Active Directory, RDS, Hyper-V, IIS and PowerShell guides for Windows Server admins.
22 posts
Run Windows Server Core without the desktop — sconfig basics, PowerShell remoting, Windows Admin Center, adding roles, and the gotchas that catch GUI admins.
Create and manage scheduled tasks on Windows from PowerShell — New-ScheduledTaskAction, triggers, run as SYSTEM, S4U logon, XML export, and the gotchas.
Free bare-metal backup on Windows Server with wbadmin and Windows Server Backup — one-off image, scheduled policy, and the full WinRE recovery drill.
Set up IIS from PowerShell without the bloat — install only the role services you need, create an app pool and site, bind HTTPS, harden, verify. No clicking through the GUI.
Install Hyper-V and build your first VM on Windows Server entirely from PowerShell — switch, VHD, ISO, boot order, Secure Boot, checkpoints. The commands I run.
Set up the Windows Server DHCP role end to end in PowerShell — install, authorise in AD, scope, options, reservations, failover. The gotchas that cost real time.
Lock down RDP on Windows Server — enforce NLA, restrict the firewall to specific IPs, audit failed logons, kill the bot brute-force traffic. The settings I run on every internet-exposed server.
Three legacy protocols still enabled by default on Windows Server that no modern network needs. PowerShell one-liners to disable each, the rare exceptions, and how to verify.
Enable BitLocker on a Windows Server OS volume via PowerShell — TPM unlock, recovery key handling, the boot quirks specific to Server, and how to unlock from WinPE.
Alternative to the Utilman trick — replace sethc.exe to get SYSTEM-level cmd at the Windows lockscreen. When to use it, how to harden against it.
The GPOs every domain should have — password policy, account lockout, audit, RDP restrictions, SMBv1 / LLMNR / NTLMv1 kill, BitLocker enforcement. The defaults are not enough.
Build a sane AD structure — OU layout, user and group provisioning via PowerShell, first GPO. The patterns that scale from 10 users to 1000.