This is the second edition of useful command lines, adding another 132 commands that I've found useful. Note that many of the command-line calls may require Microsoft utilities (such as dsquery, wmic, dnscmd).
Most of the commands are for the windows-based command interpreter, with a few PowerShell and ESX service console commands creeping in. They range from diagnostics, troubleshooting and simply automating recurring tasks.
Each command-line can be copied and pasted at the command prompt, if you use a batch file you'll need to reference variables with double-percent (%%).
See the original post with another 425 commands http://waynes-world-it.blogspot.com/2008/09/useful-command-lines.html
Given an IP and mask, return the subet the IP belongs to
for /f "tokens=1-8 delims=.- " %i in ('echo 192.168.5.200 255.255.255.0') do set /a Octet1="%i & %m" >nul & set /a Octet2="%j & %n" >nul & set /a Octet3="%k & %o" >nul & set /a Octet4="%l & %p" >nul & Echo %i.%j.%k.%l,!Octet1!.!Octet2!.!Octet3!.!Octet4!,%m.%n.%o.%p
Display the contents of the client DNS resolver cache
ipconfig /displaydns
Find the package source path of a program from SMS
wmic /namespace:\\root\sms\site_%sitecode% /node:"server" path SMS_Package Where "Name like '%programname%'" get Name,ShareName,PkgSourcePath
Find the session associated with a process
wmic path win32_process get name,sessionid
List the local winstation windows objects
objdir \Windows\Windowstations\Winsta0
Query the configuration container for Exchange mailbox stores
dsquery * ",CN=Configuration,DC=domainroot" -filter "(&(objectClass=msExchPrivateMDB)(objectCategory=msExchPrivateMDB))"
Query a Virtual Centre/VC 2.5 database for Virtual Machine details
sqlcmd -S server -d database -W -s "," -Q "select ENT.Name as 'Name', Lower(DNS_Name) as 'DNS Name', Guest_OS as 'OS', Mem_Size_MB as 'Mem', Num_VCPU as 'CPU', Num_NIC as 'NIC', IP_Address as 'IP', NET.MAC_Address as 'MAC Address', VM.FILE_Name as 'VMX location' from vpx_vm VM inner join VPX_NIC NET on VM.ID = NET.ENTITY_ID inner join VPX_ENTITY ENT on VM.ID = ENT.ID Order By ENT.Name"
Query a Virtual Centre/VC 2.5 database for Virtual Machine snapshots (GMT+10)
sqlcmd -S server -d database -W -s "," -Q "select ENT.Name as 'Name', Lower(DNS_Name) as 'DNS Name', Guest_OS as 'OS', Mem_Size_MB as 'Mem', IP_Address as 'IP', VM.FILE_Name as 'VMX location', VM.Suspend_Time as 'Suspend Time', VM.Suspend_Interval as 'Suspend Interval', VMS.Snapshot_Name as 'Snapshot Name', VMS.Snapshot_Desc 'Snapshot Description', DateAdd(Hour, 10, VMS.Create_Time) as 'Snapshot Time', VMS.Is_Current_Snapshot 'Current Snapshot' from vpx_vm VM inner join VPX_NIC NET on VM.ID = NET.ENTITY_ID inner join VPX_ENTITY ENT on VM.ID = ENT.ID inner join VPX_SNAPSHOT VMS on VM.ID = VMS.VM_ID"
Test the password for a domain account (assumes no existing IPC connection)
net use \\server\ipc$ /user:%domain%\%testuser% *
View the last-access, modified, created and MFT entry modified timestampes
timestomp "%fullpathtoFile%" -v
Create a scheduled task escaped with a command containing double-quotes (2003)
schtasks /create /SC Daily /TN "Task" /ST 12:00 /TR "cmd /c echo \"Test\"" /RU System
Create a scheduled task running two commands
schtasks /create /SC Daily /TN "Task" /ST 12:00 /TR "cmd /c echo Test1 & cmd /c echo Test2" /RU System
Check a number of computers to see if hibernation is enabled
for /f %i in (%controlfile%.txt) do @if exist \\%~i\c$\hiberfil.sys (echo %~i,Enabled) else (echo %~i,Disabled)
For each path in a control file, list the 8.3 short equivalent
for /f "tokens=*" %i in (test.txt) do echo %~si
Use if exist and disabled path parsing to bypass max_path
for /f "tokens=*" %i in (test.txt) do if exist "\\?\UNC\%~pnxi" echo File exists
Enumerate a cluster through WMI
wmic /node:"%node%" /namespace:\\root\mscluster path MSCluster_Cluster
Given a path exceeding MAX_PATH, return the 8.3 equivalent of the directories
