Windows Tip Sheet
Half a Dozen One Liners
Stop me if you've heard these before: more command line script tips.
- By Jeffery Hicks
- 11/08/2006
This week, I bring you more tips from my Las Vegas 2006 Techmentor command
line scripting session.
1. Create a user account fast with the Net User command:
net user jsample P@ssw0rd /add
This creates a local account. If you type:
net user jsample P@ssw0rd /add /domain
the account will be created in your domain. Use /domain, do not substitute
your domain name. You'll find the account in the Users container of Active
Directory. It will be disabled and have no attributes defined. Still,
if you need to create a bunch of accounts for testing or something, using
Net User is a fast way.
2, 3. Two simple ones: Type date /t to
get the current date. Type time /t to get
the current time.
4. Use Pushd . to store your current directory. Go ahead and
change to as many other directories as you like. When you are ready to
return to the original directory, type Popd
and there you are.
5. Get network and computer information, including the MAC address
of remote systems by typing
nbtstat -A remote.ip.address
This is a nifty way to identify a machine and sometimes an owner when
all you have is an IP address. Be sure to use capital A with the IP address.
6. If you need a quick whole number calculation, use the command
prompt and the SET command like this:
set /a 1024*32
which will return 32768. This won't work with numbers like 10.4 or 3.14.
You can also do division (set /a 512/64). Be aware that any results that
aren't whole numbers are rounded.
If you have a command line tip that saves you a few keystrokes or from
needing to grab a mouse, I hope you'll share it with me and the readers
of MCPmag.com.
About the Author
Jeffery Hicks is an IT veteran with over 25 years of experience, much of it spent as an IT infrastructure consultant specializing in Microsoft server technologies with an emphasis in automation and efficiency. He is a multi-year recipient of the Microsoft MVP Award in Windows PowerShell. He works today as an independent author, trainer and consultant. Jeff has written for numerous online sites and print publications, is a contributing editor at Petri.com, and a frequent speaker at technology conferences and user groups.