The Scripting Dude's Blog

The Hey, Scripting Guy! Archive: Volume 1 (August 2004 - June 2006)

2006-08-10T10:38:00.000+10:00

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=207&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d5f5e0bda-923a-4744-8289-afb73f6a5ed8%26DisplayLang%3den

The WMI Diagnosis Utility

2006-03-21T08:54:00.000+11:00

WMIDiag.vbs is a VBScript script designed to help you ascertain the current state of the WMI service on a computer. The download package includes the utility itself, a ReadMe file that discusses how the tool works (and how to best use it), and sample spreadsheets that provide information about the default WMI configuration on various versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Microsoft Download

WMI Code Creator v1.0

2005-08-08T20:13:00.000+10:00

WMI Code Creator is an awesome tool for any TechNet guru, and free! Microsoft Download: The WMI Code Creator tool generates code that uses WMI to obtain management information or perform management tasks. You can use the tool to learn how to manage computers using WMI scripting and WMI .NET. The tool generates code that runs on the local computer, a remote computer, or a group of remote computers based on your selection from the Target Computer menu on the tool. You can also execute the generated code directly from the tool. The tool is meant to help IT Professionals quickly create management scripts and to help developers learn WMI scripting and WMI .NET. The tool helps take the complexity out of writing code that uses WMI and helps developers and IT Professionals understand how powerful and useful WMI can be for managing computers. Using the tool, you can query for management information such as the name and version of an operating system, how much free disk space is on a hard drive, or the state of a service. You can also use the tool to execute a method from a WMI class to perform a management task. For example, you can create code that executes the Create method of the Win32_Process class to create a new process such as Notepad or another executable. The tool also allows you to generate code to receive event notifications using WMI. For example, you can select to receive an event every time a process is started or stopped, or when a computer shuts down. The tool also allows you to browse through the available WMI namespaces and classes on the local computer to find their descriptions, properties, methods, and qualifiers. The code that creates the tool is also included in the download. The tool was created using WMI .NET, and the code for the tool can help developers understand how WMI .NET is used to create applications and manage information. Be sure to read the end-user license agreement that is included in the download.

Using WSH Scripts with MSN Desktop Search

2005-07-11T19:40:00.000+10:00

Simon Guest has the following: I'm a great believer in "re-use but not repetition" and an avid fan of shortcuts that help me in my day-to-day work in front of the screen. Recently I've been looking at how WSH scripts combined with MSN Desktop Search can be used to save even more time. I thought I'd share three of my most used scripts… To use these, copy the snippet to a .VBS file and register as a shortcut.

Scripting and Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta)

2005-03-08T07:30:00.000+11:00

You just installed Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware, and now you’re having difficulties with your scripts. Here’s some insight into what’s happening and what to do about it.

TechNet

Scriptomatic 2.0

2005-01-22T19:11:00.000+11:00

A completely new version of the famous Scriptomatic, the utility that writes WMI scripts for you. (And, in the process, teaches you the fundamental concepts behind writing WMI scripts for yourself.) Unlike its predecessor, Scriptomatic 2.0 isn’t limited to writing just VBScript scripts; instead, Scriptomatic 2.0 can write scripts in Perl, Python, or JScript as well. In addition, Scriptomatic 2.0 gives you a host of new output formats to use when running scripts, including saving data as plain-text, as a stand-alone Web page, or even as XML. Scriptomatic 2.0 handles arrays, it converts dates to a more readable format, and it works with all the WMI classes on your computer; on top of all that, it also writes scripts that can be run against multiple machines.

New System Administration Scripting Guide

2004-12-08T20:22:00.000+11:00

They scripting guys have added some really nice scripts into this CHM bundle. I haven’t had a chance to get a good look at all the scripts yet from what I have seen it looks like an invaluable resource.

D I Y Script Center Kit

2004-12-08T20:18:00.000+11:00

The Do-It-Yourself Script Center Kit includes all the materials you need to create your own version of the TechNet Script Center, either as stand-alone Webpages, stand-alone .vbs files, or as a .chm Help file. Included in the Kit are a database of all the scripts found in the TechNet Script Center Script Repository, as well as helper scripts for creating Web pages, .vbs files, and .chm files. The Kit also includes instructions for using these helper scripts

Download Here

Excel example

2004-11-10T16:25:00.000+11:00

Found this script on Brian Groth's weblog to display Service status in Excel with colour coding.