for /f "tokens=*" %i in (longfiles.txt) do for /d %m in ("\\%~pi") do echo %~sm%~nxi
Given a path you know contains deeper than 260, batch to return the 8.3 subdirs
(3 lines) @for /f "tokens=*" %%i in (c:\temp\longdir1.txt) do @for /d %%m in ("\\%%~pi") do @Call :Process "%%~si" || :process || @if "%~1"=="" (goto :EOF) else (@for /d %%i in ("%~1\*.*") do @echo %%~si & Call :Process "%%~si")
Set a Domain Controller to be a Global Catalog server
dsmod server "%DC_DN%" -isgc yes
Check which network connections (drive mappings) a computer has
wmic /node:"%computer%" path win32_logicaldisk where "DriveType=4" get DeviceID,ProviderName
Query the current site of a remote computer using nltest
nltest /dsgetsite /server:%computer%
Query the current site of a remote computer using the registry
reg query \\%computer%\hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\netlogon\parameters /v DynamicSiteName
Check the schema version on a Domain Controller (R2=31)
reg query \\%dc%\hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\NTDS\parameters /v "Schema Version"
Query the revision of 2003 Update (R2=9)
dsquery * CN=Windows2003Update,CN=ForestUpdates,CN=Configuration,%forestRoot% -attr revision
Check the schema version on a Domain Controller (R2=31)
dsquery * "CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,%forestRoot%" -attr objectVersion -scope base
Find the disk signature of a disk through diskpart
echo select disk 0 > %temp%\diskpart.txt & echo detail disk >> %temp%\diskpart.txt & diskpart /s %temp%\diskpart.txt | find /i "Disk ID:"
Search a dnscmd export for duplicate IP address references
for /f "tokens=1,5" %i in (DNSExport.txt) do @if "%j" NEQ "" @for /f "tokens=1" %m in ('"findstr /i "%j$" DNSExport.txt find /i /c "%j""') do @if %m GTR 1 @echo %i,%j,%m
Search and report duplicate IPs from a dnscmd export
for /f "tokens=1,4" %i in (DNSExport.txt) do @if "%j" NEQ "" @for /f "tokens=1" %m in ('"findstr /i "%j$" DNSExport.txt find /i /c "%j""') do @if %m GTR 1 (@echo %j,%m: & findstr /i "%j$" DNSExport.txt & echo.)
Dump the dfsr config from the active directory
dfsrdiag dumpadcfg
Remove Outlook 2003 prevention of PST usage
reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook /v DisablePST /t reg_dword /d 0x0
Set the command prompt to include the time of the last command
prompt $t $p$g
Create a zero byte file
echo file 2>zero.txt
Given a list of files, echo those that are zero bytes in size
for %i in (%source%\*) do @if %~zi == 0 @echo %i
From a dnscmd export, find duplicate IP addresses
echo. > DuplicateIPs.txt & (for /f "tokens=1,4" %i in (DNSRecords.txt) do @if "%j" NEQ "" @find /i "%j" DuplicateIPs.txt >nul & if errorlevel 1 for /f "tokens=1" %m in ('"findstr /i "%j$" DNSRecords.txt | find /i /c "%j""') do @if %m GTR 1 (@echo %j,%m: & findstr /i "%j$" DNSRecords.txt & echo.) >> DuplicateIPs.txt) & type DuplicateIPs.txt
Start xperf performance tracing using the 'Diag' group
xperf -start -on Diag -f %temp%\tracing.etl
Open an xperf trace, exporting context switching for threads and processes
xperf -i %temp%\tracing.etl -a cswitch -thread -process
Check whether VMware VMFS partitions are block aligned to 128
/sbin/fdisk -lu
Query a Virtual Centre/VC 2.5 database for Consolidation performance stats
sqlcmd -S server -d virtualcenter -W -s "," -Q "Select Top 6 ip_address as 'IP', cpu_mhz_avg/1000 as 'CPU', mem_mb_avg/1000 as 'RAM' , disk_percent_avg/1000 as 'Disk' from vpx_csl_system_perf vPERF inner join vpx_csl_system_ip_address vIP on vPERF.System_ID = vIP.system_ID order by sample_time desc"
Identify Virtual Machines that are currently powered on
/usr/sbin/vcbVmName -h %server% -u username -s powerstate:on
Find OCS 2007 classes/attributes in AD
dsquery * "CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=forestRoot" -filter "(&((cn=*rtc*)(|(objectCategory=classSchema)(objectCategory=attributeSchema))))"
Find OCS 2007 server from DNS service records
nslookup -type=srv _SipInternalTLS._tcp.{FQDN}
