Start a stopped service on multiple devices using Powershell

Following on from our recent guide about restarting a service on multiple devices, we were also asked about starting a stopped service using a similar method. This is pretty simple and can be carried out in almost exactly the same way. Powershell Script So to carry this out, you should create a txt file with the list of device names …

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How to create correct partitions to deploy a Windows image to a UEFI based device

We have recently come across an issue when trying to deploy a test virtual machine using Hyper-V (Generation 2 – UEFI) that once you have selected your task sequence, you get an error and the task sequence bombs out. This is because we had not setup the correct drive partitions to be able to deploy using Generation 2 technology. To …

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Restart a service on multiple devices using Powershell

We recently had a requirement to restart a single service on multiple devices across a single network. At first, it was going to be the job of the helpdesk to logon to each device and manually restart this service. However, as usual, there is always a way of using Powershell to speed up such tasks. Powershell Script This simple Powershell …

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Xbox Live Gold Free Games for February 2018

So it’s the start of a new month and Xbox Live Gold members can again download some free games! Not too bad a month this time with Assassin’s Creed and Crazy Taxi available, both pretty good games and worth a free download at least. The full set of available games in November are as below: Xbox One: Shadow Warrior – Available …

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SCCM – Create a device collection based on Exchange Server role

Following on from our recent posts for Configuration Manager collection queries, we have another one here for all devices that are Microsoft Exchange servers. Go ahead and create a new device collection and then use this query: select * from SMS_R_System inner join SMS_G_System_SERVICE on SMS_G_System_SERVICE.ResourceId = SMS_R_System.ResourceId where SMS_G_System_SERVICE.Name like “Microsoft Exchange%” Save the query and you should now …

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Enable Windows Remote Desktop Protocol and Set Firewall Rules using PowerShell

If you are using Windows Server 2012 or newer, or if you are just using Windows Server Core, then this Powershell script will help you out by enabling Remote Desktop and setting the correct firewall inbound rules. Simply open up an elevated Powershell command box, or use Powershell ISE and use the two scripts below, one to enable Remote Desktop …

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SCCM – Create a device collection based on Domain Controller role

We have another WQL query here for you today to enable you to create a Configuration Manager collection based on whether a device is used as a domain controller. Go ahead and create a new device collection and then use this query: Save the query and you should now see a collection of all your domain controllers. Just be careful …

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SCCM – Hardware and Client Version SQL Query

If you are looking for a SQL query to pull back hardware inventory information and the SCCM client version, then you can use the below to pull all this information together. SELECT S.Name0 as Name, S.Client_Version0 as [Cient Version], OS.Caption0 as [Operating System], CS.Manufacturer0 as Manufacturer, CS.Model0 as Model, PB.SMBIOSBIOSVersion0 as BIOS, PR.Name0 as CPU, SUM(PM.Capacity0) as Memory, SUM(LD.Size0)as [Disc …

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SCCM SQL Query for Software not in Add Remove Programs

If you are looking for an SCCM SQL query to create a report to search for machines which do not have a particular software installed, you can use the following: Then you can use the variable @displayname to choose from a drop down of software that is in the SCCM database pulled from client machines. The query you can use …

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Video Demo – Windows Updates Stuck on Shut Down or Reboot Fix

We also have written guides for the different versions of Windows available here: Windows 10 Windows 7 Windows 7 Alternative Method Feedback We would love to hear your feedback on whether any of these methods helped you at all. If they have, please feel free to go ahead and leave us a message below using our comments section.

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SCCM – Differences between Add Remove Programs Database Tables

We had seen a few posts around the internet where people are asking the differences between the various Add_Remove_Programs data within the System Center Configuration Manager database. So we thought we would post a quick reference here to confirm which table of data means what. There are five different tables of data available to you for Add Remove Programs, knowing …

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