SOAP example

2004-10-23T15:29:00.000+10:00

Found this entry on Brian Groth's Life at Microsoft:

For all you command-line freaks out there, I hope you know about Microsoft's scripting technologies. Hopefully you are also aware that web services is the hot new thing and is certainly a great way to architect solutions these days. So, combining those two things (WS+Script), here is how to call a web service from a command-line via script

Weblog Entry

WMI Classes

2004-10-23T14:38:00.000+10:00

This section provides Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) class and reference page information.

MSDN

Enterprise Logon Scripts

2004-10-16T19:05:00.000+10:00

Well worth reading for logon script/group policy solutions

Logon and Group Policy scripts are powerful, flexible tools that system administrators can use to provide users with a consistent, predictable, and secure computing experience. Well... yeah!

Microsoft Download

Another reason to Scriptomatic

2004-09-21T20:01:00.000+10:00

I found this on Brian Redmond's Weblog

Basically you browse many of the WMI classes available and it will create runable scripts for you. Download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=9ef05cbd-c1c5-41e7-9da8-212c414a7ab0 It is also worth mentioning a newer Scriptomatic for ADSI. I have not used this one, but if it is half as good as the WMI one, it will be a good utility to have on hand. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=39044e17-2490-487d-9a92-ce5dcd311228&displaylang=en Go be a Scriptomanic!!!

Blog Entry

TCP/IP Networking update from the guys over at Microsoft

2004-09-16T21:19:00.000+10:00

It looks like we have another critical update being pushed out from Redmond, Wash. The GDI+ component processing of JPG files suffered from a buffer overrun issue, which thankfully did not include Windows XP SP2 on its list of affected software. This further highlights the need to update your computer to the latest Service Pack to avoid problems the other side could present when reverse-engineering what great work was done in SP2.

Anyway on to the good stuff... Here is a new link for Automating TCP/IP Networking on Clients which just got published on the first of September. - Enjoy

Office Shortcut bar lives!

2004-09-12T15:54:00.000+10:00

Does anyone remember the screen saver button we used to have in the Office Shortcut Toolbar? In fact does anyone remember the Office Shortcut Toolbar? This handy little application was removed somewhere between Office XP and Office 2003. The only reason I can think of for this was the inclusion of toolbars in Windows XP in the Task bar to allow you to create your own Shortcut bar in Windows XP. Using this Toolbar feature on the Task bar in Windows XP or Windows 2003 Server for that matter we can re-create the Office Toolbar along with that special Screen Saver button we all miss.

First to create the toolbar (this is the easy bit). Just right mouse click a blank section of the Task bar and select Toolbars.
We then need to navigate to the location of our shortcuts. (With the default install path for Office 2003 the folder you should select is 'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office')
This will add an additional toolbar to your Start Menu. At this stage you should make sure the Task bar is unlocked. (Just right mouse click the Task bar and un-tick the Lock the Task Bar option)
Now using the handle at the start of this new toolbar (handle represented by two vertical columns of little dots.) drag this to the section of the screen you would like your toolbar located. - I would not suggest the right side of the screen as it can cause problems with the scroll bars later if we set the toolbar to auto-hide.

Once you have moved the toolbar to the correct location it should be displaying all the Office icons. We now need to make some touch ups.

Right mouse click the toolbar and make sure the following preferences are selected if you desire. (Show Title and Text are un-ticked, Always on top and Auto-hide are both ticked.)
You may also want to resize the toolbar to your personal preference.

Now for the reason I was posting this blog entry in the first place ;-) - The Screen Saver button! Now we need to fire up trusty notepad and run through the following code:

Set oShell = WScript.CreateObject ("WSCript.shell")
Set WMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:")
Set colComputerSystem = WMIService.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystem")
For Each objProperty in colComputerSystem
strUsername = replace(objProperty.UserName, "\","\\")
Next
strWQL = "SELECT * FROM Win32_Desktop WHERE Name='" & strUserName & "'"
Set colDesktopItems = WMIService.ExecQuery(strWQL)
For Each objDesktopItem in colDesktopItems
oShell.run bjDesktopItem.ScreenSaverExecutable
Next

In this script it is just a matter of finding the current user logged on to a Windows system and then looking up that users Desktop settings and running the Screen Saver entry. It's that simple.

So save this file and add it as a shortcut into the folder we have selected for our toolbar. Once this is done you can edit you scripts shortcut and change the icon associated with the script.

WMI Software Development Kit and XP SP2

2004-09-12T01:46:00.000+10:00

I was downloading the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) SDK on my Windows XP machine with SP2 installed when the inbuilt pop-up blocker in IE detected a pop-up. Now I do understand that the MSDN site along with the Microsoft.com site are very large, yet its a bad example for Microsoft to still be using pop-up windows on any site. Especailly after the release of Windows XP SP2 pop-up windows are a big no no. Microsoft developer information for XP SP2 pop-up windows page.

