Port-Monitor
Storage Manager for SANs	Storage Manager for SANs	Storage-Mgr-SANS
BITS Server Extensions	BITS Server Extensions	BITS
Message Queuing	Message Queuing	MSMQ
	Message Queuing Services	MSMQ-Services
	Message Queuing Server	MSMQ-Server
	Directory Service Integration	MSMQ-Directory
	Message Queuing Triggers	MSMQ-Triggers
	HTTP Support	MSMQ-HTTP-Support
	Multicasting Support	MSMQ-Multicasting
	Routing Service	MSMQ-Routing
	Windows 2000 Client Support	MSMQ-Win2000
	Messaging Queue DCOM Proxy	MSMQ-DCOM
Windows Process Activation Service	Windows Process Activation Service	WAS
	Process Model	WAS-Process-Model
	.NET Environment	WAS-NET-Environment
	Configuration APIs	WAS-Config-APIs
Windows Internal Database	Windows Internal Database	Windows-Internal-DB
BitLocker Drive Encryption	BitLocker Drive Encryption	BitLocker
Multipath I/O	Multipath I/O	Multipath-IO
Internet Storage Naming Server	Internet Storage Naming Server	ISNS
Removable Storage Manager	Removable Storage Manager	Removable-Storage
TFTP Client	TFTP Client	TFTP-Client
SNMP Services	SNMP Services	SNMP-Services
	SNMP Service	SNMP-Service
	SNMP WMI Provider	SNMP-WMI-Provider
Services for Network File System	Services for Network File System	NFS-Services
Internet Printing Client	Internet Printing Client	Internet-Print-Client
Peer Name Resolution Protocol	Peer Name Resolution Protocol	PNRP
Connection Manager Administration Kit	Connection Manager Administration Kit	CMAK
Remote Server Administration Tools	Remote Server Administration Tools	RSAT
	Role administration tools	RSAT-Role-Tools
	Active Directory Certificate Services Tools	RSAT-ADCS
	Active Directory Domain Services Tools	RSAT-ADDS
	Active Directory Domain Controller Tools	RSAT-ADDC
	Server for NIS Tools	RSAT-SNIS
	Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services Tools	RSAT-ADLDS
	Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) Tools	RSAT-RMS
	DHCP Server Tools	RSAT-DHCP
	DNS Server Tools	RSAT-DNS
	Fax Server Tools	RSAT-Fax
	DFS Management Console Tools	RSAT-DFS-Mgnt-Con
	File Server Resource Manager Management Console Tools	RSAT-FSRM-Mgnt
	Hyper-V Tools	RSAT-Hyper-V
	Services for Network File System Tools	RSAT-NFS-Admin
	File Services Tools	RSAT-File-Services
	Network Policy and Access Services Tools	RSAT-NPAS
	Health Registration Authority Tools	RSAT-HRA
	Network Policy Server Tools	RSAT-NPS
	Print Services Tools	RSAT-Print-Services
	Web Server (IIS) Tools	RSAT-Web-Server
	Terminal Services Tools	RSAT-TS
	TS RemoteApp Tools	RSAT-TS-RemoteApp
	TS Gateway Tools	RSAT-TS-Gateway
	TS Licensing Tools	RSAT-TS-Licensing
	UDDI Services Tools	RSAT-UDDI
	Feature administration tools	RSAT-Feature-Tools
	BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools	RSAT-BitLocker
	BITS Server Extensions Tools	RSAT-BITS-Server
	Failover Clustering Tools	RSAT-Clustering
	Network Load Balancing Tools	RSAT-NLB
	SMTP Server Tools	RSAT-SMTP
	Windows Deployment Services Tools	RSAT-WDS
	WINS Server Tools	RSAT-WINS
	Hyper-V Tools	RSAT-Hyper-V
Windows PowerShell	Windows PowerShell	PowerShell
Group Policy Management	Group Policy Management	GPMC
Quality Windows Audio Video Experience	Quality Windows Audio Video Experience	Qwave