Find OCS 2007 Pools published in the current directory
dsquery * -filter "(objectClass=msRTCSIP-Pools)"
Find OCS 2007 SCPs from the local domain
dsquery * "CN=Pools,CN=RTC Service,CN=Microsoft,CN=System,DC=domainRoot" -attr *
Export config from OCS 2007 from a remote server
lcscmd /config /action:export /level:machine /configfile:config.xml /fqdn:%server%
IIS Authentication and Access Control Diagnostics
authdiag.exe
Find the number of VMs per datastore from the VC database
sqlcmd -S server -d virtualcenter -W -s "," -Q "select DS.name, Count(VMDS.VM_ID) as 'VMs' from vpxv_vm_datastore VMDS inner join vpx_datastore DS on VMDS.DS_ID = DS.ID group by DS.name"
Find detail on the VMs per datastore from the VC database
sqlcmd -S server -d virtualcenter -W -s "," -Q "select DS.name, VMS.Name from vpxv_vm_datastore VMDS inner join vpx_datastore DS on VMDS.DS_ID = DS.ID inner join vpxv_vms VMS on VMDS.VM_ID = VMS.VMID order by DS.Name"
Unattended install of IIS (assuming INF created with relevant [components])
Sysocmgr.exe /i:%windir%\inf\sysoc.inf /u:%iisComponents%.inf
Find the Exchange 2003 organization from AD
dsquery * forestroot -filter "(&(objectCategory=msExchOrganizationContainer))"
Mount a virtual floppy
vfd install & vfd start & vfd open
Send an SMTP mail using blat
blat -f smtprelay@relay.local -to user@domain.com -subject Test -body "Test body" -server smtprelay
Create MAPI profiles with an Exchange connection on a server without Outlook
profman2.exe
Find mailboxes that are excluded from Recipient Update Policies
dsquery * -filter "(&(objectClass=User)(objectCategory=Person)(msExchPoliciesExcluded=*))" -attr cn msExchPoliciesExcluded | find /i "{26491CFC-9E50-4857-861B-0CB8DF22B5D7}"
Export a connector space from MIIS/IIFP to XML
csexport %maName% maExport.xml
IIFP permissions, write proxyAddresses to user objects, inherited to subobjects
dsacls "OU=%targetOU%,%domainRoot%" /I:S /G %DOMAIN%\%GROUP%:WP;proxyAddresses;user
IIFP permissions, create and delete contact objects, inherited to subobjects
dsacls "OU=%targetOU%,%domainRoot%" /I:S /G %DOMAIN%\%GROUP%:CCDC;contact
IIFP permissions, read/write all properties, inherited to subobjects
dsacls "OU=%targetOU%,%domainRoot%" /I:S /G %DOMAIN%\%GROUP%:RPWP;;contact
Find extended rights in the directory that apply to schema classes
dsquery * "CN=Extended-Rights,CN=Configuration,dc=forestRoot" -attr displayName CN
Trigger the SD propagator adminsdholder process in a domain
admod -rootdse "FixUpInheritance::1"
Set interrupt processor affinity for PnP drivers
intfiltr.exe
Set interrupt processor affinity for processes persistent across reboots
imagecfg.exe -a 0xF calc.exe (the mask to use the first four logical processors)
Start an executable with the specified processor affinity
start /affinity f calc.exe (the mask to use the first four logical processors)
Modify a server to use only one processor
boot.ini, add /onecpu switch
Query DC/DNS servers and find unconditional non-ds forwarders
for /f %i in ('dsquery server -domain %userdnsdomain% -o rdn') do @for /f "tokens=1,3" %m in ('"dnscmd %i /info > DNS_%i.txt & tail -5 DNS_%i.txt | find /i "addr[" | find /i "addr""') do @echo %~ni,%m,%n
Create an Active Directory integrated DNS conditional forwarder (5.2.3790.0)
dnscmd /ZoneAdd %targetDomain% /DsForwarder %targetDomainNSIP%
Find DNS forwarder zones
dnscmd %server% /enumzones /forwarder
Find DNS forwarder targets
for /f %i in ('"dnscmd %server% /enumzones /forwarder | find /i "forwarder""') do dnscmd %server% /zoneinfo %i | find /i "master"
Find AdminSDHolder groups with GROUP_TYPE_SECURITY_ENABLED
dsquery * domainroot -filter "(&(objectCategory=Group)(objectClass=Group)(groupType:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2147483648))"
Query an MIIS/IIFP database to find the management agent AD configuration
select ma_name, private_configuration_xml from mms_management_agent
Check the MIIS/IIFP GALSync.xml file to find the management agent AD config
