Windows Tips & Tricks UPDATE--September 12, 2005

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FAQs

Q. Are any default Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) reports available to help monitor the deployment of an OS via the SMS OS Deployment Feature Pack?

A. The standard SMS "Advertisement status messages for a particular client and advertisement" report gives details about an OS deployment, including when the phases were performed and the actions within each phase. To view the report, perform the following steps:

Q. How can I run a Control Panel applet or snap-in configuration as another user from the command line?

A. Normal best practice for administrators is to log on under a user account and, as needed, use Runas or Winternals' Psexec utility (which you can download at http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/PsExec.html) to run programs with Administrator privileges. However, you can't use this method to run some items (e.g., .cpl and .msc files). To work around this limitation, you can use the Psexec utility and call the file by adding a "cmd /c start" prefix to the command. For example, the following code will fail to run the System Control Panel applet:

  C:WINDOWS>psexec -d -i -e -u Administrator sysdm.cpl   

However, if you add "cmd /c start" to the command, as the following example shows, the command will run the applet.

  C:WINDOWS>psexec -d -i -e -u Administrator cmd /c start sysdm.cpl  

You could include such commands in batch files and place the files on your desktop/menus for fast access to the applications within the correct user context.

Q. How can I start a process or program as the local system account?

A. In the FAQs, "How do I schedule commands?" (http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/15153/15153.html ) and " I am unable to stop a process from Task Manager even though I'm an Administrator, what can I do?" ( http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/14613/14613.html ), I explain how to submit a command by using the scheduler service with the /interactive switch to start a program. Because the scheduler service runs as the local system, the program would also run with local system credentials. With Winternals' Psexec utility (which you can download at http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/PsExec.html), you can use the -s switch to run a program as the system account. The following example shows how to start a cmd.exe session under the system account:

  whoami  SAVILLTECHjohn    
psexec -s cmd.exe    
PsExec v1.60 - Execute processes remotely  Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Mark Russinovich  Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com    
  Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]  (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.    
C:WINDOWSsystem32>whoami  NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM    
C:WINDOWSsystem32>exit  cmd.exe exited on WKSSAVD800 with error code 0.  

When you use the -s switch, Psexec temporarily installs on the computer a service named "psexec running psexesvc.exe" which is removed after the application running as system is closed. Thus to run under the system context, you'll need permissions to install services.

Q. How can I use a script to determine a client computer's local site?

A. To return the current site of a computer, you can use the ADSystemInfo object to call the GetDCSiteName function, as the following code shows:

    
Dim sys  

  Set sys = CreateObject("ADSystemInfo")  wscript.echo "Domain Controller site: " & sys.GetDCSiteName(".")  

which you can see running as follows:

  D:temp>cscript getsite.vbs  Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.6  Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1996-2001. All rights reserved.    
Domain Controller site: Smallville  

Q. How can I use a script to generate a list of all IP addresses on a machine?

A. The following script will write to screen each IP address on a client.

    
Option Explicit   Dim IPConfigSet, IPConfig, I    
set IPConfigSet = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!rootcimv2"). _    ExecQuery("SELECT IPAddress, DefaultIPGateway FROM " & _    "Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration WHERE IPEnabled=TRUE")   for each IPConfig in IPConfigSet    if Not IsNull(IPConfig.IPAddress) then       wscript.echo IPConfig.IPAddress(i)    end if  next  

The output below shows a sample execution.

  D:temp>cscript listip.vbs  Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.6  Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1996-2001. All rights reserved.    
10.10.15.105  192.168.1.57  

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