Examples

• Using servermanagercmd to activate terminal services
  

You can selectively enable terminal server services with:

servermanagercmd -install TS-TerminalServer

Terminal Services options

[ ] Terminal Services  [Terminal-Services]

    [ ] Terminal Server  [TS-Terminal-Server]

    [ ] TS Licensing  [TS-Licensing]

    [ ] TS Session Broker  [TS-Session-Broker]

    [ ] TS Gateway  [TS-Gateway]

    [ ] TS Web Access  [TS-Web-Access]

Manage Windows 2008 Licenses with slmgr.vbs from the command line

Windows 2008 Servers supports license management from the command line, using slmgr.vbs.  With it you can see how much time you have left on an eval, add or uninstall licenses and much more. The name of the tool is actually Windows Software Licensing Management Tool.  It is a visual basic script used to configure licensing on any Windows 2008 Server – either the full version or the core version. To see what slmgr.vbs can do, you can simply open a Windows command prompt (with cmd.exe) and type:

slmgr.vbs /?

Figure 1: Help window for slmgr.vbs

This displays a help window that will show you all the slmgr.vbs options. Here are the various tasks you can perform with slmgr.vbs:

• Manage licensing not only on the local server but also on remote Windows 2008 Servers, over the network. A username and password is required for this. If a server is not specified it will default to the localhost.
• –ipk: Install product keys
• –ato: Activate Windows 2008
• –dli: Display license information
• –dlv: Display detailed license information
• –xpr: Show when the current Windows license will expire
• –cpky: Clear the current Windows product key from the registry (for security reasons)
• –ilc: Install a license
• –rilc: Reinstall system license files
• –rearm: Reactive a Windows evaluation license
• –upk: Uninstall a certain product key
• –dit: Display your installation ID, used by Microsoft for offline (telephone) activation
• –ato: Active a product with the confirmation ID

Here are some examples of how Windows 2008 slmgr.vbs can be used.

How can slmgr.vbs help with Evaluation licensing?

If you are evaluating Windows Server 2008, you should know that license activation is not required. An evaluation version of Windows Server 2008 will work for 60 days. While many admins do not know it, you can “re-arm” that evaluation period for another 60 days, three times over. Thus, you could evaluate Windows 2008 Server for a total of 240 days, or about 8 months.

You can re-arm this evaluation of Windows 2008 using slmgr.vbs. To do this, just type:

slmgr.vbs –rearm

Figure 2: Results after rearming your Win 2008 evaluation copy for another 60 days.

To see how much time you have left in your current evaluation period, just type:

slmgr.vbs –xpr

Figure 3: Results of xpr command, showing the date and time that the license grace period for Win 2008 expires.

Microsoft has a knowledgebase document on how to automatically extend the evaluation of licensing with a script. By implementing this script, you could use Windows Server 2008 for the full 240 days without having to do anything. For more information on that, please see Microsoft KB 948472.

How do I get detailed information on my Windows Server 2008 license?

To get more detailed information than just the expiration date (given by the xpr command), you can use the dli or dlv options. Here is what their output looks like:

Figure 4: slmgr.vbs –dli output showing license information.

As you  can see in the –dli option output, there is more information on the version of Win 2008 you are running, the license status, time renaming (down to the second), and all about the key management server.

Figure 5: slmgr.vbs –dlv output showing detailed license information

With the –dlv option, there is even more detailed information about the current state of your licenses.

How can I activate my license in Windows 2008 Server Core?

In Windows Server Core, with only a command prompt, you are forced to use slmgr.vbs to activate your Core server from the command line. Thus, it is much more critical to know how to use slmgr.vbs if you are using Windows Server Core. Still, every Admin, in my opinion, should know the basics of using it.

Let’s assume that you entered a product key during the installation of Windows 2008 Server Core. To activate your OS, just type:

slmgr.vbs –ato

If you do not have networking configured, or you get another error, you will get a window that says something like this:

Figure 6: Error from slmgr license activation

If you did not enter a product key during the install process, you can enter one with slmgr.vbs at the command line with:

slmgr.vbs –ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

From there, you can attempt the auto activation again.