Extensions\GALSync.xml
Query an MIIS/IIFP database to find the management agent AD containers to sync
select filter_xml from mms_partition MMSP inner join mms_management_agent MMSA on MMSP.ma_id = MMSA.ma_id where ma_name = 'MA-NAME' and partition_name = 'DC=domainRoot'
Set the IP address of a machine using netsh
netsh interface ip set address name="Local Area Connection" source=static addr=192.168.0.10 mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.0.1 1
Set local DNS client primary using netsh
netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" addr=192.168.0.10 index=1
Set local DNS client secondary using netsh
netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" addr=192.168.0.11 index=2
Set local WINS client primary using netsh
netsh interface ip add wins name="Local Area Connection" addr="192.168.0.10" index=1
Set local WINS client secondary using netsh
netsh interface ip add wins name="Local Area Connection" addr="192.168.0.11" index=2
Modify service DACLs to allow service start stop (assumes query already exists)
subinacl /service schedule /grant=builtin\users=TO
User cmdkey to add a stored credential when connecting to a remote server
cmdkey /add:remote.domain.com /user:domain\user /pass:*
Find the holders of the specified NT right / privilege
showpriv SeProfileSingleProcessPrivilege
Query the privileges the current user holds
whoami /priv
Delete the policy restriction to run adsiedit.msc
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\MMC\{1C5DACFA-16BA-11D2-81D0-0000F87A7AA3}"
Stop and then restart the ESX software iSCSI initiator
/usr/sbin/esxcfg-swiscsi -d | /usr/sbin/esxcfg-swiscsi -e
Reset a computer account secure channel
nltest /sc_reset:%domain%[\%dc%]
Reset the password for a computer account
nltest /sc_change_pwd:%domain%
CSV directory export of one or more subcontainers of a container
for /f %i in ('"dsquery ou OU=People,DC=domainRoot -scope onelevel -o rdn"') do csvde -f UserExport-%~i.csv -l givenName,sn,displayname,mail,targetAddress,proxyAddresses,mailnickname -d "OU=%~i,OU=People,DC=domainRoot" -r "(&(objectClass=Contact)(objectCategory=Person))"
Query VMFS volume information from the service console
/usr/sbin/vmkfstools -P /vmfs/volumes/%GUID%
Change the volume label of a disk
label %drive%: %newlabel%
Find VMware CDP info from the service console
esxcfg-info | grep -C 18 '\==+CDP Summary'
Add a non expiring enabled user account to the Active Directory
dsadd user "CN=user,OU=Users,DC=test,DC=com" -pwd "password" -pwdneverExpires yes -disabled no -desc "Description"
Clear local DNS client settings using netsh
netsh interface ip delete dns name="Local Area Connection" addr=ALL
From an ESX service console, scan for updates from a depot for UpdateManager
/usr/sbin/esxupdate --HA --flushcache -d http://esx01/vci/hostupdates/hostupdate/esx/esx-3.5.0 scan
Check the VI35 Legato AAM HA agent
cat /var/log/vmware/aam/aam_config_util_addnode.log
VMware VI35 HA Legato AAM, list the cluster manager
/opt/vmware/aam/bin/ftcli -domain vmware -timeout 60 -cmd "listrules"
VMware VI35 HA Legato AAM, list the cluster nodes
/opt/vmware/aam/bin/ftcli -domain vmware -connect esx01 -port 8042 -timeout 60 -cmd "listnodes"
VMware ESX VI35 List the software iSCSI targets
/usr/sbin/vmkiscsi-tool -L -l vmhba32
Mount a local volume inside a local folder
mountvol c:\temp\mount1 \\?\Volume{f856ff87-70ae-11dc-8b8d-806d6172696f}\
Remove a mount point
mountvol C:\temp\mount1\ /d
List junctions or mount points
junction -s c:\temp
Find the boot device for an ESX installation
esxcfg-info -s | grep -A10 "Diagnostic Partition"
Find the boot device for an ESX installation
esxcfg-info -s | egrep -A4 "Parallel SCSI Interface|Block SCSI Interface"
Use vSphere RCLI to list an ESXi host filesystem
vifs.pl --server %server% --username %username% --password %password% -D /host
Use vSphere RCLI to backup an ESXi host (esxcfg-cfgbackup.pl)
