Server Fault Stack Exchange
Server Fault Stack Exchange

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
60
votes
9 answers

How to zero fill a virtual disk's free space on windows for better compression?

How to zero fill a virtual disk's free space on windows for better compression? I would like a simple open source tool (or at least free) for that. It should probably write an as big as possible file full of 0and erase it afterwards. Only one pass…
mit
  • 1,914
  • 6
  • 29
  • 42
59
votes
5 answers

How to search Powershell command history from previous sessions

I use current Windows 10 with Powershell 5.1. Often, I want to look up commands I have used in the past to modify and/or re-run them. Inevitably, the commands I'm looking for were run in a previous or different PowerShell window/session. When I…
shawmanz32na
  • 733
  • 1
  • 7
  • 6
58
votes
2 answers

What are windows 7 N/KN/VL editions?

We're subscribed to MSDN at work and I've noticed that among the various windows "editions" there are downloads such as "Windows 7 Ultimate N" and "Windows 7 Ultimate N and KN". What are these versions and what is the difference between "regular"…
Dror Helper
  • 755
  • 2
  • 9
  • 9
58
votes
11 answers

Good reasons to keep 32-bit Microsoft Windows desktop OSes

This question is from 2012. If you are reading this in 2019 or later, then the answer really is: No. There is no good reason in 2019 to be maintaining 32-bit desktop operating systems. Original question below: Server software has been 64-bit only…
Mark Henderson
  • 68,823
  • 31
  • 180
  • 259
57
votes
11 answers

Unable to install .net 3.5 on Windows server 2012

I am trying to install .Net 3.5 on Windows Server 2012 and it constantly keeps failing. I am using "Add or Remove Features" and my Internet is already there. I've read that if alternate source couldn't be found, the installer tries to download…
Tim Tom
  • 681
  • 2
  • 7
  • 8
56
votes
11 answers

Is there an equivalent to ssh-copy-id for Windows?

Is there any equivalent or port of ssh-copy-id available for Windows? That is, is there an easy way to transfer SSH keys from a local machine to a remote server under Windows? In case it helps, I'm using Pageant and Kitty (a Putty alternative)…
Matt V.
  • 837
  • 1
  • 9
  • 12
55
votes
2 answers

CNAME record/alias in windows hosts file?

Is it possible to enter some sort of CNAME record or alias in the windows hosts file (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts)? Basically I want to forward all requests made to host A to host B, without having to hard code the IP address (which…
MEMark
  • 651
  • 1
  • 5
  • 8
54
votes
4 answers

Is there a built-in command-line tool under Windows like wget/curl?

I come from a Linux/Unix background and I have been wondering if Windows has a binary that can download files from the console. I would like to automate a certain process and one of my requirements it to not install much software, but use the…
carlspring
  • 713
  • 1
  • 7
  • 12
53
votes
8 answers

On IIS, how do I patch the SSL 3.0 POODLE vulnerability (CVE­-2014­-3566)?

How do I patch CVE­-2014­-3566 on a Windows Server 2012 system running IIS? Is there a patch in Windows Update, or do I have to do a registry change to disable SSL 3.0?
Eric Lathrop
  • 673
  • 1
  • 5
  • 9
53
votes
50 answers

Tools a Windows administrator cannot live without

As a Windows administrator, what tools do you feel you cannot live without?
John T
  • 1,059
  • 1
  • 15
  • 19
53
votes
2 answers

TCP/IP ports necessary for CIFS/SMB operation

If I want to allow Windows networked drives between two firewalled computers, do I need to open ports 137-139, or is port 445 sufficient? I have to submit a form and get approval to open firewall ports, and I don't want to ask for more open ports…
Jonathan
  • 633
  • 1
  • 5
  • 5
53
votes
7 answers

How can I find the LDAP server in the DNS on Windows?

For Linux, this command should return the DNS record for the LDAP server host -t srv _ldap._tcp.DOMAINNAME (found at Authenticating from Java (Linux) to Active Directory using LDAP WITHOUT servername) How could I get the same on the Windows command…
mjn
  • 933
  • 2
  • 12
  • 26
53
votes
4 answers

How can I find out what is causing interrupts on Windows?

Occasionally I come across servers (Windows 2003 and 2008) with high processor % interrupt time. Is there a way to see what program or device is causing the interrupts?
jlupolt
  • 914
  • 1
  • 7
  • 10
52
votes
10 answers

Windows TCP Window Scaling Hitting plateau too early

Scenario: We have a number of Windows clients regularly uploading large files (FTP/SVN/HTTP PUT/SCP) to Linux servers that are ~100-160ms away. We have 1Gbit/s synchronous bandwidth at the office and the servers are either AWS instances or…
SmallClanger
  • 9,127
  • 1
  • 32
  • 47
52
votes
4 answers

Linux/Windows/Unix/... file names: Which characters are allowed? Which are unescaped?

Which characters are allowed and which of them must be escaped on the command line in different operating systems?
java.is.for.desktop
  • 929
  • 3
  • 9
  • 15
1 2 3
…
99 100