Figure 7: Successful activation of Windows 2008 with slmgr.vbs

If you are successful you should see the “product activated successfully” window, as displayed in Figure 7.

How do I administer licensing of a remote Windows 2008 Server using slmgr.vbs?

Just enter the machinename, username, and password between the slmgr command and the options, like this:

slmgr.vbs <ServerName> administrator <Password> -xpr

Summary

slmgr.vbs is a useful, and often, essential all admins should know.

How to: Reverse DNS from Windows Command Line using Ping

Here's a quick and easy way to do a Reverse DNS (RDNS) lookup using ping.exe from a Windows command prompt using the -a switch.

ping -a <IP Address>

Example

ping -a 76.96.54.12

This example will resolve the address as follows:

Pinging www4.comcast.net [76.96.54.12] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 76.96.54.12: bytes=32 time=66ms TTL=51
Reply from 76.96.54.12: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=51
Reply from 76.96.54.12: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=51
Reply from 76.96.54.12: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 76.96.54.12:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 7ms, Maximum = 66ms, Average = 21ms

Unzip rar files in Ubuntu with unrar

Often it is necessary to extract files. zip and tar.gz files can be opened directly in Ubuntu (and other flavors of Linux), but rar is not supported by default. You should install and use unrar to extract rar files.

% sudo apt-get install unrar

Two useful and probably most used command are:

% unrar e your-file-name.rar 

Extracts the rar file in the current directory.

% unrar l your-file-name.rar 

Lists the content of the rar file.

Getting the Most out of Windows Command Prompt

If you are like me you use the command prompt a lot.  It seems each time I logon to a new system I have to setup the command prompt just the way I want.  The first thing I do is create a shortcut in the Quick Launch toolbar.  Next I modify that shortcut so it will better suit my needs.

Right-click the shortcut and select Properties.  On the Shortcut tab add " /f:on" (without the quotes) to the Target - make sure there is a space between cmd.exe and /f:on, and if cmd.exe ends with a quote place the /f:on outside the quotes. This will enable file and directory name completion characters - you can use Ctl + d for directories and Ctl + f for files.  I also like to set the Start In target to C:\.

Click the Options tab.  I like to increase the command history buffer to at least 100, this is especially useful if you have a command prompt open for a long time and want to scroll back through your previous commands.  Check discard old duplicates to, well, do just that.  And check QuickEdit mode.  This is a great one as it enables selecting text directly and pasting directly (with right-click) without having to right-click and select copy and/or paste.

Personally I don't change the fonts or colors, but you may prefer different settings.  Play around, have fun.

Now click the Layout tab.  I normally increase the height and width of the window size a bit, especially with today's higher resolution monitors.  And I definitely increase the screen buffer size height, usually to a couple thousand or more.  Make sure to increase the screen buffer width to at least match that of your window size width.

I usually leave "Let System Position Window" checked so Windows will tile subsequent command prompt windows:

See also:

• Windows Command Prompt: Auto-Complete Paths and Filenames
• Copy Command Line Output to Windows Clipboard Directly

CMD.exe /? (help) in Windows 7
Starts a new instance of the Windows command interpreter


CMD [/A | /U] [/Q] [/D] [/E:ON | /E:OFF] [/F:ON | /F:OFF] [/V:ON | /V:OFF] [[/S] [/C | /K] string]

/C      Carries out the command specified by string and then terminates
/K      Carries out the command specified by string but remains
/S      Modifies the treatment of string after /C or /K (see below)
/Q      Turns echo off
/D      Disable execution of AutoRun commands from registry (see below)
/A      Causes the output of internal commands to a pipe or file to be ANSI
/U      Causes the output of internal commands to a pipe or file to be Unicode
/T:fg   Sets the foreground/background colors (see COLOR /? for more info)
/E:ON   Enable command extensions (see below)
/E:OFF  Disable command extensions (see below)
/F:ON   Enable file and directory name completion characters (see below)
/F:OFF  Disable file and directory name completion characters (see below)
/V:ON   Enable delayed environment variable expansion using ! as the
        delimiter. For example, /V:ON would allow !var! to expand the
        variable var at execution time.  The var syntax expands variables
        at input time, which is quite a different thing when inside of a FOR
        loop.
/V:OFF  Disable delayed environment expansion.

