Windows How To DoYour Windows Knowledge Base

Do you know that Windows server 2003 and Windows Vista include command line tool called “takeown” that lets you take ownership of files and folders?

Takeown tool basic syntax is:

takeown /f <file or folder name>

For example to take ownership of file secret.doc which resides in C:\Docs\ open command line and type:

takeown /f C:\Docs\secret.doc

Thus, if you want to take ownership of a folder named C:\Docs, as well as any files and folders inside C:\Docs, you`ll type:

takeown /f C:\Docs /r

One more tip… if you want to avoid Windows asking you questions like “Do you really want to do that?”… add one more key:

takeown /f C:\Docs /r /d y

This post will show you how to find out which server is responsible for issuing certificates in your domain and get some additional information related to local certification authority.

To do it open command line on Windows computer and type:

certutil.exe -TCAinfo

Press “Enter” and you are done !

By default you cant do this in your Windows server 2003 based domain.

I found Microsoft article that will help you build custom group policy ADM templates and restrict access to USB, CD-ROM, Floppy Disk and LS-120 drivers.

Read it here

Enjoy

This post will show you how to use net share command to share folder.

Lets say we want to share “D:\Test” folder with share name “TestDocs”.

Open command line on your Windows server 2003 or Windows XP computer and type:

net share TestDocs=D:\Test

Press “Enter” button and you are done !

This post will show you how to spy on other users using Windows computer.

For this purpose we tested software named “Detective Dominator”.

“Detective Dominator” is a stealth keylogger that will provides you  with necessary confidence in monitoring PC and internet activity.  Whether you want to monitor your computer while you are away, retrieve lost information, or monitor your children’s activity it is really nice keylogger software for the job.

If you have your own business this tool can help you for the perfect employee monitoring software.  As per developer this software for pc usage monitoring allows you to find out virtually everything that happens on the computer…

If you are interested read more about “Detective Dominator”  Here .

This post will show you how to install Active Directory schema configuration snap in for your Microsoft management console. For that you have two ways.

1. Install Windows server 2003 support tools package (supptools.msi) . It is located inyour OS CD  Support\Tools directory.

ADSI Edit will be automatically installed and registered by doing that.

2. If you want to install only ADSI Edit tool copy adsiedit.dll file from support tools into %systemroot% directory (default C:\Windows) .

Then click Start>Run and type regsvr32 adsiedit.dll

Press “OK”

This post will show you how to find Windows server 2008 with Terminal server role installed in your domain.

To perform search in domain named “Testdomain.com” domain open command line and type:

query termserver /domain:Testdomain.com

Press “Enter” and you are done !

By default Exchange server 2007 Stardart database size limit is 50Gb.

Exchange server 2007 Enterprise edition has no limit for database size.

In this post we will see how to change size for the mailbox database named “FirstDB”.

We will work with Exchange 2007 Standart “TestExchange” running on Windows server 2003.

First we need to retrieve GUID ID for “FirstDB” database, which can be found in FirstSG storage group.

To do it open exchange powershell and type:

Get-MailboxDatabase -Identity “TestExchange\FirstSG\FirstDB” | Format-Table Name, GUID

When you have GUID for your database open registry editor and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\TestExchange\Private-<database GUID>

If you can see DWORD value Database size limit in GB open it ant type your new limit for database in GB.

If value cannot be located, create new DWORD value with “Database size limit in GB” name and set value in GB.

Two days ago i have encountered following situation.

I have scheduled check disk for C: drive via command line on my Windows server 2003 because it was spitting some strange errors in event log about inconsistency of logical drive.

To check C: drive i have opened command line and typed:

chkdsk C: /f /r

to check logical disk,  locate bad sectors and recover any readable information if needed

After this i was asked if i want to schedule this procedure run after next restart as it cant perform this on running system.

I confirmed that by typing Y.

One hour after i foung buggy software that was the source of errors in event log and CHKDSK i scheduled earlier bacame needless.

After some googling i have found the way you can reset scheduled CHKDSK task.

For that you must open registry by typing regedit in command line.

Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager

Can you see BootExecute string in there. I bet you do!

Open it and clear all value data by leaving only autocheck autochk *

Registry editor BootExecute string

And… press OK. After this registry editing your CHKDSK sheduled task will be canceled.

Thats it !

This post will show you quick way to change license key on your Windows server 2008 or Windows Vista using command line.

Lets say we want to change our license key to AAAAA-BBBBB-CCCCC-DDDDD-EEEEE (Note that this is not legal license key !!!) .

To change key open command line (Start>Run>cmd) and type:

slmgr -ipk AAAAA-BBBBB-CCCCC-DDDDD-EEEEE

Press “Enter” and You are done !

This post will show you how to randomly reset local user password on you Windows machine using command line.

Lets say we have local user named “testuser” and we want randomly reset its password.

For this press Start>Run, type CMD and press “OK” .

In command line type:

net user testuser /random

Press “Enter”.

Password will be reseted and it will be shown to you after you pressed “Enter” button.

The output will be similar to:

Good job!

This post will show you how to edit remote access to the registry settings.

To make changes press “Start” then “Run” and type regedit.

In registry editor navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurePipeServer\winreg

Security permissions that are set on key “winreg” controls who can access registry remotely.

If you want to change current settings right click “winreg” key and choose Permissions.

In this “Permissions for winreg” window you can set who will be able to access registry remotely.