Is there anyway to replicate the terminal services Change Port command permanently, currently when i use said command it has to be done each time i logon, is there a way that this can be achieved permanently without stepping through MMC?
kind regards
stefan
If I am understanding right, I think this MS Support article is what you need.
How to change Terminal Server's listening port
I have half an answer; anyone with more clues is welcome to add to this. Also, this has only been tested on Windows 7.
There is a value "PortName" in "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\<vendor-specific>\Device Parameters" that contains the port assignment. Change this to the desired COM port. A reboot may be required to make the assignment take, but once it takes, it'll stick.
Unfortunately, the "FriendlyName" value in "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\<vendor-specific>" does not change when you do this, and (at least for my hardware on Win7) only SYSTEM has the rights to change that value, or to change the permissions on that key.
The other option, as mentioned above, is to add the relevant command to the Run section.
(EDIT: Sorry; didn't notice the "registry is a no-go" comment below.)
Related
I'm working on a Perl script that needs to do a few system calls to obtain some system data. In order to parse the output of those calls reliably on any computer, I need to be sure the output of the call is set to English.
The problem I'm facing is that, for example in my PC, I get localized output from those commands. My Windows is setup in Spanish so, calls like systeminfo return data in Spanish.
Is there a command (or something else) I can run in a command call to make all system calls act like if the system was in English always, without having to modify anything in the system configuration?
Thanks in advance for your comments.
NOTES for bounty: The answer to this problem must not interfere with the system in any way. It should be a way to obtain english answers from system calls/commands that works in any machine without modifying its configuration, registry or else.
This solution allows you to make Command Prompt act in english. It does alter some registry keys but it also changes them back if you want. You can run the same commands that they put in the .bats to make the system go to english and them go back to localized.
If you're trying to run commands that require adminsitrator privileges, then you can include these calls in your program without problems.
HTH
I think the WMIC command is your best best. It has been a standard feature of Windows since Windows XP.
WMIC has full access to the Windows system (subject to user permissions, etc.), and has a locale option that selects the locale in effect (for the command) from the installed language packs.
The locale is selected from the list here.
To get the current username using US English (if it's available) you'd use wmic /locale:ms_409 netlogin get name
Through the WMI interface, you may not even need to localise the results (i.e.: with sufficient care, you may just get the raw data).
I set it up the way I want it. It keeps changing it (for example, setting up the NIC's and bonding settings in the shop for the install particulars, then RH keeps changing it. One of many many examples)
So, a setting that says 'I'll set it up the way I want, and if there's problems I'll deal with them. Quit trying to help me".
Thanks.
I am not sure that there is a "Help Me" setting. What you are describing sounds like configurations being overwritten by defaults or processes. For instance, network files will be overwritten if you have DHCP enabled. You can customize your /etc/resolv.conf file all you want, but if you have dhcp enabled, that file will be updated and your changes lost. (unless you make it read only)
Is this what you are talking about?
My university has quite a lot files (like past papers etc) which I need to be on the uni network to access them. I ssh, using port forwarding, into the network and set my browser (Firefox) to go through that port. I know it would be quite easy to write something in most languages that would enter the command into a terminal, but which language/method could I use to make this happen? I expect some sort of scripting language could but I really know nothing about them, but I'd be willing to learn one just to have a little fun with this.
I'm using a cygwin terminal on Windows 7, if that will make a difference.
To neaten up my question: Which language would be best to acheive the above effect? Not necessarily the best, just possible and relatively simple to learn. I used the word best so I suppose I'll put a subjective tag.
EDIT:
Just in case anyway wants to do this precise thing, I'll show my solution. I ended up using a batch file because a few things made the bash more difficult. Anyway, in order to SSH into the network and open a new firefox window with the proxy changed, I just have to open this batch file and enter my password.
cd C:/cygwin/bin
ssh -fND 9001 username#your.website.here
cd "C:/Program Files/Mozilla Firefox"
firefox -no-remote -P SSH_profile
Save as .bat
In order for this to work you need to set up a profile with name SSH_profile (or whatever) and set the connection settings to go through port 9001. The script will open use the ssh command in /cygwin/bin and enter in the information. You enter your password and then it goes to your firefox directory, uses those arguments which opens a separate profile with the connection settings changed (means you can view unaccessible files in one window and anything else you don't want to be on your uni network in another. Just close the windows when you are done.
Quite a specific case but I thought I'd share my answer in the hope of helping someone, some day.
Since you are using cygwin, write a bash shell script.. If you don't want to rely on bash, powershell would be what you want, although you could probably get it working using a batch file.
This is exactly the kind of thing shell scripting is for.