Note that multiple commands separated by the command separator '&&'
are accepted for string if surrounded by quotes.  Also, for compatibility
reasons, /X is the same as /E:ON, /Y is the same as /E:OFF and /R is the
same as /C.  Any other switches are ignored.

If /C or /K is specified, then the remainder of the command line after
the switch is processed as a command line, where the following logic is
used to process quote (") characters:

    1.  If all of the following conditions are met, then quote characters
        on the command line are preserved:

        - no /S switch
        - exactly two quote characters
        - no special characters between the two quote characters,
          where special is one of: &<>()@^|
        - there are one or more whitespace characters between the
          two quote characters
        - the string between the two quote characters is the name
          of an executable file.

    2.  Otherwise, old behavior is to see if the first character is
        a quote character and if so, strip the leading character and
        remove the last quote character on the command line, preserving
        any text after the last quote character.

If /D was NOT specified on the command line, then when CMD.EXE starts, it
looks for the following REG_SZ/REG_EXPAND_SZ registry variables, and if
either or both are present, they are executed first.

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun

        and/or

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun

Command Extensions are enabled by default.  You may also disable
extensions for a particular invocation by using the /E:OFF switch.  You
can enable or disable extensions for all invocations of CMD.EXE on a
machine and/or user logon session by setting either or both of the
following REG_DWORD values in the registry using REGEDIT.EXE:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\EnableExtensions

        and/or

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\EnableExtensions

to either 0x1 or 0x0.  The user specific setting takes precedence over
the machine setting.  The command line switches take precedence over the
registry settings.

In a batch file, the SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS or DISABLEEXTENSIONS arguments
takes precedence over the /E:ON or /E:OFF switch. See SETLOCAL /? for details.

The command extensions involve changes and/or additions to the following
commands:

    DEL or ERASE
    COLOR
    CD or CHDIR
    MD or MKDIR
    PROMPT
    PUSHD
    POPD
    SET
    SETLOCAL
    ENDLOCAL
    IF
    FOR
    CALL
    SHIFT
    GOTO
    START (also includes changes to external command invocation)
    ASSOC
    FTYPE

To get specific details, type commandname /? to view the specifics.

Delayed environment variable expansion is NOT enabled by default.  You
can enable or disable delayed environment variable expansion for a
particular invocation of CMD.EXE with the /V:ON or /V:OFF switch.  You
can enable or disable delayed expansion for all invocations of CMD.EXE on a
machine and/or user logon session by setting either or both of the
following REG_DWORD values in the registry using REGEDIT.EXE:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\DelayedExpansion

        and/or

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\DelayedExpansion

to either 0x1 or 0x0.  The user specific setting takes precedence over
the machine setting.  The command line switches take precedence over the
registry settings.

In a batch file the SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION or DISABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
arguments takes precedence over the /V:ON or /V:OFF switch. See SETLOCAL /?
for details.

If delayed environment variable expansion is enabled, then the exclamation
character can be used to substitute the value of an environment variable
at execution time.

You can enable or disable file name completion for a particular
invocation of CMD.EXE with the /F:ON or /F:OFF switch.  You can enable
or disable completion for all invocations of CMD.EXE on a machine and/or
user logon session by setting either or both of the following REG_DWORD
values in the registry using REGEDIT.EXE:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\CompletionChar
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\PathCompletionChar

        and/or

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\CompletionChar
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\PathCompletionChar

with the hex value of a control character to use for a particular
function (e.g.  0x4 is Ctrl-D and 0x6 is Ctrl-F).  The user specific
settings take precedence over the machine settings.  The command line
switches take precedence over the registry settings.

