Windows 7 and Vista Guide to Scripting, Automation, and Command Line Tools

Brian Knittel has been a software developer for more than 30 years. After doing graduate work in electrical engineering applied to nuclear medicine and magnetic resonance imaging technologies, he began a career as an independent consultant.An eclectic mix of clients has led to long-term projects in medical documentation; workflow management; real-time industrial system control; and, most importantly, over 25 years of real-world experience with MS-DOS,Windows, and computer networking in the business world. Brian has coauthored Que’s Windows 7 In Depth; Upgrading and Repairing Microsoft Windows; and bestselling books in the Special Edition Using series covering Windows Vista,Windows XP Professional and Home Edition, and Windows 2000 Professional.  Brian lives in Oakland, California. He spends his free time restoring antique computers (for example, www.ibm1130.org) and trying to perfect his wood-fired pizza recipes.

• Introduction 1I Scripting with Windows Script Host1 Windows Script Host 9What Is a Windows Script? 9The “Script” Part 9The “Windows” Part 10The “Host” Part 11How Is This Different from Writing Batch Files? 13Scripting Languages 13VBScript 14JScript 14Perl 15Python 15Open Object REXX 15Ruby 15Choosing a Language 16A Simple Script 16Types of Script Files 19JSE and VBE: Encoded Scripts 20Windows Script Files (WSF) 21Windows Script Components (WSC) 23WSH Settings 23Creating Your First Script File 24Making and Securing a Script Folder 24Creating a Script 26Script Editing Tools 27How Windows Runs Scripts 28Wscript and Cscript 28Ways to Run a Script 29Passing Information to Scripts 31Saving the Results from Scripts 32Wscript and Cscript Command Options 33Running Your Own Scripts 36Adding Scripts to the Path 37Running Scripts with a Shortcut Icon 38Making a Script Shortcut 39Running Scripts from Batch Files 39Running Scripts Automatically 40Security Concerns 40Trust Policy and Script Signing 42Debugging Scripts 42Where to Get More Information 472 VBScript Tutorial 49Introduction to VBScript 49Variables 50Constants 51Named Constants 52Operators and Expressions 53Automatic Conversion 57Flow Control 57The If…Then Statement 58The Select Case Statement 61The Do While Loop 63Terminating a Loop with Exit Do 65Counting with the For…Next Statement 66Processing Collections and Arrays with For…Each 67VBScript Functions 68Calling Functions and Subroutines 69Documentation and Syntax 70String-Manipulation Functions 71Date and Time Functions 74Interacting with the User 79The MsgBox( ) Function 79The InputBox( ) Function 82Printing Simple Text Messages with Wscript.Echo 84Advanced VBScript Topics 85Error Handling 86Procedures: Functions and Subroutines 87Arrays 89Variable Scope 91Where to Go from Here 923 Scripting and Objects 93Introduction to Objects 93Classes and Instances 94Containers and Collections 95Object Naming 97Using Objects with VBScript 98Automation and Document Files 99The Difference Between Properties and Methods 100Nested Objects 101Releasing Objects 102Working with Collections 102Using Objects with JScript 104Case Sensitivity 104Working with Collections 104Using Objects with ActivePerl 106Running Perl Scripts in WSH 106The Perl Object Interface 107Working with Collections 108Using Objects with ActivePython 109Working with Collections 110Using the WScript Object 111Retrieving Command-Line Arguments 113Locating and Using Unusual Objects 1154 File and Registry Access 123Getting Real Work Done 123Manipulating Files and Folders 124Scripting.FileSystemObject 124Working with File and Pathnames 130The Scripting.Drive Object 135The Scripting.Folder Object 139The Scripting.File Object 144Reading and Writing Files 149The TextStream Object 150Reading Text from Files 152Writing Text to Files 154Working with Stdin and Stdout 159Reading Binary Files 163Reading and Writing XML 167Some XML Basics 168Reading an XML File 176Creating an XML or HTML File 179Manipulating Programs and Shortcuts 181The WScript.Shell Object 182Running Programs 186Creating and Modifying Shortcuts 193Working with the Environment 196Extracting Environment Information 198Managing Environment Settings 199Working with the Registry 201Examining Registry Keys and Values 202Saving Information in the Registry 2035 Network and Printer Objects 207Managing Network and Printer Connections 207Retrieving Network User Information 212Managing Drive Mappings 214Listing Drive Mappings with EnumNetworkDrives 214Adding Drive Mappings 218Deleting Drive Mappings 219Setting Up Mappings in a Script 220Managing Network Printer Connections 