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Windows Resource Kits

News See also Recommended Links Tutorials and Articles SFU Microsoft Registry tools
NT4 reskit Windows 2000 reskit Windows XP SP2 Resource Kit Windows 2003 reskit
(can be used on XP workstation and server)
Desktop Resource Kits Cdburn & dvdburn
Creatfil Diskuse Dnsdiag List Logtime Moveuser
Nlsinfo Now. Ntimer Ntrights Oh Oleview
Pathman Permcopy Pmon Qgrep Regini Regview
Remapkey Robocopy Rpccfg Rpcdump Showacls Showpriv
sleep Srvmgr Tail Tcmon Timeit Timezone
Usrmgr Vfi Vrfydsk Winexit  Random Findings Etc

Windows Resource Kits is a must for any serious/professional Windows user and can serve as a quick test of the level professionalism on the applicant to the Windows related position. It is essentially a set of command line tools, that simplify managing Windows from the command line (Unix-way).  Before SFU 3.5 it included major Posix utilities (for example Reskit 2000 did). It is interesting to note that command line tools exist for almost any administrative task in Windows.

Non-Posix tools that are included ResKits are still in flux and change from one version to another, but there is several core tools that survived in the last three versions of OS (2000, XP and 2003). See for example Microsoft Registry Tools.

The Windows 2003 Resource Kit is a free download and can be used on Windows XT (Workstation and Server) and Windows 2003 server. Along with its hidden extension (SFU 3.5)  is is probably the most underutilized component of  Windows.  It contains a better command line shell  and 188 tools.  If SFU is installed command line shell provides a very smooth integration with Unix utilities present in SFU including ls, grep, find, crontab, vi.  It also has allows based command history retrieval (Like C-shell). 

Among other useful general purpose command tools in ResKit2003 (all of them are usable of Windows XP) I would like to mention:

  1. cdburn & dvdburn -- ISO CD-ROM and DVD Burner Tools
  2. chklnks -- Link Check Wizard
  3. Creatfil.exe: Create File
  4. Diskuse.exe: User Disk Usage Tool somewhat similar to du (Scans the hard disk and reports how much disk space is allocated to a particular user.
  5. Dnsdiag.exe: SMTP DNS Diagnostic Tool (documented in Readme.htm)
  6. Linkd.exe
  7. List.exe: List Text File Tool
  8. Logtime.exe
  9. Moveuser.exe: Move Users
  10. Nlsinfo.exe: Locale Information Tool
  11. Now.exe: STDOUT Current Date and Time
  12. Ntimer.exe: Windows Program Timer
  13. Ntrights.exe
  14. Oh.exe: Open Handles
  15. Oleview.exe: OLE/COM Object Viewer
  16. Pathman.exe: Path Manager
  17. Permcopy.exe: Share Permissions Copy
  18. Perms.exe: User File Permissions Tool
  19. Pmon.exe: Process Resource Monitor
  20. Qgrep.exe  analog of grep
  21. Regini.exe: Registry Change by Script
  22. Regview.exe (documented in Readme.htm)
  23. Remapkey.exe: Remap Windows Keyboard Layout
  24. Robocopy.exe: Robust File Copy Utility (powerful copy tool that you can use to create mirror images of large folder tree structures on the same computer or on a network drive. )
  25. Rpccfg.exe: RPC Configuration Tool
  26. Rpcdump.exe
  27. Showacls.exe
  28. Showpriv.exe: Show Privilege
  29. Sleep.exe: Batch File Wait
  30. Srvmgr.exe: Server Manager
  31. Tail.exe
  32. Tcmon.exe: Traffic Control Monitor
  33. Timeit.exe (documented in Readme.htm)
  34. Usrmgr.exe: User Manager for Domains
  35. Vfi.exe: Visual File Information
  36. Vrfydsk.exe: Verify Disk
  37. Winexit.scr: Windows Exit Screen Saver (A screen saver that will automatically log the current user out after a period of inactivity)
Again, all of those tools usable of a Windows 2000 and XP machine.  Generally tools from ResKits are portable from one version of Windows to another.

Microsoft Services for Unix  should be considered as an important (but hidden for unprofessional) part of Resource Kit It is a separate download but logically it is a Reskit component. It contains ports of all classic Unix Utilities like grep, find,  sed, ex, vi as well as several scripting languages (Korn shell, awk, Perl, python ). That's kind of Microsoft Linux and as such is extremely useful both to Windows administration and for application development.

