chkntfs in Windows: control the boot-time disk check
A machine reboots and Windows starts checking a volume for errors before the desktop appears. On a workstation that is an inconvenience.…
Guide
Step-by-step guides: how a command or feature works and how to use it on real Windows, Active Directory, VMware and Linux systems.
pushd and popd: CMD Directory Stack Explained
pushd and popd are two CMD built-in commands that let you save your current directory to a stack, navigate elsewhere, and return…
nltest command in Windows: domain controller discovery and trust diagnostics
nltest is a command-line utility that communicates directly with the Netlogon service on Windows. It gives system administrators direct access to domain…
TITLE command in Windows: label your terminals and track script progress
The TITLE command changes the title bar text of a Command Prompt window. You probably already know that. But there is more…
ren command in Windows: rename files and folders from CMD
ren renames a file or a folder from the command line. It has existed since MS-DOS, it takes no switches, and it…
Using SUBST to Create Virtual Drives in Windows
A deeply nested project path is tedious to type and awkward in scripts that expect a short root. subst maps that folder…
mklink in Windows: symlinks, junctions, and when to use each
mklink is a built-in Windows CMD command that creates symbolic links, hard links, and directory junctions - pointers that let the operating…
Discovering Certificate Authorities (CAs) in Your Domain
You are on a domain-joined Windows machine, someone asks you to submit a CSR to the CA, and nothing in front of…
certutil -encode and -decode: Base64 encoding files from the Windows command line
certutil is a built-in Windows utility primarily used for certificate management, but it also supports Base64 encoding and decoding of files directly…
Internet speed tests in Windows from CMD and PowerShell
Testing a connection through a browser means loading a page, waiting for ads and reading a gauge that rounds everything. On a…