The net user and group commands are very powerful tools for managing local and domain users and groups. In this post, I will show you how to use the net user command locally and on a domain to create a user account, reset a user account password, and view general info about a user account.…
I write a lot of PowerShell scripts for application installations, and many download the install files from a URL. Because the URL is hardcoded in the scripts, if the URL changes, I need to update all the scripts. This exact issue happened to me a few years ago, and my solution at the time was…
Microsoft Windows Server 2025 has just reached general availability. I decided to install it and see what’s changed compared to Windows Server 2022. Right off the bat, the installer loading screen is slightly different. With Windows Server 2025, there are two setups the new setup UI, which is the default, and the previous setup UI,…
There are many ways to activate Windows, and a really cool way to activate Windows is with Active Directory-Based Activation. Active Directory-Based Activation (ADBA) was first introduced in Windows Server 2012 and is only usable if your Microsoft Volume licensing has a KMS host key. If you don’t have a KMS key, you may need…
If you haven’t heard of SolarWinds Kiwi CatTools, it is a great tool for network automation. I primarily use it to back up network configurations. Before 2009, Kiwi CatTools (KCT) was developed by Kiwi Enterprises. In 2009, SolarWinds acquired Kiwi Enterprises. SolarWinds continues to develop KCT. The upgrade process can feel a bit scary if…
EUC World Independence is a two-day EUC (End User Computing) conference from October 22nd to October 23rd in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. This was the world premier of the EUC World conference, and I was able to attend it. World of EUC hosted EUC World Independence. If you haven’t heard of World of EUC, it…
On November 18th, 2024, the certificates that the Palo Alto User-ID agent and the Palo Alto Terminal Server agent use to communicate with a Palo Alto firewall will expire, causing all communication to fail. Palo Alto Networks has made new versions of the User-ID and TS agents with updated certificates that will expire on January…
If you accidentally delete something in Active Directory, it can be difficult to undo. Fortunately, you can enable a recycle bin for Active Directory, making life much easier if you need to restore something. The Active Directory Recycle Bin (sometimes called ADRB) was first introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2. You need to enable it…
Palo Alto Networks makes a program named Terminal Server Agent, aka the TS Agent. It is similar to the User-ID agent. However, the TS Agent is built to identify users on a multi-user system. In this post, I will show you step-by-step how to upgrade the Palo Alto Networks Terminal Server agent. Prerequisites The TS…
Microsoft 365 supports hardware security keys with passkeys. Passkeys are sometimes called FIDO2. Passkeys are one of many ways you can secure your accounts. In this post, I will show you step-by-step how to set up a passkey in Microsoft 365, including configuring a passkey with a break glass emergency access account. Prerequisites The Process…