Anyone else hate QuickTime trying to control your PC?

2004-09-11T16:28:00.000+10:00

I can't think of anything more annoying then when a program keeps registering itself to load at computer startup each time it runs. This is an install option that is at most a once only yes or no answer and then this option should be some where in the options menu for the program if necessary.

QuickTime will keep adding itself into the Registry's Run - "Key path". This is very annoying even if you have Windows XP and can use the msconfig utility (which is a really good utility by the way START > RUN > MSCONFIG - note this was introduced in Windows 98 yet was not made available in W2k for some reason). So here is a little script you can use to avoid QuickTime from loading up in the System Tray the next time you login into Windows after running QT.

The best place to add this script is in the logging off sequence of Windows. That way you don't have to turn the computer off to remove the registry key you just need to log off.

So first the script then i'll show you where to add the file for logging off.

const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
Set oReg=GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\default:StdRegProv")
strKeyPath = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run"
strStringValueName = "QuickTime Task"
oReg.DeleteValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,strKeyPath,strStringValueName

Once you have saved the above script to a file eg. c:\scripts\del_quicktime_key.vbs you then need to tell Windows to run the script when you log off.

First Open the Microsoft Management Console (Note this will not work for Windows XP Home). Start > Run > MMC. Then File > Add snap-in > Add > Group Policy > Add > Finish > Close > OK. --- Man I don't remember this process being so long (Note if you find that you want to Edit the Group policy many times you can now select File Save As and save the current arrangement of the console so you do not have to run these steps again). Once you have got the Group Policy just select User Configuration (as we want to do this on a user basis not when the Computer turns off) then select Windows Settings > Scripts (logon/logoff) Open the LogOff option and then select Add then browse to your file and add it into the listing for scripts to run when users logs off.

Now we could have used the registry to do this, yet only the first time we do this would it have been faster. Say we wanted to do the same thing again. Now ee could just do the following:

Open the Console.msc we created. (When we selected File Save As)
Select User Configuration
Windows Settings
Scripts
then add the file.

As a rule if you don't have to manually edit the registry (apart from scripts of course) use another method eg. msconfig or another graphical user interface.

MS Scripting Guy's broken link...

2004-09-11T16:08:00.000+10:00

Now I'm guessing the guys over at The Scripting Guys' First Blog are pretty busy, yet early last week due to my scripted XML news aggregator ( note: ill post on this later - remind me! ;-) ) I noticed within a few hours of them posting a whole bunch of links on their blog that the URL they had used was internal and could not be accessed by the Internet. So I quickly fired off an email if not only to inform them but to say thank you for all the good work they had been doing. Yet a week later and my inbox still empty from emails from the scripting guys they change the link? Very strange. While i'm talking about the posted links (and they are working) I'll suggest you go visit them by heading over to the Hey, Scripting Guy! site

Things to do first!

2004-09-11T15:14:00.000+10:00

The first couple of sites you will need to study up on if you're new to scripting are the following... Scripting Concepts and Technologies for System Administration

WMI Scripting Primer - This is a must!

Windows Script (MSDN)

Microsoft Windows Script Documentation (CHM file for easy access along side trusty notepad)

TechNet Script Center Sample Scripts (CHM file) The view Scripting Guy's Webcasts (Great for newbies!)

First Entry

2004-09-11T14:12:00.000+10:00

If you're reading this blog in ascending order you should really be starting with The Scripting Guys' First Blog as this is what I did. This is also a great site for getting inside information about scripting at Microsoft. To start this blog off I should introduce myself, my name is Cameron McBride and I work for the Shared Services Group which look after the Northern, Western and Melbourne Health Information Services Department's in Victoria, Australia. I am currently the co-founder of the Melbourne Pocket PC User Group and I host a Technology News Site Itnewslog.com. I started this site to create a repository of all the scripts I have been working on, continue to work on and why. The second reason obviously is to share this information with anyone who is interested in working with scripts to automate tasks at both a home user level (eg. Windows XP) or at a professional level (eg. and Active Directory Service Interfaces and Windows Management Instrumentation). The main reason I like scripting would be that you can sit at the majority of computers on the planet and provided you have the correct access you can accomplish a considerable amount of work with very few lines of code. The other great part is that you require no additional tools then what ships with Windows 2k, 2k3 and XP -- notepad works just fine, and besides it's always good to watch a computer do your work for you ;-)