Scripting

Deployment Script for the Ctrl-Alt-Del IT Consultancy Tools

May 10, 2009

A good friend of mine, Warren Simondson from Ctrl-Alt-Del IT Consultancy, writes some awesome tools. There are a particular set I use for all Terminal/Citrix Server deployments I refer to as “User Self-Help Tools”. The below script is what I use to deploy them. Simply add the tools you wish to deploy to an array. [...]

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Using a Group Policy WMI filter to test for a registry value

May 10, 2009

I wanted a clean and simple way to prevent group policies applying during an automated build process. This is because it can potentially cause some of the components of the build process to fail. One of the last tasks to run on all servers built using my unattended build method will stamp the registry with [...]

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Automate the population of the user’s MS Office Credentials

May 10, 2009

This script will add the user’s correct Username and UserInitials to the MS Office registry key to prevent the first time prompt when a user runs up a program in the Office suite. It has been specifically designed to populate the values for multiple versions of Office as per the arrVersions array. Please review the [...]

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Enable Clock on Task Bar for Windows XP and 2003

May 10, 2009

Microsoft made it a real challenge to automate the enabling of the Clock on the taskbar. Some clever people worked out how this can be achieved several years ago by manipulating certain bits of the Settings binary value under the “Stuckrects2″ registry key. However, it would only take effect on the 2nd logon, because the [...]

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Mastering the default Explorer views for Windows XP and 2003

May 9, 2009

I finally mastered the Windows Explorer views under Windows XP and 2003! The following script is fully documented. Enjoy!

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VBScript best practices

December 6, 2008

If you can’t tell by now, I love scripting and coding There is nothing you can’t achieve, and no problem that cannot be resolved. But there is an art to doing it right. I start by drawing up an N-S (Nassi-Shneiderman) diagram or flow chart, and then writing it up in pseudocode, which allows me [...]

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The Challenges of Using VBScript to Create Shortcuts

December 3, 2008

Updated 8th December 2008… Today I was finalising the application deployment for a new XenApp farm. One of the final scripts to create was to place 9 shortcuts on the Desktop of the All Users profile. That’s quite a simple task, and for the most part some would probably just end up copying a bunch of [...]

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Using WMI to detect if running on a Windows 2003 or 2008 Terminal Server

December 3, 2008

How can I detect if a Windows 2003/2008 server is configured for Remote Administration or running the Terminal Server role/service?

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The Bees Knees script for installing VMware Tools

December 3, 2008

Updated 19th October 2010… This is what I call the “bees knees” of scripts for deploying VMware Tools. It will detect if it’s being installed on a Terminal/Citrix Server, and remove the appropriate components that may impede performance, etc.

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Implementing a fully automated unattended build process

November 18, 2008

The methodology I use for deploying and managing Citrix XenApp solutions has proven very successful over the years. To maintain a homogeneous environment conducive to stability, utilisation of a well-defined and automated server build process is a best practice. Automated server builds can save countless hours when deploying new servers, rebuilding a problematic one, or [...]

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