This category contains Windows Server tutorials and guides covering installation, configuration, and troubleshooting across multiple versions including 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2025. Designed for system administrators and IT professionals managing server environments.
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 … Read more
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. … Read more
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, … Read more
If you are looking for an SQL query to use against your System Center Configuration Manager database to give you the ability to report on server CPU information, this is the query for you! You can use the below to get various information on the CPU or you can use SELECT * to bring back … Read more
Does your 1st line help desk get fed up of having to reset end users passwords “because they didn’t know their password was expiring?” Well, let us show you a way that you can utilise System Center Orchestrator (SCORCH), PowerShell and Active Directory Web Services (ADWS) to email all end users a few days before … Read more
When using System Center Service Manager (SCSM) you can sometimes end up with Incidents, Change Management items or Service Requests that need to be deleted individually. You an carry this out by using a combination of SMLets and PowerShell. INSTRUCTIONS The first thing you will need to do is to download and install SMLets on your … Read more
If you are getting Group Policies that are not applying to a users machine, you may well come across this error: The processing of Group Policy failed. Windows could not apply the registry-based policy settings for the Group Policy object LocalGPO. Group Policy settings will not be resolved until this event is resolved. This can … Read more
This guide assumes that you use Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT build 8443) or Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) capturing Windows. You capture a task sequence, and the capture computer does not have Internet access. When the task sequence is running and the computer is checking for updates (pre-application installation), the installation freezes for 2 … Read more
If you are using Windows Server 2012 or 2016 then you may want to change your server from GUI to Core for security purposes. To do this, open up an elevated Powershell command box and run the following command: Uninstall-WindowsFeature User-Interfaces-Infra This will run through the uninstall of the GUI process and once complete, you … Read more
If you are using Microsoft Server 2016 you will notice that it is now in the server core setup. If you have experience of using Server Core then you should be fine, but if you have not, it can be a little daunting. Is the simple process of adding a new virtual hard disk completely … Read more
Administrative Templates files are divided into .admx files and language-specific .adml files for use by Group Policy administrators. The changes that are implemented in these files let administrators configure the same set of policies by using two languages. Administrators can configure policies by using the language-specific .adml files and the language-neutral .admx files. Administrative Templates … Read more
When you create a new System Center Orchestrator Runbook and you have checked it in ready to use, you may not see it in systems that will want to use it, like Configuration Manager, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit or Service Manager. This is due to authorisation cache not updating and as so, not showing the newly … Read more