221Displaying Printer Information 222Connecting to Network Printers 223Redirecting DOS Session Printers 225Deleting Printer Connections 226Setting the Default Printer 228Printing from Scripts 2296 Messaging and Faxing Objects 231Sending Email from Scripts with CDO 231The CDO Object Model 232The CDO.Message Object 235Working with Fields 242Fields for the CDO.Message Object 244The CDO BodyParts Collection 246The CDO BodyPart Object 247The ADO Stream Object 250The CDO.Configuration Object 250Sending a Message with CDO 256Constructing the Message 257Adding Attachments 261Including Images with an HTML Message 262Specifying the Recipients and Subject 263Specifying the Delivery Server 263Sending the Message 265Putting It All Together 265Faxing from Scripts 271Sending a Fax with a Script 274Getting More Information About Faxing 2777 Windows Management Instrumentation 279Introduction to Windows Management Instrumentation 279WMI Functions 280Namespaces 281Managing Windows Remotely 283Making WMI Connections 287WMI Object Hierarchy 288Connecting with the WbemScripting.SWbemLocator Object 291Connecting with a Moniker 292Connecting to the Local Computer 294Security and Authentication 294Specifying Security Options 299WMI Collections and Queries 301SWbemServices 302WQL Queries 303SWbemObject 306SWbemMethodSet and SWbemPropertySet 307Scriptomatic 310WMI Examples 312Collecting System Information 312Managing Printers 313Monitoring Windows Service Packs and Hotfixes 313Managing Services and Tasks 315For More Information 3178 Active Directory Scripting Interface 319Managing the User Directory 319Uses of the Active Directory Scripting Interface 320Limitations of ADSI with Windows Script Host 321ADSI Concepts 322Multiple Inheritance 324Creating ADSI Objects 325Directory Security 328Determining the Difference Between Containers and Leaves 330ADSI Objects for the WinNT: Provider 332IADs 333IADsCollection and IADsContainer 336Working with ADSI Collections 339IADsComputer and IADsComputerOperations 340IADsDomain 342IADsFileService and IADsFileServiceOperations 345IADsFileShare 347IADsGroup 349IADsMembers 350IADsNamespaces 351IADsPrintJob and IADsPrintJobOperations 351IADsPrintQueue and IADsPrintQueueOperations 354IADsService and IADsServiceOperations 357IADsSession 361IADsUser 362IIS and Exchange 364Managing Active Directory 364X.500 and LDAP Terminology 364Active Directory Objects 368RootDSE 368IADsO and IADsOU 369Developing ADSI Scripts 370EzAD Scriptomatic 372For More Information 3739 Deploying Scripts for Computer and Network Management 375Using Scripts in the Real World 375Designing Scripts for Other Users 376Using WSF Files 377WSF File Format Reference 379Providing Online Help with WSF Files 384Processing Command-Line Arguments 386Enclosing More Than One Script 390Putting It All Together 390Deploying Scripts on a Network 394Creating Simple Installation Programs with IExpress 395Creating IExpress Install Scripts or Batch Files 398Dealing with User Account Control 400Providing an Uninstall Option 402Writing Scripts to Manage Other Computers 403Remote Scripting 405Replicating Scripts to Multiple Computers 406Scripting Security Issues 408Script Signing 409The Script Encoder 415Setting Up Logon Scripts 416User Profile Logon Scripts 416Scripts for Logon, Logoff, and Other Events on Windows 7 and Vista 418Group Policy Logon, Logoff, Startup, and Shutdown Scripts 418Scheduling Scripts to Run Automatically 421Writing Unattended Scripts 421Sending Messages to the Event Log 423Scheduling Scripts with the Task Scheduler 428II The Command Line Environment10 The CMD Command-Line 433The Command Prompt 433CMD Versus COMMAND 434Running CMD 435Opening a Command Prompt Window with AdministratorPrivileges 436CMD Options 437Disabling Command Extensions 439Command-Line Processing 439Stopping Runaway Programs 440Console Program Input and Output 441Using the Console Window 442I/O Redirection and Pipes 443Copy and Paste in Command Prompt Windows 447Command Editing and the History List 448Name Completion 450Enabling Directory Name Completion 451Multiple Commands on One Line 452Grouping Commands with Parentheses 453Arguments, Commas, and Quotes 454Escaping Special Characters 454Configuring the CMD Program 455AutoRun 455Environment Variable Substitution 456The Search Path 456Predefined and Virtual Environment Variables 459Setting Default Environment Variables 461Built-in Commands 462Extended Commands 475Listing Files with the Dir Command 476Setting Variables with the Set Command 480Conditional Processing with the if Command 482Scanning for Files with the for Command 483Getting More Information 48811 Batch Files for Fun and Profit 491Why Batch Files? 