How to Import a Group Policy Object’s Settings into Another Group Policy Object

You may sometimes find it necessary to copy Group Policy Objects (GPOs) from one Active Directory domain to another. This can be useful when you want to apply the same policy settings to groups of users or computers in different domains within a multi-domain forest, or when you are performing a migration from one domain to another. GPOs can be backed […]

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How to reset pswds for AD user acct via PowerShell

Open PowerShell in admin mode and enter the following: Make sure to have a .csv file with a column name of “Username” and “Password”     Import-Module ActiveDirectory  $UserPwds = Import-CSV C:\users\msgeek\desktop\Users.CSV  ForEach($User in $UserPwds)  {        Set-adaccountpassword $User.UserName -reset -newpassword (Convertto-Securestring -asplaintext $($User.Password) -force)  }     

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Why does my Windows Service keep forgetting its password?

The mystery: “The service did not start due to a login failure” One of our customers reported a very strange problem last week. After about a day of running flawlessly, their windows service would suddenly fail to start after a reboot. The error reported by the Event Viewer hinted at a problem with the service user’s account: Trying to start the service […]

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Adding a Windows Server 2012 Domain Controller to an Existing Windows Server 2003 network

Prerequisites Download Windows Server 2012 R2. If you plan on completing this Step-By-Step in a virtual lab, it is recommended to download the FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 first. Check to ensure the Domain Functional Level is currently setup to at least Windows 2003 mode. This is the lowest required Domain Functional Level that would allow a Windows Server 2012 Domain Controller installation. Windows NT / 2000 Domain […]

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Active Directory Migration from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2012 R2

Transferring the Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) Role Open the Active Directory Users and Computers console on your new Windows Server 2012 R2 computer. Right click your domain and select Operations Masters in the sub menu. In the Operations Masters window, ensure the RID tab is selected. Select the Change button. Select Yes when asked about transferring the operations master role. Once the operations master role has successfully transferred, click OK to continue. Ensure the Operations […]

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Send Bulk Test Emails with PowerShell

I’m doing some load testing on one of my SMTP Smart Hosts, and needed to send a few thousand emails in a controlled space of time. I’ve written this quick little script to do so: $scriptSettings = @{ NumberOfEmails = 100 TimeBetweenEmails = 1 #in seconds MailDestination = ‘user.name@contoso.com’ MailSubject = ‘Test’ MailServer = ‘mail.contoso.com’ MailFrom = ‘no-reply@contoso.com’ } for […]

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