Posts Tagged Windows Scripts

Simple backup to USB Script

Posted by Admin in Microsoft on September 15, 2011

Here’s a simple script to help you backup one critical folder to your USB drive.

Here is how the script works. The script resides on the root of your USB drive and not on your computer. When you insert the drive, an autorun window pops up asking you if you would like to run the backup. If you choose to run the backup, the script checks your computer’s SID against a previously stored SID (I will explain how you can store that SID) and if they match, the script then uses robocopy to mirror your source folder to the USB drive. The SID check was put in place to prevent the script from accidentally removing important data.

How to use the script: Read the rest of this entry »

,

No Comments

Update all Windows servers on a network

Posted by Sheen in Microsoft on August 15, 2011

Microsoft’s patch tuesday is one time of the month when all Windows system admins get cold sweats. Will these patches break something? How much time will I have to spend patching all these servers?
Well, I have no control over Microsoft’s patch quality but I sure have a script that will help ease your pain when it comes to patching servers.

This script will help you update all windows servers on a network with just one click. You will also get an email report when the script has completed patching a server.

What the script does:

Read the rest of this entry »

, ,

1 Comment

Script to reboot all servers in a network

Posted by Sheen in Microsoft on July 15, 2011

Windows updates almost always require that you reboot your servers after a round of patching. Windows Admins would not really envy the task of rebooting servers after patching.
I have created a script that does the following:

  1. Reboots all servers defined in a simple text file. 
  2. Reboots servers one at a time in a “rolling reboot” fashion.
  3. Notifies you if a server hangs at any point in the reboot cycle (during shutdown, POST or boot up. There are parameters that can be configured to adjust the script to your network.
  4. Checks to make sure that the RPC server service has started up before going onto reboot the next server.
You can download the script here.
To use the script, do the following:
  1. Extract the script to a location (preferrably on your second domain controller/DNS server)
  2. Edit the batch file and edit the parameters between *** TUNEABLE PARAMETERS ***. Update the mail server, to and from info here if you would like email alerts, please remember, if you are rebooting your mail server as part of this, you should use another external relay method to send emails.
  3. Edit the serverlist.txt file. This file should be populated with a list of servers in the order they will be rebooted in. Always exclude the name of the server you are performing the reboots from if you need to reboot it as well. Include all servers only if you are performing reboots from a workstation. In this case, you will need to ensure that the workstation can resolve DNS names for all the servers being rebooted.
Suggestion: The way I’ve always deployed the script is to run it on the second domain controller + DNS server and not include that domain controller in the list at all. This ensure that there is a logon server available at all times and that DNS resolution necessary for the script to function is available.
Let me know if this has helped you!

, ,

No Comments

Automatically update Chromium

Posted by Sheen in Microsoft on April 17, 2011

Chromium is the open source web browser that Google Chrome is based off on. Its an amazing browser and I have loved every moment of using it so far.

Chromium’s development takes place at a very rapid pace and there are multiple builds put out every day but it lacks an updater that would automatically update Chromium (Google Chrome has an updater), so I wrote one.

You can download it here.

Instructions for use:

  1. Download the zip file and save it to a location of your choice.
  2. Copy the file wget.exe from the zip folder into C:\Windows\System32
  3. Run the batch file!

You do not need to worry about wget.exe if you already have it in your system path.

The script will:

  1. Install Chromium if it isnt installed.
  2. Update Chromium if there is an available update.

Let me know if this script has helped you!

,

1 Comment

How to install Chromium

Posted by Sheen in Microsoft on April 17, 2011

I’ve been playing around with Chromium, the open source browser that Google Chrome is based on for the past couple of weeks and found that it is an amazing browser. The installation process itself is very simple but getting to the install file might be a bit confusing at first.
If you want to install it quickly, read this post to obtain a script that can do it automatically for you.
The install files for Windows are located here: http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chromium-browser-continuous Scroll right to the bottom of the page and select the latest version of Chromium. Download the file called mini_installer.exe and run the installer. Its a silent installation and once it completes, you should be all set to use Chromium.

,

No Comments