Other Windows Stuff

Books, Software, Other Websites etc

Recommended Books...

Windows NT Shell Scripting
by Tim Hill.
The only book out there focussed purely on NT shell scripting, published back in 1998 so there is no mention of WSH or vbscripting or the more recent Resource Kit tools, despite this it's still the best introduction to building NT Shell scripts.
Download the sample scripts from the New Riders Website
See a sample chapter on TechNet.

Mastering Windows 2000 Server
by Mark Minasi et al.
A great all round guide - written with depth, clarity and a sense of humour. This book will get you up to speed on AD, DHCP, DNS and all the other new stuff including a few undocumented features.

For a taster of Mark's writing try subscribing to his newsletter at minasi.com

Mark Minasi's Windows 2000 Resource Kit
by Mark Minasi.
Mastering Windows 2000 Server (as described above) plus 3 other books covering, Windows 2000 Workstation, Registry and Active Directory.

Inside Active Directory: A System Administrator's Guide
by Sakari Kouti, Mika Seitsonen
Practical strategies for managing and Scripting Active Directory.
The preface, scripts and errata are at kouti.com

Also see
- Recommended WSH Books
- See Amazon items that are popular with the staff at Microsoft

Resource Kits + Downloadable updates

Windows XP Resource Kit

Version 2 now includes the essential Tools and Utilities for administering both XP and .Net server
New stuff includes some neat group policy tools and an updated RoboCopy. Many of the 120+ tools will also run on earlier versions of windows.
You can also download the tools (free)

Win 2000 Server Resource Kit

By Microsoft Corp
The essential Tools and Utilities plus more documentation than you'll have time to read.
There is also a version for Win 2000 Professional
A selection (but not all) of these tools can be downloaded (this includes a few bug fixes!)

Microsoft Windows Security Resource Kit
by Ben Smith et al, Microsoft Security Team
The definitive security reference for Microsoft operating systems, servers, clients, networks, and Internet services.
Deployment guidance along with security tools on CD.

NT 4 Workstation Resource Kit
By Microsoft Corp
The essential Tools and Utilities for NT 4. Not a current product but 2nd hand copies are available.
A selection (but not all) of the tools can be downloaded, there is also a download for NT Server
Also see Q234968 for errata and the final supplement ( bug fixes)

Operating System Licences

Windows 2000 and Windows XP
By Microsoft Corp
The various windows server and client licences can be found via the link above - note that due to the vagaries of Amazon discounts the full version may be cheaper than an upgrade.

Websites

Windows 2000 - Official Documentation and downloadable Help Files from Microsoft
Windows XP - Official Documentation from Microsoft
Steve Hardy - NT command line scripting
CommandLine.co.uk - Batch File Examples
FP Schultze - NT Batch files
Rob van der Woude.com - Batch files, VBS
Rick Lively - Commands and switches for every version of Windows and DOS.
JSIinc.com - NT Tipster
NT FAQ.com
NT BugTraq.com
Other Batch Programming sites
Google/microsoft - tailored to list only Microsoft related sites.

NT Utilities

SysInternals.com - pstools - an excellent collection of `Resource Kit - like` utilities.
Swynk.com - Utilities for remote install
Aida32.hu - Device Manager - Soft/Hardware info from the command line.
Bamboo Software - Scheduled Tasks and other command line Utils.
Somarsoft.com - Hyaena NT admin, Security tools
cmdtools.com - Wav.exe, EjectCD
poppeeper.com - Notify new email
CommandLine - NT Utils
David Thomas - Tamedos.com
PC-tools.net - Dir2Html, Trim
FP Westlake - Freeware
Alexander Frink - NT Security Utils, Logoff, Change password.
AnalogX.com - Obscure utilities you won't find elsewhere
Boot Floppy Disk
Execsoft UnDelete
Lost NT password

Command Line scripting Newsgroups

NT 4 and Win 2K - alt.msdos.batch.nt
Windows 2000 - microsoft.public.win2000.cmdprompt.admin
Win 95/DOS - alt.msdos.batch

For unix diehards...

Cygwin.com - BASH for Win32.
Other Win32 ports
GNU utils for Win 32
Korn Shell for NT (David Korn)

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