FrinkTheBrave's questions

The Security Configuration Wizard allows you to create an xml of various recommended security settings for the current server, based on role.

Is there any way of producing this xml based on the actual current settings on the server?

If I have a PowerShell window (at the PowerShell command prompt) on display it prevents the computer shutting down.

I.e. if I open a PowerShell window and then try to shutdown the server, I get the End Program popup saying Windows cannot end this program.

I get the same result if I start PowerShell from the start menu, from a cmd prompt and from a shortcut with -NoExit specified.

How can I get shutdown to automatically close a PowerShell window (if it is at the PowerShell prompt) in the same way as it would for a CMD window?

Alternatively, is it possible for PowerShell to detect when a shutdown has been initiated and therefore close itself?

Going down the alternative route as suggested by pk, I have come up with this test code:

Write-Host "PowerShellBlockingShutdown.ps1 Started"

$global:shuttingDown = $false
$sysevent = [microsoft.win32.systemevents]
Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $sysevent -EventName "SessionEnding" -Action {$global:shuttingDown = $true; Write-Host "  SessionEnding"}
Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $sysevent -EventName "SessionEnded"  -Action {$global:shuttingDown = $true; Write-Host "  SessionEnded"}

do {
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
    if ($global:shuttingDown) {break}
    Write-Host "  Waiting for Shutdown"
} while ($true)

Write-Host "PowerShellBlockingShutdown.ps1 Finished"

Which seems to work.

Is it possible to perform an unnattended install of service packs (SP4 is the latest) on SQL Server 2005 Express?

The only way I have found is to download the SQLEXPR32.EXE containing SP4 and run it manually for each of my instances which need it. This takes ages, but I can't get any of the command line options to work.

I do have a SQL Server 2005 (not Express) instance on the server as well, but I can download and apply the service pack to this without a problem. Is it a restriction of Express?

Any ideas?

UPDATE: It has no internet connectivity so I have to do it manually

KB2641690 is an update to the Microsoft Untrusted Certificate Store but it not detected as required by MBSA.

It is not installed on my machine and does not appear to be superseded by anything.

Any ideas?

Has anyone used the HP Array Configuration Utility Command Line Interface (hpacucli.exe) to get physical disk information into a file?

I'm not at the machine right now, but basically I want to find out what the state of each of the physical disks in my server, i.e. Good, Failed, Failure predicted, Rebuilding, missing etc.

I want to run this from a script, so a single (or set of) commands I can pipe to a file is what I'm looking for.

I have a standalone W2K3 machine which I need to update with microsoft hotfixes. I also have a clone of this machine which I can connect to the internet.

What I'd like to do is:

a) Run some tool on the clone which will download all the required hotfixes from the internet, then I can burn them to a BluRay disk

b) Take that disk to the standalone machine and run an app to install them as required

Does anyone know of a tool to do this. Or alternatively produce the disk in some other way (maybe to include all hotfixes, if this will fit on a BluRay.

Notes:

I'd then install them on the clone using the disk so it's in the same state for the net round of hotfixes.

Currently I use MBSA to run on the standalone machine to see what hotfixes are required, then download them manually, burn them to disk and install them via a script. This works fine, except that downloading them all takes ages

There are also other application updates (e.g. Adobe Reader) which I would like to be able to update with a similar mechanism, although this is a lesser issue

Hallo, I want to copy my Active Directory Users, Groups and Group Memberships from one DC to another using csvde, where the machines are identical except for the only the name of the Domain and Machine. Note that each server is a DC and itself is the only member of the domain. The command I am using for export is:

csvde -f C:\exportAD.csv -m -n -o "primaryGroupID,lockoutTime" -j C:\Logs\

I then edit the csv file, deleting a few lines which will not import, and changing the Domain and Machine name, then import it on the second machine using:

csvde -i -f C:\exportAD.csv -k -j C:\Logs\

However, this does not the group memberships present in the original.

Any ideas?

-Frink