Actually ResKits provides ports of some Unix tools. Some of the tools while not direct ports are close analogs of Unix utilities (Diskuse.exe, Creatfil.exe, Qgrep.exe, Oh.exe, Sleep.exe).  For example ResKit2003 provides tail.exe. But full assortment of classic Unix command line tools and ksh improves the quality of Windows environment considerably, especially if you are working with http or proxy logs:

Tail is a command-line tool that displays a user-specified number of the last lines of a text file, such as a log file, in a console window.

A log file lists actions that have occurred. For example, servers running Microsoft SQL Server maintain log files that list every query made to that server. With analysis software, it is possible to analyze these log files to improve database performance and to verify the data contained in the database is not being accessed without authorization.

The Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit includes seven books that deliver in-depth information enabling professionals to understand, deploy, and make optimal use of their Windows 2000 operating systems. It also contains several references including the Technical Reference to the Windows 2000 Registry, Error and Event Messages Help, the Group Policy Reference, and the Performance Counters Reference.

If you still off not download and learn Reskit and SFU it's time for it right now.

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NEWS CONTENTS

Old News ;-)

[Jan 14, 2006] Windows XP/2000 Commands and Tools
Here's a list of some new tools mixed up with the old favorites that will make any Linux user feel at home with the command prompt. A lot of these commands are intended for administrating a network, but they are great for savvy home users as well. We even listed which OS you need for these commands.

With most of these commands, you can just type the command without any options and a list of possible arguments will be displayed.

Microsoft Windows 2000 Command Reference

If you think these commands were handy, check out our list of helpful Windows Shortcut Keys.

Download Free Windows 2000 Resource Kit Tools

This GUI tool displays information about a running process and allows you to stop processes and change process priority.

Note

  • Process Viewer is similar to Pview.exe, but it can view processes on remote computers.

Mastering the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit

The Windows 2003 Resource Kit is by far the most underutilized arsenal I have seen in my work as a Manager. I see many Administrators doing tasks or not having solutions for tasks that are totally provided with this toolkit. In the next series of articles I present, we shall cover the Windows 2003 Resource kit 'In Depth'. This article starts the series by fundamentally covering where to get the software, the basic use of the resource kit, online resources and file set.

Windows Server 2003 Technical Reference/Networking Collection

Core Networking Technologies
Routing Technologies
Network Monitoring Technologies
Name Resolution Technologies
Network Configuration Technologies
Network Access Technologies
Network Interoperability Technologies
Remote Access Technologies
Data Streaming and E-mail Technologies
Network Security Technologies

[Jul 6, 2005] Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools Updates

  1. ADTest.exe Released: 10/7/2003 - Simulate client transactions on a host server to assess the performance of Active Directory.
  2. CAPIMON.exe Released: 11/17/2003 - Monitor an application's CryptoAPI calls and the results.
  3. CepSetup.exe Last updated: 8/24/2003 - Support for the SCEP protocol which allows Cisco routers and other intermediate network devices to obtain certificates.
  4. ClusDiag.exe Last updated: 8/14/2003 - Perform diagnostics tests on pre-production server clusters and create log files to help identify configuration issues.
  5. ClusterRecovery.exe Last updated: 10/3/2003 - Recover a server cluster after a disk on the shared bus has failed.
  6. DelProf.exe Last updated: 8/29/2003 - Delete user profiles on a local or remote computers running Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.
  7. FRSDiag.exe Released: 10/8/2003 - Troubleshoot and diagnose problems with FRS.
  8. GPInventory.exe Released: 10/3/2003 - Collect Group Policy and other information from any number of computers in the network.
  9. LockoutStatus.exe Last updated: 10/3/2003 - Display lockout information for a particular user.
  10. LSView.exe Last updated: 10/16/2003 - View information useful for monitoring and logging the status of all available Terminal Services license servers in the current domain and current site.
  11. RQS.exe Last updated: 4/20/2004 - Restrict remote access clients from full access to a network until they meet the requirements of the network.
  12. SecInspect.exe Last updated: 8/28/2003 - View the contents of master boot records, boot sectors, and IA64 GUID partition tables.
  13. SrvMgr.exe Last updated: 11/25/2003 - Manage Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT 3.51 domains and computers.
  14. SubInAcl.exe Last updated: 6/14/2004 - View security information about files, registry keys, and services, and transfer this information from user to user, from local or global group to group, and from domain to domain.
  15. UsrMgr.exe Last updated: 11/25/2003 - Manage security for Windows NT 4.0 domains, member servers, and workstations.
  16. WinHttpCertCfg.exe Last updated: 9/2/2003 - Install and configure client certificates in any certificate store that can be accessed by the Internet Server Web Application Manager (IWAM) account.

