Tag windows

How to run any program in Task Scheduler

Windows Task Scheduler is great for running background tasks, but a little confusing. If you just want to trigger a Windows batch file periodically you don’t need this guide. This guide will explain how to run any software without using…

Super simple Windows 10 and Windows 11 automated installation

Update 11 October 2021: This autounattend.xml script also works for Windows 11 version 21H2. There are a lot of ways you can automate a Windows installation. The most obvious and simple way is using an answer file. So what’s an answer file? A Windows answer file is basically just an XML file that gives Windows instructions on how and what to install. So you don’t have to sit and click next, next, next… 😉 When installing Windows you just place the answer file at the root of the installation media and name it autounattend.xml. Of course, the file has to be a valid XML answer file for it to work. You can’t just put anything in it. Here is an example of an automated installation of Windows 10 using an answer file. Here is an example of the same script installing Windows 11. Making an answer file can be a little complicated and involves using Microsoft System Image Manager. If you want you can create one from scratch, but in this post, I am just going to share my go-to script. The following code is a simple file that will: Make a local Administrator called “User” without any password. Set the keyboard and regional settings to Norwegian. There is no activation, no license, no nothing. Just save the file as autounattend.xml and place it at the root of your Windows installation media. The only thing that is not automated is which disk Windows should be installed on. I intentionally skipped that step because of the risk of accidentally deleting a drive/partition.

WSUS Offline Update tutorial

“WSUS Offline Update” also known as “wsusoffline” is a Microsoft Windows application that can download Windows updates to a local folder so you can install those updates later on another offline computer. It is a great way to update computers…

Print list of files and folders in Windows

Here are a few ways you can get a list of files and folders on a computer. I won’t get into specifics on how to use them. I just wanted to give you the options. 😇 The DIR command (Simple way to list files and folders) Documentation: Microsoft Docs Articles: How-To Geek, SS64, Computer Hope, windows-commandline Advantages: Good if you just need list of files, types, sizes etc… Disadvantages: Not good if you need a visual representation of the file hierarchy. GUI Alternative: JR Directory Printer does pretty much the same with a GUI. Karen’s Directory Printer offers a little more options, but it is not portable. There is also DirLister that can export to Excel and other formats, but it is buggy and adds annoying text after each file/folder. TREE command (Make a directory structure tree) Documentation: Microsoft Docs Articles: SS64, Computer Hope Advantages: Very simple and limited. Good if you just need a tree of the directory structure Disadvantages: Not good if you just need a list of files, advanced filtering or if you need something more visually pleasing. Snap2HTML (Software to make dynamic HTML) Documentation: GitHub Download: Snap2HTML Advantages: A beautiful and eloquent way to share complex directory structures with other non-technical people. Also, the software is portable, free and allows you to export to CSV or JSON. Disadvantages: Requires HTML and a web browser. The template looks a bit outdated, but you can change it if you know HTML.