Hi,
I will describe here how to create a Windows PE based boot media, a USB Stick or a boot CD, with some customization:
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Hi,
since ESXi 5.1 it is no more possible to create or clone a disk by using the 2gbsparse disk format. Because it is not supported as a VMFS vitual disk format. This disk format is only part of the Desktop Products of VMware, like VMware Workstation or VMware Player.
However in earlier version the command line tool vmkfstools could create disks and clone disks in such format. If you try this in ESXi 5.1 or later version a
~ # vmkfstools -i Disk.vmdk clone.vmdk -d 2gbsparse “The system cannot find the file specified.”
error occurs.
Continue reading VMware ESXi: Error while cloning a Disk to 2gbsparse format
Hi everybody,
here are some fundamentals to handle XML Files with powershell.
The following commands uses these XML File
<config description="Config file for testing">
<system description="Document Management">
<document authorFirstName="Kirk" authorSurname="Author1" date="20130503 01:15:43" description="Document Hammet" index="3">C:\temp\doc0001.txt</document>
<document authorFirstName="Lars" authorSurname="Author5" date="20130503 10:05:42" description="Document Ulrich" index="4">C:\temp\doc0002.txt</document>
<document authorFirstName="Cliff" authorSurname="Author5" date="20130612 11:54:33" description="Document Burton" index="6">C:\temp\doc0051.txt</document>
<document authorFirstName="Jason" authorSurname="Author2" date="20130806 04:02:41" description="Document Newsted" index="1">C:\temp\doc0041.txt</document>
<document authorFirstName="Robert" authorSurname="Smith" date="20131202 07:12:03" description="Document Trujillo" index="2">C:\temp\doc0012.txt</document>
<document authorFirstName="James" authorSurname="Smith" date="20130211 09:05:59" description="Document Hetfield" index="5">C:\temp\doc0003.txt</document>
</system>
</config>
Creating a XML File, create a document root, create subelements, add and set attributes, save the file
# Create a new XML File with config root node
[System.XML.XMLDocument]$oXMLDocument=New-Object System.XML.XMLDocument
# New Node
[System.XML.XMLElement]$oXMLRoot=$oXMLDocument.CreateElement("config")
# Append as child to an existing node
$oXMLDocument.appendChild($oXMLRoot)
# Add a Attribute
$oXMLRoot.SetAttribute("description","Config file for testing")
[System.XML.XMLElement]$oXMLSystem=$oXMLRoot.appendChild($oXMLDocument.CreateElement("system"))
$oXMLSystem.SetAttribute("description","Document Management")
# Save File
$oXMLDocument.Save("c:\temp\config.xml")
Loading an existing XML File, read an element, do some XPATH queries
Continue reading Powershell: Some basic XML handling with Powershell and .NET
Hi,
a short post. It describes how to create a new local Windows User account and add them to an existing local user group.
First of all, include the following references in your project:
using System.DirectoryServices; using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
Create a new User with local administrator rights.
// define Username and Password
const string USER_NAME = "NewAdmin";
char[] aPWchars = { 'P', 'a', 's', 's' , 'w', 'o', 'r', 'd'};
System.Security.SecureString oPW = new System.Security.SecureString();
foreach (char cChr in aPWchars) {
oPW.AppendChar(cChr);
}
// Get Computerobject via ADSI
DirectoryEntry oComputer = new DirectoryEntry("WinNT://" + Environment.MachineName + ",computer");
// New User
DirectoryEntry oNewUser = oComputer.Children.Add(USER_NAME, "user");
// define Pointer to a string
IntPtr pString = IntPtr.Zero;
// Pointer to password
pString = Marshal.SecureStringToGlobalAllocUnicode(oPW);
// Set password
oNewUser.Invoke("SetPassword", new object[] { Marshal.PtrToStringUni(pString) });
// Add a description
oNewUser.Invoke("Put", new object[] { "Description", "New Administrator" });
// Save changes
oNewUser.CommitChanges();
// Cleanup and free Password pointer
Marshal.ZeroFreeGlobalAllocUnicode(pString);
// Get Group
DirectoryEntry oGroup = oComputer.Children.Find("Administrators", "group");
// And add the recently created user
oGroup.Invoke("Add", new object[] { oNewUser.Path.ToString() });
Michael