If completion is enabled with the /F:ON switch, the two control
characters used are Ctrl-D for directory name completion and Ctrl-F for
file name completion.  To disable a particular completion character in
the registry, use the value for space (0x20) as it is not a valid
control character.

Completion is invoked when you type either of the two control
characters.  The completion function takes the path string to the left
of the cursor appends a wild card character to it if none is already
present and builds up a list of paths that match.  It then displays the
first matching path.  If no paths match, it just beeps and leaves the
display alone.  Thereafter, repeated pressing of the same control
character will cycle through the list of matching paths.  Pressing the
Shift key with the control character will move through the list
backwards.  If you edit the line in any way and press the control
character again, the saved list of matching paths is discarded and a new
one generated.  The same occurs if you switch between file and directory
name completion.  The only difference between the two control characters
is the file completion character matches both file and directory names,
while the directory completion character only matches directory names.
If file completion is used on any of the built in directory commands
(CD, MD or RD) then directory completion is assumed.

The completion code deals correctly with file names that contain spaces
or other special characters by placing quotes around the matching path.
Also, if you back up, then invoke completion from within a line, the
text to the right of the cursor at the point completion was invoked is
discarded.

The special characters that require quotes are:
    
     &()[]{}^=;!'+,`~

Create Windows Shortcuts With a Script at the Command Line

If you are like me you 1) access numerous Windows computers, in my case mainly servers through Remote Desktop; and 2) like to have your Windows desktop setup a certain way.  Here are some examples of a quick and easy way to create shortcuts with a script.  These examples are Visual Basic Scripts (.vbs) and use Windows Script Host to execute.  Create any or all of the examples and execute it from either the command prompt or Start / Run using:

wscript xyz.vbs

Note: These scripts were all tested on Windows 7, Windows 2008 and 2003.  They should run fine on earlier versions of Windows (XP, Vista, 2000, etc.) as well.

Although most of these examples will create shortcuts to Windows Explorer (the last one is a shortcut to the Command Prompt), they are being placed in different locations.  Of course you could modify the examples to launch any program of your choosing.  Additionally you could combine them into one script that could be launched the first time you logon.

For easy reference I highlighted the values you may want to change to tailor the script to your needs.

Windows 7, Vista and Windows 2008 Server note: You will probably have to execute these with administrative rights.  One way to do this is to launch a command prompt (the old fashioned way - Start [All] Programs / Accessories / Command Prompt) using right-click and selecting "Run As Administrator."

Example 1 - Shortcut to Windows Explorer in the "All Users" Desktop folder.  I named the script Explorer_Shortcut_on_AU_Desktop.vbs.

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell" )
strDesktop = WshShell.SpecialFolders("AllUsersDesktop" )
set oShellLink = WshShell.CreateShortcut(strDesktop & "\Windows Explorer.lnk" )
oShellLink.TargetPath = "%SYSTEMROOT%\explorer.exe"
oShellLink.WindowStyle = 1
oShellLink.IconLocation = "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe"
oShellLink.Description = "Windows Explorer"
oShellLink.WorkingDirectory = "%HOMEPATH%"
oShellLink.Save

Example 2 - Shortcut to Windows Explorer in the "All Users" Start Menu folder.  I named the script Explorer_Shortcut_in_AU_Startmenu.vbs.

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell" )
strStartMenu = WshShell.SpecialFolders("AllUsersStartmenu" )
set oShellLink = WshShell.CreateShortcut(strStartMenu & "\Windows Explorer.lnk" )
oShellLink.TargetPath = "%SYSTEMROOT%\explorer.exe"
oShellLink.WindowStyle = 1
oShellLink.IconLocation = "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe"
oShellLink.Description = "Windows Explorer"
oShellLink.WorkingDirectory = "%HOMEPATH%"
oShellLink.Save

Example 3 - Shortcut to Windows Explorer in the "All Users" Startup folder.  I named the script Explorer_Shortcut_in_AU_Startup.vbs.  This will cause one instance of Windows Explorer to launch during logon.  If you're like me you will be using it anyway, so why not have it open automatically.

