How can I delete %appdata%, etc.. folders remotely from a txt list of computers? - vbscript

Question

I am trying to delete multiple folders that will be read from a txt file. I am not sure how to get it to loop through the computers in the text file while pulling the currently logged on user. I tried some code but not experience enough to merge it with what I currently have.
I have a working script that deletes folders from a list of computers in a txt file except for the ones with %APPDATA%, etc... which is why I am using vbscript.
Just to note, I am unable to use any software other than what comes installed with Windows 7. This eliminates psexec, etc...
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
InputFile = "C:\complist.txt"
Const DeleteReadOnly = True
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(InputFile)
Do While Not (objFile.AtEndOfStream)
strComputer = objFile.ReadLine
On Error Resume Next
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
objFSO.DeleteFolder("\\" & strComputer & "\c$\test")
objFSO.DeleteFolder("\\" & strComputer & "\c$\%APPDATA%\PGP Corporation")
objFSO.DeleteFolder("\\" & strComputer & "\c$\%LOCALAPPDATA%\PGP Corporation")
objFSO.DeleteFolder("\\" & strComputer & "\c$\%USERPROFILE%\Documents\PGP Corporation")
objFSO.DeleteFolder("\\" & strComputer & "\c$\%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\PGP Corporation")
objFSO.DeleteFolder("\\" & strComputer & "\c$\%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\PGP")
objFSO.DeleteFolder("\\" & strComputer & "\c$\%CommonProgramFiles%\PGP Corporation")
objFSO.DeleteFolder("\\" & strComputer & "\c$\%ProgramFiles%\PGP Corporation")
objFSO.DeleteFolder("\\" & strComputer & "\c$\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\PGP Corporation")
Err.clean
Loop
MsgBox "Done"

Answer 1

First and foremost, environment variables don't work in FileSystemObject methods. At all. You need to expand them to actual paths, e.g. like this:
Set sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
dir = sh.ExplandEnvironmentStrings("\\" & strComputer & "\c$\%APPDATA%\PGP Corporation")
objFSO.DeleteFolder dir
Also, the variables are local to the user and system running the script, i.e. the above would resolve %APPDATA% of your user on the system where you run the script, not on the system specified by strComputer. You'd need to read the variables from the registry of the remote host, e.g. like this:
Set reg = GetObject("winmgmts://" & strComputer & "/root/default:StdRegProv")
HKLM = &h80000002
key = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion"
vn = "CommonFilesDir"
rc = reg.GetStringValue(HKLM, key, vn, val)
If rc = 0 Then
commonProgramFiles = val
Else
WScript.Echo "Cannot read value from remote registry (" & rc & ")."
End If
Also, the location where/how some of the variables (specifically %ALLUSERSPROFILE%) are stored in the registry differs across Windows versions. In Windows XP %ALLUSERSPROFILE% is a combination of the 2 registry values ProfilesDirectory and AllUsersProfile, whereas in Windows 7 it's derived from the registry value ProgramData (all located in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList).
And last, but not least, several of your variables are user-specific (namely %APPDATA%, %LOCALAPPDATA% and %USERPROFILE%), so you'd need to process them for each user on the remote host.
An (arguably less precise, but more straightforward) approach would be to read the location of the profile folder from the remote registry and then process all subfolders of that folder on the remote host.
Set reg = GetObject("winmgmts://" & strComputer & "/root/default:StdRegProv")
HKLM = &h80000002
key = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList"
vn = "ProfilesDirectory"
rc = reg.GetStringValue(HKLM, key, vn, profilesDir)
If rc <> 0 Then
WScript.Echo "Cannot read profiles directory remote registry (" & rc & ")."
WScript.Quit rc
End If
'ugly workaround, b/c %SystemDrive% cannot be determined from the registry
profilesDir = Replace(profilesDir, "%SystemDrive%", "C$")
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
For Each sf In fso.GetFolder("\\" & strComputer & "\" & profilesDir).SubFolders
dir = fso.BuildPath(sf.Path, "Documents")
If fso.FolderExists(dir) Then fso.DeleteFolder dir
...
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