Scripting

Controlling the Starting of the Citrix Desktop Service (BrokerAgent)

March 4, 2019

UPDATED 31st January 2023 Added the DefaultDomainName value to the registry, which tells this script to set the Winlogon DefaultDomainName value in the registry once the autologon process has started. This allows us to use a local account for the Autologon process instead of a Domain service account, which won’t work if the Winlogon DefaultDomainName value […]

Read the full article →

Addressing the PowerShell Garbage Collection bug

September 25, 2017

There is a known bug where PowerShell does not correctly manage a garbage collection whilst executing a pipeline or loop of an object. Simply using [System.GC]::Collect() within the pipeline or loop does not work as expected. Memory continually grows until the pipeline or loop has completed. This becomes a serious problem if you’re script is […]

Read the full article →

Script to modify the defaultSecurityDescriptor attribute on the Group-Policy-Container schema class object

June 29, 2016

Last week I published an article about the changes in the behavior of Group Policy processing after the deployment of security update MS16-072 under KB3163622. It included a script to assist with the remediation of Group Policy permissions: Script to report on and remediate the Group Policy security change in MS16-072. Of course that’s not where it […]

Read the full article →

Script to report on and remediate the Group Policy security change in MS16-072

June 22, 2016

On June 14th 2016 Microsoft released security update MS16-072 under KB3163622 that changes the behavior of Group Policy processing so that user group policies are now retrieved by using the machine’s security context instead of the user’s security context. This is a by-design behavior change from Microsoft to protect computers from a security vulnerability. Update 23/06/2016: Microsoft […]

Read the full article →

Script to Import and Bind a Certificate to the Default Web Site

January 4, 2015

This Powershell script will import and bind a certificate to the Default Web Site. I use this script for Citrix StoreFront and Director deployments, but it’s written to be very flexible and versatile so can be used for other tasks. The original idea came from scripts written by Thomas Albaek and Jerome Quief for Citrix StoreFront. The way I’ve written […]

Read the full article →

Script to Change the Drive Letter of all CDROM and DVD Drives

January 4, 2015

This PowerShell script will change the drive letter of all CDROM & DVD Drives found starting from whatever is set as $LastDriveLetter variable, working backwards until it finds an available drive letter. Too many IT Pros leave CDROM/DVD Drives as the drive letter Windows assigns them when first detected, which is typically usually either D: or E:. Then […]

Read the full article →

Custom MDT Wizard For Network Settings

January 4, 2015

Setting a fixed IP Address during the MDT task sequences has always been ugly. It’s an area that I believe needs to be revisited by Microsoft. I don’t like the concept behind the “Apply Network Settings” task action. I don’t find it dynamic enough. In my opinion it’s too cumbersome and involved. The old “NICSettings_Definition_ENU.xml” […]

Read the full article →

Script to Create a Summary Overview and Full Report of all Contact Objects in a Domain

January 2, 2015

This PowerShell script is one of the most comprehensive you will find that provides a thorough overview and full report of all contact objects in a domain. It is the culmination of many Active Directory audit and reviews and therefore contains valuable input from many customers. A lot of thought has been put into the logic […]

Read the full article →

Script to Create an Overview and Full Report of all Group Objects in a Domain

January 2, 2015

This PowerShell script is one of the most comprehensive you will find that provides a thorough overview and full report of all group objects in a domain. It is the culmination of many Active Directory audit and reviews and therefore contains valuable input from many customers. A lot of thought has been put into the logic within […]

Read the full article →

Script to Create an Active Directory Schema Update Report

June 22, 2014

This PowerShell script was written by the awesome Ashley McGlone (AKA Goatee PFE) and published to the TechNet Script Center. It was also blogged on the Scriting Guy TechNet site. However, it did need some updates to keep up with the newer schema updates as well as adding the SCCM (ConfigMgr) versions. As Ashley has […]

Read the full article →