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell" )
strStartup = WshShell.SpecialFolders("AllUsersStartmenu" )
set oShellLink = WshShell.CreateShortcut(strStartup & "\programs\startup\Windows Explorer.lnk" )
oShellLink.TargetPath = "%SYSTEMROOT%\explorer.exe"
oShellLink.WindowStyle = 1
oShellLink.IconLocation = "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe"
oShellLink.Description = "Windows Explorer"
oShellLink.WorkingDirectory = "%HOMEPATH%"
oShellLink.Save

Example 4 - Shortcut to Windows Explorer in the "Current User" Quick Launch toolbar.  I named the script Explorer_Shortcut_in_CU_QuickLaunch.vbs.

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell" )
strStartup = WshShell.SpecialFolders("AppData" )
set oShellLink = WshShell.CreateShortcut(strStartup & "\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Windows Explorer.lnk" )
oShellLink.TargetPath = "%SYSTEMROOT%\explorer.exe"
oShellLink.WindowStyle = 1
oShellLink.IconLocation = "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe"
oShellLink.Description = "Windows Explorer"
oShellLink.WorkingDirectory = "%HOMEPATH%"
oShellLink.Save

Example 5 - Shortcut to Command Prompt in the Quick Launch toolbar for you, the current user.  I named the script CMD_Shortcut_in_CU_QuickLaunch.vbs.

set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell" )
strStartup = WshShell.SpecialFolders("AppData" )
set oShellLink = WshShell.CreateShortcut(strStartup & "\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Command Prompt.lnk" )
oShellLink.TargetPath = "%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\cmd.exe"
oShellLink.WindowStyle = 1
oShellLink.Hotkey = "Ctrl+Alt+C"
oShellLink.IconLocation = "%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe"
oShellLink.Description = "Windows Command Prompt"
oShellLink.WorkingDirectory = "%HOMEPATH%"
oShellLink.Save

See also:

• Windows Command Prompt: Auto-Complete Paths and Filenames 

5 Great Notepad++ Features

Notepad++ is probably the best text editor for Windows - and it's FREE. It has a huge range of features for working with text files, scripts, HTML files, etc.  Here are some pointers on just a few of those features.

1. Set Language to match your code
One very nice feature of Notepad++ is the ability to color pieces of code. This is very useful when writing C, SQL, HTML or other types of files, allowing you to easily visually distinguish between functions, reserved words, comments, text, and other types of symbols and expressions in your code.

Notepad++ will automatically detect your code based upon the language selected. You can specify the language yourself or Notepad++ will set it based on the file extension.

HTML as text before specifying language.

HTML code after specifying language.

2. Bulk find & replace
If you want to replace a certain entry in your file(s), Notepad++ is the ticket. Not only can it instantly search through all entries in a file, it can search all open files or even all files in a directory (including sub-directories), including, matching only certain file types.

3. Search and replace using regular expressions
When it comes to finding what you want, Notepad++ is not limited to mere words. You can also use powerful regular expression to match dynamic entries. For example, the below search will find (and replace) all tags in the source of HTML files, regardless of the actual image size specified:

Of course, some knowledge of regular expressions is required to use this feature. Not surprisingly, these regular expressions will also serve you well if you dabble in the Linux command line with sed or awk commands.

4. Tidy HTML code

If you're writing web articles, there's a fair chance your code will include a bit of unnecessary breaks, misaligned tags and so forth. Notepad++ can Tidy your HTML code.
For example, here is some unformatted text:

Which we want to format with HTML:

5. Save all open files
While this may not sound too exciting, imagine you have several open files - Notepad++ behaves like Firefox in this regard and opens documents in tabs - each one changed after you ran a bulk find & replace earlier. Saving them one by one can be tedious. Notepad++ saves you the hassle. You can save all open files at once.

Similarly, you can close them all at once.

Conclusion

Notepad++ is an extremely powerful and useful tool. We only scratched the surface on its features. With Notepad++ you can use macros or function completion, compare documents, export files to other formats, and a whole lot more.