Edit
You can change the firefox settings on the command line by passing the -override flag. This will let you have special settings for the invoked process.
Is there any "Boot session ID" or (reliable) "Boot timestamp"?
For an installation I need to detect that a scheduled reboot took place indeed.
I guess I could do a dummy MoveFileEx() with MOVEFILE_DELAY_UNTIL_REBOOT, but i did hope for something easier.
(We have to install a 3rd party package that sometimes behaves erratically after an repair/update. In that state, accessing the device may even lock up the system)
(Windows XP, Vista, 7)
For things like this, WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) is often a good starting place. I know you can get current uptime directly through it, which may allow you to determine if a machine recently rebooted.
Here is a blog post with some code samples as well:
http://blogs.technet.com/heyscriptingguy/archive/2004/09/07/how-can-i-tell-if-a-server-has-rebooted.aspx
Depending on your implementation language, you probably just want to pull out the query code from the vbscript.
Apparently Windows has the equivalent of "uptime". Here's more info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555737
As I understand it, this should tell you how long ago the system was booted. Will that information solve your problem?
You could search the System event log for event 6009 from the EventLog source - this is the first event recorded after each reboot.
I think the best answer has already been given here: Find out if computer rebooted since the last time my program ran?
That seems to be the simplest way. Use GlobalFindAtom() to see if it exists and create it, with GlobalAddAtom(), if it doesn't. It will persist beyond the execution of your program. If your application runs again, and sees that the atom exists, then then it isn't the first run since reboot.
If the computer is restarted, then the atom won't exist, indicating that this is the first run of your program since the reboot.
Is it possible to programmatically disable UAC in Vista? Or, can I make my application run unrestricted by the UAC setting in any way? FYI, the application needs to mount hard drives on the fly, which is why I can't ask for UAC permission each time...
Update:
I'm looking for something in line with what Kosi2801 mentioned, basically to ask the user to always start the program in an 'elevated' mode. I'd want the permission to be a 1 time thing, I'm not saying that I programmatically disable UAC without asking permission first. I'm sure there are lots of programs that need to operate in this mode (especially hardware-related programs) so there should be some type of way to accommodate it.
Set the EnableLUA DWORD value in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System to 0 and reboot.
this will disable UAC without a problem, i would do it to all your users, with or without permission is up to you, because the vista UAC is so horrid that i do believe the less people that have it on the better (in vista only) it is now better in win7.
have fun with my registry trick :)
works in win7 as well, let me know how you got along with it.
You can't programmatically disable UAC, but you can force the program to run with elevated privileges from the start, so it doesn't prompt each time.
That will cause it to prompt once on startup, but not each time it needs access.
To do this, you'll need to create a manifest file and set <requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator">
See MSDN for details.
The purpose of UAC is to prevent executing unwanted applications. If it was possible to disable it programatically it would be worthless.
I posted a somewhat granular (but ugly) solution here
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5344021/bypass-uac-in-vbscript/34445992#34445992
It only works if you can kick off the application from the task scheduler. I have it running on two Windows 7 laptops. It is an administrative solution. You need administrator privilege to implement it. I use it for powershell and for my UPS power backup application. I suspect I'll find other uses.
I created a small application to do this, but basically there are 4 registry keys you need to set.
C# example:
Microsoft.Win32.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\System","EnableLUA", 0);
Microsoft.Win32.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\System", "ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin", 0);
Microsoft.Win32.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\System", "PromptOnSecureDesktop", 0);
Microsoft.Win32.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Action Center\\Checks\\{C8E6F269-B90A-4053-A3BE-499AFCEC98C4}.check.0", "CheckSetting", StringToByteArray("23004100430042006C006F00620000000000000000000000010000000000000000000000"), RegistryValueKind.Binary);
My application runs as a service every 5 minutes to "fight" Group Policy on this, which is an absolute annoyance for a developer machine.
https://github.com/zleight1/DisableUAC
Disabling UAC programmatically would defeat its purpose as this would then also be possible to be done by malware, worms, trojans and virusses and have no real security-effect at all.
You could require to run your application under the admin-account or (I think) let Microsoft somehow sign your application.
There may be other ways I'm not aware of, but none of them is programmatically!
UAC is a necessary evil alike the use of semaphores on a city. I suggest adapting to the new paradigm. I personally don't like UAC; but I understand the purpose and benefits. Unfortunately, we all created this monster. Lest's go back to 1983, do a short assessment of the changes throughout the years and then, we will understand. Of course, if the intent is for private use, anything is possible, as pointed above; but it would be risky and become a black hole liability.
That would defeat the object of UAC. So no, you can't.