vicfg-cfgbackup.pl --server %server% --username %username% --password %password% -s server.tgz
ESX VI35 list the virtual machines and their disks for performance analysis
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vscsiStats -l
ESX VI35 gather disk statistics and display the latency histogram in CSV
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vscsiStats -s; /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vscsiStats -x; /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vscsiStats -p latency -c;
Get Windows Remote Management config on the local machine
winrm get winrm/config
Windows Remote Management quick configuration to create a listener
winrm quickconfig
Test Windows Remote Management listener on the local host
winrm id
Create a Windows Remote Management https listener on the local host
winrm quickconfig -transport:https
Create a self-signed certificate
makecert" -r -pe -n -r 30/12/2039 -eku 1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1 -ss my-sr localMachine -sky Exchange -sp "Microsoft RSA SChannel Cryptographic Provider" -sy 12 c:\temp\test.cer
Query the SNTP servers a comptuer is using for time synchronisation
net time \\server /querysntp
Set the SNTP servers used for w32time synchronistaion
net time \\server /setsntp:"192.168.0.10 192.168.0.11"
Convert time from 100 nanosecond intervals since epoch 01/01/1601
w32tm /ntte 127076450620627215
Install the w32time Windows Time service
w32tm /register
Enable NTP Server for a w32time service
reg add \\server\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NtpServer /v Enabled /t reg_dword /d 0x1 /f
Find the error description given a win32 error number
net helpmsg 2
Delete the policy value controlling whether recently run programs are recorded
reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer /v NoRecentDocsHistory
Set registry permissions (subinacl 5.2.3790.1180 or later)
subinacl /keyreg "\\server\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" /grant=domain\group=F
Set service DACLs (Q : Query SC, S: status, I: interrogate, T: Start, O: Stop)
subinacl /service \\server\schedule /grant=domain\group=TOQSI
Rename a LAN interface name (ncpa.cpl)
netsh interface set int name="Local Area Connection 2" newname="Local Area Connection"
Find all network devices
devcon findall =net
Find all network adapters for the Net class
devcon listclass net
Remove an old VMware VI3 PCNET Flexible/VLance/VMXNET adapter instance (@)
devcon remove "@PCI\VEN_1022&DEV_2000&SUBSYS_20001022&REV_10\3&61AAA01&0&88"
Find where a file is in the path
for %i in (calc.exe) do echo %~$PATH:i
Find the physical disk sector size
wmic path win32_diskdrive get BytesPerSector
Find the current amount of memory used by the file system virtual cache
wmic path Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfOS_Memory get SystemCacheResidentBytes
Use robocopy in backup mode to take a copy of folder-level permissions
Robocopy \\server\source c:\temp\copy zxcvsadfqwer /E /B /COPYALL /R:1 /W:1
Find remote shares and paths using WMI
wmic /node:%server% path win32_share get Name,Path,Description
Find total memory, free memory and used paging file
wmic /node:%server% path Win32_OperatingSystem Get FreePhysicalMemory,FreeSpaceInPagingFiles,TotalVirtualMemorySize,TotalVisibleMemorySize
Search a remote computer's registry for a string
regfind -m \\%server% -y -b -n search_string
Set a computer to use a specified number of available processors
modify boot.ini, use the /NUMPROC=x switch or /ONECPU switch
Check the Exchange ESE buffer cache size
dsquery * "CN=InformationStore,CN=exchserver01,CN=Servers,CN=AdminGroup01,CN=Administrative Groups,CN=organisation,CN=Microsoft Exchange,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=domainRoot" -attr msExchESEParamCacheSizeMax -scope base
Query the start of authority record for a DNS zone
dnscmd %server% /enumrecords %fqdn% @ /type SOA
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