[Jul 6, 2005] Amazon/Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Resource Kit Special Promotion Edition

This official Microsoft RESOURCE KIT delivers seven comprehensive volumes, including:

Microsoft Windows Security Resource Kit, Second Edition

Microsoft Windows Group Policy Guide

Microsoft Windows Registry Guide, Second Edition

Microsoft Windows Administrator's Automation Toolkit

Microsoft Windows Internals, 4/e

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Performance Guide

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Troubleshooting Guide

The Resource Kit also includes:

1. Tools: 120+ ResKit Tools and Tools help files, plus 114 IIS ResKit tools

2. Scripting tool library: 120+ scripted tools with command-line interface

3. Group Policy utilities: group policy scripts, templates, and whitepapers

4. WS03 Technical Reference Collection: 5,400 pages created by the Windows UA team

5. Unique e-book library: e-book versions of the books in the RK, plus 4 other titles

[Jul 6, 2005] Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit Books The Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit includes seven books that deliver in-depth information enabling advanced IT customers to understand, deploy, and make optimal use of their Windows 2000 operating systems.

  1. The Deployment Planning Guide assists teams in charge of deploying Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Professional. It provides both rollout planning guidelines and strategies for deploying Windows 2000 technologies. Topics include network infrastructure prerequisites, Active Directory® infrastructure, advanced management, and upgrade information.

    See the following sample chapters from this Resource Kit book:

    Download the entire Deployment Planning Guide.

  2. The Distributed Systems Guide provides a conceptual, theoretical, functional, and practical view of the various technologies that make up the Windows 2000 distributed systems. Topics include Active Directory®, distributed security, enterprise technologies, and desktop configuration management.

    See the following sample chapters from this Resource Kit book:

  3. The TCP/IP Core Networking Guide provides you with in-depth technical information to help you understand, manage, and troubleshoot all facets of TCP/IP networking. Topics include address allocation and name resolution and network security and management.

    See the following sample chapters from this Resource Kit book:

  4. The Internetworking Guide describes the services and protocols that allow you to extend Windows 2000 networks across a variety of local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), and remote network connections. Topics include routing, remote access, interoperability, media integration, and other protocols.

    See the following sample chapters from this Resource Kit book:

  5. The Server Operations Guide provides the information you need to understand and maintain your server installations. Topics include storage, file systems, printing, performance monitoring, system recovery, and troubleshooting.

    See the following sample chapters from this Resource Kit book:

  6. The Internet Information Services Resource Guide provides in-depth technical information about Internet Information Services (IIS) version 5.0 This guide explains what is new in IIS 5.0; provides instructions on how to migrate settings, content, and applications to IIS 5.0 from other Web servers; and describes how to upgrade from IIS 4.0 to IIS 5.0.

    In addition, the guide discusses how to plan Web server installations, how to optimize and tune an IIS-based Web server, how to maintain an Internet service provider (ISP) installation, and how to use the Web to access older data and applications.

    The Internet Explorer Resource Guide provides comprehensive information about planning, customizing, installing, and supporting the latest versions of Microsoft® Internet Explorer.

[Dec 11, 2004] Dureg: Registry Size Estimator - Shows how much data is stored in the registry, or in any registry subtree, key, or subkey.

[Dec 11, 2004] FileVer: This command-line tool examines the version resource structure of a file or a directory of files on either a local or remote computer and displays information on the versions of executable files such as .exe files and dynamic-link libraries DLLs.

[Dec 11, 2004] Download Free Windows 2000 Resource Kit Tools

Recommended Links

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Softpanorama Recommended

Top articles

Sites

Windows Deployment and Resource Kits -- page with links to all reskits.

Microsoft TechNet Resource Kits

Online books for Windows 2000 Resource Kits

Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Resource Kit Documentation

Microsoft Product Information Center Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Resource Kit, Second Edition Overview

Windows XP Professional Resource Kit Errata

Microsoft Windows XP Professional Resource Kit Documentation Comments And Corrections

Windows XP Professional Resource Kit System Restore Scripting Samples

Desktop Resource Kits

Tutorials and Articles

Windows XP Professional Resource Kit Documentation
Windows XP Professional Resource Kit Documentation helps IT professionals deploy, manage, and support the Windows XP operating system. In addition to this free online version of the printed book, Windows XP Professional Resource Kit Documentation is available in print from Microsoft Press.