491Creating and Using Batch Files 492Batch File Programming 494Displaying Information in Batch Files 495Argument Substitution 496Argument Editing 498Conditional Processing with If 499The Basic If Command 499Checking for Files and Folders 500Checking the Success of a Program 500Performing Several Commands After If 501Extended Testing 503Processing Multiple Arguments 503Working with Environment Variables 506Environment Variable Editing 507Processing Multiple Items with the for Command 508Using Multiple Commands in a for Loop 510Delayed Expansion 511Using Batch File Subroutines 513Prompting for Input 514Useful Batch File Techniques 515Processing Command-Line Options 515Managing Network Mappings 518Checking for Correct Arguments 519Keeping Log Files 51912 The MS-DOS Environment Under Windows 521MS-DOS Programs on Windows 521The Virtual DOS Machine 522MS-DOS and COMMAND.COM 524Configuring the MS-DOS Environment 525Window and Memory Options 526CONFIG.NT 532AUTOEXEC.NT 535MS-DOS Environment Variables 536MS-DOS and Networking 536Printing from MS-DOS 537Print Redirection 538Print Screen 538Configuring Serial Communications with MS-DOS 539Using Special-Purpose Devices for MS-DOS 539Managing MS-DOS Programs 540When Things Go Awry 54013 Command-Line Utilities 543Windows Command-Line Programs 543The Essential Command Line 544GUI Shortcuts 545General-Purpose Shell Programs 547findstr 547more 552tree 553xcopy 554File-Management Tools 557attrib 557cacls 559Management Power Tools 563driverquery 564runas 565tasklist 565taskkill 568sc 569Networking Utilities 571ipconfig 571net 574netstat 584nslookup 586ping 589tracert 591Getting More Utilities 592III Introduction to Windows PowerShell14 Windows PowerShell 593Introduction to Windows PowerShell 593An Object-Oriented Command Shell 593Based on the .NET Framework 596An Extensible Environment 597Obtaining Windows PowerShell 598The PowerShell Environment 600The PowerShell Command Prompt 601Command-Line Editing 602Copying and Pasting 603Pausing Output and Stopping a Runaway Program 604Command-Line Syntax 604Cmdlets and Objects and Scripts, Oh My! 607Getting Help 610Prompting to Complete Commands 612Aliases 612How to Get a Listing of Aliases 612How to Define a New Alias 613Navigating Directories and Other Locations 613PowerShell Security 615PowerShell Scripts and User Account Control 615Script Execution Policy 616PowerShell Profiles 61715 PowerShell Programming 621The Windows PowerShell Programming Language 621Windows PowerShell Syntax 622Comments 622Variables and Types 623Literal Values 625Object Methods and Properties 626Object Constructors 627String Interpolation 628Special Characters 629Here-Strings 629Releasing Variables 630Predefined Variables 630Arrays 632Constants 637Expressions 638Comparisons with Arrays 640String Operators 643The & (Execute) Operator 646Operator Precedence 646Assignment Operators 647Statement Values 648Casts 649Passing by Reference 650Hash Tables 650Flow of Control 653if 653while 654do…while and do…until 654for 655foreach 656switch 657break 660continue 661Program Blocks 661Exception Handling 662trap 662try/catch/finally 663throw 664Defining Functions 664Function Parameters 665Function Scope 668The Dot-Source Operator 668Variable Scope 669Pipeline Functions and Filters 671Splatting 672Using the .NET API 673Calling Static Member Functions 673Working with Strings 674Working with Dates and Times 676Converting Values 680Mathematical Functions 68016 Using PowerShell 683Real-World PowerShell 683Command-Line Techniques 685Generating Objects 685Filtering 686Taking Actions 689Formatting Cmdlet Output 690The -f Operator 690Working with Files and Folders 691Seeing Whether a File Exists 697Reading Text from Files 697Writing Text to Files 698Identifying Files by Size 698Creating Useful Scripts 699Comment Your Work! 700Command-Line Processing 700Writing Modules 701Exception Handling as an Exit Strategy 702Using Hash Tables 703The PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment 704Starting the PowerShell ISE 705Configuring the ISE 706Creating and Editing Scripts 707Running Scripts in the ISE 708Setting Breakpoints and Single-Stepping 709Interactively Examining and Changing Variables 710Conditional Breakpoints 711Remote and Background PowerShell 712Where to Go from Here 712IV AppendicesA VBScript Reference 713B CMD and Batch File Language Reference 725C Command Line Program Reference 735D Index of Patterns and Sample Scripts 747E Automation Object Reference 1 (Online)F WSF and WSC File Format Reference 1 (Online)G Creating Your Own Scriptable Objects 1 (Online)