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Windows OS ​

Windows Quirks ​

Collection of windows quirks.

  1. Con, aux, prn, lst, com0 to com9, Lpt0 to ltp9, null cannot be used as name for files and folders in windows. Because all those names for device files in MS dos

  2. In Excel 29th February 1900 is a valid date, which is not

PowerShell ​

PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management program from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and the associated scripting language

PowerShell was made open-source and cross-platform with PowerShell Core, and can be installed on multiple operating systems

Install PowerShell Windows

PowerShell Remote Access Open new Remote Session:

powershell
Enter-PSSession -ComputerName <SERVER> -Credential <USERNAME>

Environment Variables ​

Environment Variables can be used in PowerShell with the prefix $env:

Example:

  • Variable: %APPDATA%
  • In PowerShell: $env:APPDATA
  • In CMD: echo %APPDATA%

List of environment variables ​

VariableDescription
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%C:\ProgramData
%APPDATA%C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming
%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%C:\Program Files\Common Files
%COMMONPROGRAMFILES(x86)%C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files
%CommonProgramW6432%C:\Program Files\Common Files
%COMSPEC%C:\Windows\System \cmdexe
%HOMEDRIVE%C:\
%HOMEPATH%C:\Users\{username}
%LOCALAPPDATA%C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local
%LOGONSERVER%\\{domain_logon_server}
%PATH%C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem
%PathExt%.com;.exe;.bat;.cmd;.vbs;.vbe;.js;.jse;.wsf;.wsh;.msc
%PROGRAMDATA%C:\ProgramData
%PROGRAMFILES%C:\Program Files
%ProgramW6432%C:\Program Files
%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%C:\Program Files (x86)
%PROMPT%$P$G
%SystemDrive%C:
%SystemRoot%C:\Windows
%TEMP%C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Temp
%TMP%C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Temp
%USERDOMAIN%Userdomain associated with current user
%USERDOMAIN_ROAMINGPROFILE%Userdomain associated with roaming profile
%USERNAME%{username}
%USERPROFILE%C:\Users\{username}
%WINDIR%C:\Windows
%PUBLIC%C:\Users\Public
%PSModulePath%%SystemRoot%\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\
%OneDrive%C:\Users\{username}\OneDrive
%DriverData%C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\DriverData
%CD%Outputs current directory path (cmd)
%CMDCMDLINE%Outputs command line used to launch current Command Prompt session (cmd)
%CMDEXTVERSION%Outputs the number of current command processor extensions (cmd)
%COMPUTERNAME%Outputs the system name
%DATE%Outputs current date (cmd)
%TIME%Outputs time (cmd)
%ERRORLEVEL%Outputs the number of defining exit status of previous command (cmd)
%PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER%Outputs processor identifier
%PROCESSOR_LEVEL%Outputs processor level
%PROCESSOR_REVISION%Outputs processor revision
%NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%Outputs the number of physical and virtual cores
%RANDOM%Outputs random number from 0 through 32767
%OS%Windows_NT

Chocolatey ​

Chocolatey is a machine-level, command-line package manager and installer for Windows software

Installation:

  1. Check the Execution Policy:

    • Run Get-ExecutionPolicy
    • If it returns Restricted, then run Set-ExecutionPolicy AllSigned or Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process

  2. Install Chocolatey:

    powershell
    Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

  3. Check if you install chocolatey

    powershell
    choco -?
  • Install software package:
powershell
choco install <package>

Certutil ​

Certutil.exe is a command-line program for Windows, installed as part of Certificate Services. You can use certutil.exe to dump and display certification authority (CA) configuration information, configure Certificate Services, backup and restore CA components, and verify certificates, key pairs, and certificate chains

powershell
# WIP
certutil -addstore -f "ROOT" new-root-certificate.crt
certutil -delstore "ROOT" serial-number-hex

WSL ​

Backup and Restore WSL ​

  • Listing Running Distros:

    powershell
    wsl --list --verbose

  • Starting/Restarting a Distro:

    powershell
    wsl --distribution DISTRO-NAME

  • Terminate a Running Distro:

    powershell
    wsl --t DISTRO-NAME

  • Terminate All Running Distros and WSL process:

    powershell
    wsl --shutdown

  • Backup a WSL Distro:

    powershell
    wsl --export (distribution) (filename.tar)

  • Restore a WSL Distro from Backup:

    powershell
    wsl --import (distribution) (install location) (file location and filename)

  • Link .ssh folder:

    bash
    sudo ln -s /mnt/c/Users/lempa/.ssh ~/.ssh

  • Link .kube folder:

    bash
    sudo ln -s /mnt/c/Users/lempa/.ssh ~/.ssh

File Permissions ​

Advanced settings configuration in WSL: WSL Config Parameters

Example: wsl.conf

bash
[automount]
enabled = true
options = "metadata,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=077,fmask=11,case=off"
mountFsTab = true

[interop]
enabled = false
appendWindowsPath = false

Networking ​

PortForwarding

  • Find IP Address

    powershell
    bash.exe -c "ifconfig eth0 | grep 'inet '"

  • Add PortForwarding

    powershell
    $port = 8080
$remoteaddr = 0.0.0.0
netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=$port connectport=$port connectaddress=$remoteaddr
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=$port dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=$port

  • Delete PortForwarding

    PowerShell
    $port = 8080
netsh interface portproxy delete v4tov4 listenport=$port
netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name=$port

  • Show PortForwarding

    powershell
    netsh interface portproxy show v4tov4

Linux desktop in WSL2 ​

With WSL2 it's possible to install and run a Linux desktop environment (XFCE). A tutorial on how to implement that, can be found here.

Windows Updates ​

  • Install Windows Update:
powershell
Install-Module -Name PSWindowsUpdate
  • List all Commands:
powershell
Get-Command -module PSWindowsUpdate

Get-WUInstall