Random Findings

IIS 6.0 Resource Kit

[Jun 10, 2005] Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Resource Guide
This searchable technical reference provides information about running IIS as a Web application platform, ensuring that IIS stays secure, monitoring and tuning IIS, administering the server programmatically, and capitalizing on built-in IIS scalability features to manage large-scale deployments.


Etc

Society

Groupthink : Two Party System as Polyarchy : Corruption of Regulators : Bureaucracies : Understanding Micromanagers and Control Freaks : Toxic Managers :   Harvard Mafia : Diplomatic Communication : Surviving a Bad Performance Review : Insufficient Retirement Funds as Immanent Problem of Neoliberal Regime : PseudoScience : Who Rules America : Neoliberalism  : The Iron Law of Oligarchy : Libertarian Philosophy

Quotes

War and Peace : Skeptical Finance : John Kenneth Galbraith :Talleyrand : Oscar Wilde : Otto Von Bismarck : Keynes : George Carlin : Skeptics : Propaganda  : SE quotes : Language Design and Programming Quotes : Random IT-related quotesSomerset Maugham : Marcus Aurelius : Kurt Vonnegut : Eric Hoffer : Winston Churchill : Napoleon Bonaparte : Ambrose BierceBernard Shaw : Mark Twain Quotes

Bulletin:

Vol 25, No.12 (December, 2013) Rational Fools vs. Efficient Crooks The efficient markets hypothesis : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2013 : Unemployment Bulletin, 2010 :  Vol 23, No.10 (October, 2011) An observation about corporate security departments : Slightly Skeptical Euromaydan Chronicles, June 2014 : Greenspan legacy bulletin, 2008 : Vol 25, No.10 (October, 2013) Cryptolocker Trojan (Win32/Crilock.A) : Vol 25, No.08 (August, 2013) Cloud providers as intelligence collection hubs : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : Inequality Bulletin, 2009 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Copyleft Problems Bulletin, 2004 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Energy Bulletin, 2010 : Malware Protection Bulletin, 2010 : Vol 26, No.1 (January, 2013) Object-Oriented Cult : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2011 : Vol 23, No.11 (November, 2011) Softpanorama classification of sysadmin horror stories : Vol 25, No.05 (May, 2013) Corporate bullshit as a communication method  : Vol 25, No.06 (June, 2013) A Note on the Relationship of Brooks Law and Conway Law

History:

Fifty glorious years (1950-2000): the triumph of the US computer engineering : Donald Knuth : TAoCP and its Influence of Computer Science : Richard Stallman : Linus Torvalds  : Larry Wall  : John K. Ousterhout : CTSS : Multix OS Unix History : Unix shell history : VI editor : History of pipes concept : Solaris : MS DOSProgramming Languages History : PL/1 : Simula 67 : C : History of GCC developmentScripting Languages : Perl history   : OS History : Mail : DNS : SSH : CPU Instruction Sets : SPARC systems 1987-2006 : Norton Commander : Norton Utilities : Norton Ghost : Frontpage history : Malware Defense History : GNU Screen : OSS early history

Classic books:

The Peter Principle : Parkinson Law : 1984 : The Mythical Man-MonthHow to Solve It by George Polya : The Art of Computer Programming : The Elements of Programming Style : The Unix Hater’s Handbook : The Jargon file : The True Believer : Programming Pearls : The Good Soldier Svejk : The Power Elite

Most popular humor pages:

Manifest of the Softpanorama IT Slacker Society : Ten Commandments of the IT Slackers Society : Computer Humor Collection : BSD Logo Story : The Cuckoo's Egg : IT Slang : C++ Humor : ARE YOU A BBS ADDICT? : The Perl Purity Test : Object oriented programmers of all nations : Financial Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : The Most Comprehensive Collection of Editor-related Humor : Programming Language Humor : Goldman Sachs related humor : Greenspan humor : C Humor : Scripting Humor : Real Programmers Humor : Web Humor : GPL-related Humor : OFM Humor : Politically Incorrect Humor : IDS Humor : "Linux Sucks" Humor : Russian Musical Humor : Best Russian Programmer Humor : Microsoft plans to buy Catholic Church : Richard Stallman Related Humor : Admin Humor : Perl-related Humor : Linus Torvalds Related humor : PseudoScience Related Humor : Networking Humor : Shell Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2012 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2013 : Java Humor : Software Engineering Humor : Sun Solaris Related Humor : Education Humor : IBM Humor : Assembler-related Humor : VIM Humor : Computer Viruses Humor : Bright tomorrow is rescheduled to a day after tomorrow : Classic Computer Humor

The Last but not Least Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand ~Archibald Putt. Ph.D


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Last modified: March 12, 2019