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Questions tagged [windows]

Windows is the brand name for a series of operating systems from Microsoft. Current versions are Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2022. Instead of tagging a post "Windows", try to use a tag for a specific version.

Introduction

Windows is a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft. Originally a graphical add-on for Microsoft DOS, Windows is currently the market leader for operating systems on the desktop.

Today there are several branches of Windows:

  • Windows for desktops, notebooks, and tablets
  • Windows Server, for servers
  • Windows IoT, for embedded devices such as point of sale, kiosks, and signage

Tag recommendations

If your question is version-specific, consider using a version-specific tag.

17405 questions
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Delete Files Older than (x) Days?

What's a good Windows command line option for deleting all files in a given folder older than (n) days? Also note there may be many thousands of these files, so forfiles with a shell to cmd is not a great idea here.. unless you like spawning…
Jeff Atwood
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Is there a specific name for the ".\" (dot-slash) shorthand used to log onto a Windows machine?

I guess the title just about says it all. And yes, .\, not that obsolete \. thing. For those who don't know, .\ is a shorthand way of saying "this computer"*see "footnote" in Windows at a logon screen, which comes in very handy when you don't know…
HopelessN00b
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How can I determine my user account's OU in a Windows domain?

Is there any way (short of getting an active directory browser) to view my OU while logged in to the domain?
Luke
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Is there an equivalent of SU for Windows

Is there a way (when logged in as an administrator, or as a member of the administrators group) to masquerade as a non-privileged user? Especially in an AD environment. e.g., in the Unix world I could do the following (as root): # whoami root # su…
BIBD
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Can I override domain group policy with local group policy as a local admin?

I am trying to provision a few special case laptops. I would like to create a local guest account. That's fine but when I try to create it I prompted that my guest password does not meet the complexity requirements. I tried editing the local…
hkkhkhhk
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Is there a Windows command line utility to verify user credentials?

On a Windows platform, is there any command line utility that I can pass a username, password domain name to in order to verify the credentials (or possibly give an error that the account is disabled, doesn't exist or expired)?
wiki
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Does fail2ban do Windows?

Can anyone recommend a fail2ban-like tool for a Windows OS? I've got a couple of Windows Media servers that get hammered with brute force authentication attempts. I would like to plug these authentication failures into some kind of blocking tool.
nurikabe
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How do I track CPU Utilization for Window Services?

I am using the windows task manager to track CPU utilization. I notice that my applications are listed but Windows Services are not. For instance, total CPU usage is listed at 70% but the summary of the listed applications is only about 30%. I…
John
34
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4 answers

How do I add IPv6 address into System32\drivers\etc\hosts?

There is already by default, and it works (Win 7): ::1 localhost This also works (testing with ping): ::1 hosta But when I'm trying to add something non-loopback, it doesn't resolve: fe80::215:afff:fec6:ea64 realhost So…
Evgenyt
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What is a system state backup for?

The windows backup utility comes with an option to backup the system-state. What is this for? Has it a real utility? Can I recover that windows on another machine?
FerranB
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How to copy files to Amazon EC2 Windows instance from my local machine?

I have created a new Windows instance on Amazon EC2. I want to copy some files from my local machine to the instance. How do I go about it?
Mayuresh
33
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2 answers

Ctrl + Alt + Del prior to Windows 10 logon no longer needed?

I was running Windows 7 at work; power up the desktop pc and always had to hit Ctrl + Alt + Del before entering your username and password. I am now running Windows 10 at work, Windows 10 Enterprise if I look on my PC. I no longer have to hit Ctrl +…
ron
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How to convert line breaks in a text file between the Windows and Unix/Linux formats?

How do I convert line breaks in a text file between the Windows and Unix/Linux formats? I have a *nix environment, but that I need to import and export data with the Windows-style line breaks. I thought there would be a standard utility or command…
alexeit
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Windows serial console

How do I enable a serial console on Windows (2008 and/or 2012) such that I can log into it like the Good Old Days of Real Servers and issue provisioning commands, ideally via PowerShell? $ cu -l /dev/ttyS0 Connected. Welcome to…
MikeyB
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Network Service account accessing a folder share

I have a simple scenario. There's an application on ServerA that runs under the built-in Network Service account. It needs to read and write files on a folder share on ServerB. What permissions do I need to set on the folder share on ServerB? I…
whatknott
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