46163.book Page iii Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM Windows® Administration at the Command Line for Windows Vista™, Windows® 2003, Windows® XP, and Windows® 2000 John Paul Mueller Wiley Publishing, Inc. 46163.book Page ii Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM 46163.book Page i Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM Windows® Administration at the Command Line 46163.book Page ii Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM 46163.book Page iii Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM Windows® Administration at the Command Line for Windows Vista™, Windows® 2003, Windows® XP, and Windows® 2000 John Paul Mueller Wiley Publishing, Inc. 46163.book Page iv Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM Acquisitions and Development Editor: Thomas Cirtin Technical Editor: Russ Mullen Production Editor: Felicia Robinson Copy Editor: Cheryl Hauser Production Manager: Tim Tate Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley Vice President and Executive Publisher: Joseph B. Wikert Vice President and Publisher: Neil Edde Book Designers: Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama, Judy Fung Compositor: Craig Woods, Happenstance Type-O-Rama Proofreader: Rachael Gunn Indexer: Nancy Guenther Anniversary Logo Design: Richard Pacifico Cover Designer: Ryan Sneed Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-0-470-04616-6 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per- copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. 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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mueller, John, 1958- Windows administration at the command line for Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 / John P Mueller. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-470-04616-6 (paper/website) 1. Microsoft Windows (Computer file) 2. Operating systems (Computers) I. Title. QA76.76.O63M8423 2007 005.4'46--dc22 2007006195 TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Windows and Windows Vista are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 46163.book Page v Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM This book is dedicated to my long-suffering wife, Rebecca, who has always supported me in my writing— I couldn’t ask for a better friend. 46163.book Page vi Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM 46163.book Page vii Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM Acknowledgments Thanks to my wife, Rebecca, for working with me to get this book completed. I really don’t know what I would have done without her help in researching and compiling some of the information that appears in this book. She also did a fine job of proofreading my rough draft and page proofing the result. Rebecca also helps a great deal with the glossary and keeps the house running while I’m buried in work. Russ Mullen deserves thanks for his technical edit of this book. He greatly added to the accuracy and depth of the material you see here. Russ is always providing me with great URLs for new prod- ucts and ideas. However, it’s the testing Russ does that helps most. He’s the sanity check for my work. Russ also has different computer equipment from mine, so he’s able to point out flaws that I might not otherwise notice. A number of people read all or part of this book to help me refine the approach, test the coding examples, and generally provide input that all readers wish they could have. These unpaid volun- teers helped in ways too numerous to mention here. I especially appreciate the efforts of Eva Beattie, who read the entire book and selflessly devoted herself to this project. Matt Wagner, my agent, deserves credit for helping me get the contract in the first place and taking care of all the details that most authors don't really consider. I always appreciate his assistance. It's good to know that someone wants to help. Finally, I would like to thank Tom Cirtin, Felicia Robinson, Cheryl Hauser, and the rest of the editorial and production staff at Sybex for their assistance in bringing this book to print. It’s always nice to work with such a great group of professionals and I very much appreciate the friendship we’ve built over the last seven books. 46163.book Page viii Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM 46163.book Page ix Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM About the Author John Mueller is a freelance author and technical editor. He has writing in his blood, having pro- duced 73 books and over 300 articles to date. The topics range from networking to artificial intelli- gence and from database management to heads down programming. Some of his current books include a Windows power optimization book, a book on .NET security, and books on Amazon Web Services, Google Web Services, and eBay Web Services. His technical editing skills have helped over 52 authors refine the content of their manuscripts. John has provided technical editing services to both Data Based Advisor and Coast Compute magazines. He’s also contributed articles to maga- zines like DevSource, InformIT, SQL Server Professional, Visual C++ Developer, Hard Core Visual Basic, asp.netPRO, Software Test and Performance, and Visual Basic Developer. Be sure to read John’s blog at http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/id/AQOA2QP4X1YWP. When John isn’t working at the computer, you can find him in his workshop. He’s an avid woodworker and candle maker. On any given afternoon, you can find him working at a lathe or putting the finishing touches on a bookcase. He also likes making glycerin soap and candles, which comes in handy for gift baskets. You can reach John on the Internet at [email protected]. John is also setting up a Web site at http://www.mwt.net/~jmueller/. Feel free to look and make sug- gestions on how he can improve it. One of his current projects is creating book FAQ sheets that should help you find the book information you need much faster. 46163.book Page x Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM 46163.book Page xi Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM Contents at a Glance Introduction . .xxiii Part 1 • Standard Windows Utilities . 1 Chapter 1 • Using the Command Line Effectively . 3 Chapter 2 • Completing Data-Specific Tasks . 23 Chapter 3 • Discovering the System Status . 77 Chapter 4 • Locating Files and Other Resources . 121 Chapter 5 • Securing and Monitoring a System . 167 Chapter 6 • Using Developer and Low-Level Utilities . 247 Part 2 • Using Windows Automation . .289 Chapter 7 • Creating CMD and BAT Files . 291 Chapter 8 • Working with Scripts . 339 Chapter 9 • Scripting for Active Directory . 363 Chapter 10 • Using Task Scheduler Effectively . 387 Chapter 11 • After Hours Automation Scripting . 403 Part 3 • Relying on Third Party Automation. .433 Chapter 12 • Obtaining Command Prompt Enhancers . 435 Chapter 13 • Increasing Productivity at the Command Line . 449 Chapter 14 • Editing and Compiling Batch Files and Scripts . 461 Part 4 • Working with the .NET Framework Utilities . .475 Chapter 15 • Understanding the .NET Framework Versions . 477 46163.book Page xii Monday, February 26, 2007 6:16 PM xii CONTENTS AT A GLANCE Chapter 16 • Configuring the .NET Framework .