Clearing a Stuck Print Spooler with PowerShell
Stop the spooler, clear out the wedged job files, and bring it back up, with -WhatIf and an option to leave recent jobs alone.
Spring cleaning for Windows PCs · Note 5 ↗EXPLORE THE NOTEBOOK
Tech.
Notes from the command line, the workbench, and the vintage computer shelf.
172published notes
Every note in Tech
Newest first · 14 / 15
Clear a Dell Hard Drive Password with PowerShell and ConfigMgr
Remove the internal drive password from Dell PCs with Dell's PowerShell provider, without ever writing the password into a script or package.
Dell BIOS passwords, without the pain · Note 3 ↗
Set Extension Attributes on Entra ID Users with PowerShell
Write extensionAttribute1-15 on cloud-only Entra ID users from a CSV, with a clear note for every synced account it can't touch.
The Microsoft Graph toolbox · Note 2 ↗
Defender for Endpoint vs. Intune: Who Actually Manages the Device?
Onboarding to Defender for Endpoint and enrolling in Intune are two different things, and you almost never have to offboard one to get the other.
Getting devices into Intune · Note 6 ↗
Rotate Local Admin Passwords Across the Fleet with Windows LAPS and ConfigMgr
Force an immediate local admin password rotation on every machine in a collection, with Windows LAPS doing the password part so no script ever sees one.
Local admin, done right · Note 3 ↗
A Raspberry Pi Retro Box: What to Buy, What to Run and What It Can Handle
The parts list, the free operating systems and the honest performance expectations for a Raspberry Pi 4 emulation box, plus how much storage each system really needs.
The emulation bench · Note 1 ↗
Forcing a Group Policy Refresh with PowerShell and SCCM
A gpupdate wrapper that checks the domain trust first, never bounces anyone's session, and reports a real success or failure back to ConfigMgr.
Packaging with ConfigMgr · Note 4 ↗
Cooking Basics and the Mistakes Worth Avoiding
What each cooking method actually means in heat and minutes, the small mistakes that quietly wreck dinner, and five cheap meals built from a short list of staples.
The reference shelf · Note 8 ↗
Deleting Stale Computer Accounts from Active Directory, Safely, with a CSV Log
Feed it a list or an OU, and it deletes (or disables) only the computers that are genuinely stale, logs every decision to CSV, and shows you the plan first with -WhatIf.
Keeping Active Directory tidy · Note 5 ↗
The Golden Age of Arcades, 1978 to 1983
The five or so years when arcade games went from a novelty to everywhere, from Space Invaders to Dragon's Lair, the technology that changed on the way, and why it all fell off a cliff in 1983.
Console field guide · Note 1 ↗
Kitchen Measurement Conversions
Spoons to cups to quarts, ounces to grams, what a cup of flour or sugar actually weighs, and the water-to-rice ratios for four common kinds of rice.
The reference shelf · Note 7 ↗
Audit a Windows Service Across Many Computers with PowerShell
Feed it a list of computers and a service name, get back one row per machine saying whether it's installed, running, and how it starts.
PowerShell craft · Note 4 ↗