Windows Administration¶
Core tools and commands for administering Windows hosts and servers.
Why It Matters¶
Day-to-day Windows administration leans on a small set of built-in consoles and commands. Knowing them well, and increasingly their PowerShell equivalents, is what makes routine work fast and scriptable.
Reference¶
Built-in Consoles¶
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
lusrmgr.msc |
Local users and groups |
services.msc |
Services |
eventvwr.msc |
Event Viewer |
gpedit.msc |
Local Group Policy |
msconfig |
Startup and boot configuration |
msinfo32 |
System information |
resmon / perfmon |
Resource and performance monitoring |
compmgmt.msc |
Computer Management (several snap-ins in one) |
Useful Commands¶
Get-ComputerInfo # system summary
Get-CimInstance Win32_BIOS # BIOS, including SerialNumber
Get-Service | Where Status -eq Running
Get-Process | Sort CPU -Descending | Select -First 10
Get-HotFix | Sort InstalledOn -Descending # installed patches
wmic bios get serialnumber :: legacy; use Get-CimInstance on current Windows
systeminfo
Security Features to Know¶
| Feature | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Credential Guard | Protects derived domain credentials in a virtualized container |
| AMSI | Lets AV inspect scripts and in-memory content |
| Windows Defender / Microsoft Defender | Built-in antivirus and EDR |
| AppLocker / WDAC | Application control |
How I Use It¶
I reach for PowerShell first and the MMC consoles when a GUI is faster. The host scripts in this toolkit wrap the common information-gathering and remote-management tasks so they are repeatable across many machines.