Notepad++ also has many useful plugins and it comes in a portable version.

More on Notepad++

• Notepad++: A guide to using regular expressions and extended search mode
• Remove Blank Lines in a Document With Notepad++ With Extended Search Mode
  
• The Power of Regular Expression: use in Notepad++

Launch Windows Event Viewer From the Command Line or Run Command

You can easily launch Windows event viewer from run line or command prompt using:

eventvwr.msc

Best free PC Benchmark tools for Windows

Prime95 - test system stability. Prime95 has become extremely popular among PC enthusiasts and overclockers as a stability testing utility. It includes a "Torture Test" mode designed specifically for testing PC subsystems for errors in order to help ensure the correct operation of Prime95 on that system, which effectively stress-tests a PC.

HD Tach - hard drive benchmark tool that tests the sequential read, random access and interface burst speeds of the attached storage device (hard drive, flash drive, removable drive etc). Drive technologies such as SCSI, IDE/ATA, IEEE 1394, USB, SATA and RAID are supported.

CrystalMark - benchmark suite, that lets you to test your CPU, memory, HDD and video (GDI, Direct Draw, OpenGL).

NoveBench

• Extensive CPU speed tests
• Multi-threaded tests take advantage of multiple cores/processors
• Hardware accelerated graphics tests
• Hard drive write speed test
• CPU temperature monitor
• Tabbed interface for benchmark results
• Outputs overall system score
• Online score comparison system.
• Freeware.

Alternatives to HyperTerminal in Windows 7 and Vista

Beginning with Windows Vista Microsoft removed HyperTerminal (aka HyperTerm & Hyper Terminal).  Of course, this means it isn't in Windows 7 either. There are several options you can use to replace its functionality.

• PuTTY - My Recommendation
• PuTTY is a free implementation of Telnet and SSH for Win32 and Unix platforms, along with an xterm terminal emulator.
• WinRS (Windows Remote Shell)
• If you only need remote shell access, you can use WinRS which was introduced in Windows Vista. To get help and see execution options with WinRS, run winrs /? at a command prompt.
  
• Telnet is a simple, text-based program that you can use to connect to other devices over your local network or over the Internet.  Telnet can be executed right from the command prompt, although you may have to enable it in Control Panel.
  
  
• Phone and Modem Options can be used to troubleshoot modem problems
• Open Phone and Modem Options by clicking the Start button, Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, finally Phone and Modem Options.
  
• Realterm is a terminal program specially designed for capturing, controlling and debugging binary and other difficult data streams. It is far better for debugging comms than Hyperterminal. It has no support for dialing modems, etc – that is what hyperterminal does.
  
  
• TeraTerm is another alternative to HyperTerminal.  Tera Term is a free software terminal emulator (communication program) which supports:
  
  
  
  
  • Serial port connections.
  • TCP/IP (telnet, SSH1, SSH2) connections.
  • IPv6 communication.
  • VT100 emulation and selected VT200/300 emulation.
  • TEK4010 emulation.
  • File transfer protocols (Kermit, XMODEM, ZMODEM, B-PLUS and Quick-VAN).
  • Scripts using the "Tera Term Language".
  • Japanese, English, Russian and Korean character sets.
  • UTF-8 character encoding.
    
  
  
  
  
• AbsoluteTelnet Telnet, SSH, and SFTP Client.  AbsoluteTelnet / SSH is a secure flexible terminal client that is suitable for developers, administrators, or deployment across the enterprise. It includes the industry standard SSH protocols to secure terminal session data across insecure environments such as the internet. Its new tabbed interface is a favorite among AbsoluteTelnet users.
  
  
• XP's Hyper Terminal
• If you really want (or just can't be without it) you can still use XP's Hyper Terminal. Just copy the following two files from an existing XP, Windows 2000 or 2003 box or extract them from the installation CD's of the previous OS's: hypertrm.dll and hypertrm.exe. Although you could put them anywhere on the disk as installation is not required, you may want to place them in %SYSTEMROOT% (normally C:\Windows\System32).