Multi-Cloud Disaster Recovery Benefits and Challenges

The cloud has definitely changed both operations and data protection requirements for almost all businesses today. Not only is the cloud the basis for popular SaaS applications like Office 365, it is also used as a backup and DR target by many organizations.

Using the cloud opens up new possibilities for DR. However, one growing complication for DR and the cloud is the use of multiple clouds. Today, many businesses have adopted multiple clouds – many use both Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure or in some cases Google Cloud or IBM Cloud. According to research done by the IBM Institute for Business Value, 85% of today’s enterprises operate in multi-cloud environments. Further, most of those organizations that don’t currently have a multi-cloud IT strategic plan to do so in the near future. The IBM research estimates that by 2021, 98% of business will move to multiple hybrid clouds. Similarly, an ESG study found that 81% of enterprises are utilizing more than one public cloud infrastructure service provider and only 15% were using a single cloud provider.

Multi-Cloud Advantages

Using multiple clouds definitely has its advantages. Cost is one of the primary driving factors. The IBM study which consisted of 1016 executives from 19 different industries reported that 66% said multi-cloud is crucial to reducing costs. Using multiple clouds not only allows you to pick the most cost-effective options, it also allows you to pick the best cloud services to fill your own specific business needs. Adopting a multi-cloud strategy can also enable businesses to avoid vendor lock-in decreasing their dependence on a single cloud provider.

Multi-Cloud DR Planning

As a general rule, the big public cloud providers like AWS and Azure are more reliable than your own local data centers. Even so, a large-scale disaster could potentially impact both your organization and your cloud provider. Using multi-cloud disaster recovery enables you to replicate your resources to a second cloud provider in another geographic region. Typically, it’s best to use a second cloud provider that is within the same country. Crossing international boundaries can potentially bring up legal and regulatory constraints that you are probably better off without. Locating the second cloud provider in a different geographic region ensures that there is virtually no chance that both cloud providers will undergo a major outage at the same time. For instance, you could use one provider in the United States west coast region and then the east coast region with your other cloud provider.

There are challenges in using multi-cloud DR. Each different cloud provider has its own management portal and different services which require different skill sets. For IaaS implementations, you need to be aware that the different cloud providers each use different on-disk formats for their VMs. Microsoft Azure uses the VHD format while AWS uses the AMI format. As a general rule, each cloud provider’s DR services are not designed to deal with multiple cloud providers. However, some third party DR solutions are able to bridge multiple clouds making it far easier to implement a multi-cloud DR strategy. If you’re looking to implement your multi-cloud DR plan it’s best to begin with a smaller scoped POC before expanding to the rest of your organization. And like all DR plans, regular testing is a must.

Source
https://www.petri.com/multi-cloud-disaster-recovery-benefits-and-challenges

Migration Tools for the Azure Hybrid Cloud

While the hybrid cloud offers a number of benefits, moving to the hybrid cloud isn’t the easiest of tasks. To get there, you need to perform an analysis of the workloads and services that you are considering moving to the hybrid cloud to ensure that they are suitable candidates for running in the cloud.

Next, you need to perform an initial cost analysis. Cost saving is one of the main benefits of moving to the hybrid cloud. However, accurately estimating the cost savings can be difficult. Sometimes you may not really know the real costs until you actually make the move. Finally, you need a way to move all or select parts of your on-premise workloads into the cloud. Fortunately, if you’re considering a move to the Azure hybrid cloud then Microsoft provides several tools that can help you with the different aspects of your hybrid cloud migration. Let’s take a closer look at some of Microsoft’s most important hybrid cloud migration tools.

Cloud Migration Assessment

Accessing your current environment is the first step in moving to the hybrid cloud and Microsoft Assessment and Planning toolkit (MAPs) can help you discover the servers across your IT environment. MAPs can automatically collect data and analyze your on-premise system hardware configuration. MAPs primarily uses WMI to collect information from Windows and Linux based servers as well as Hyper-V and VMware environments. When it’s finished it generates an Inventory Results Report that can be opened in Excel and passed on to other tools.

Estimating Costs

Understanding the impact of a move to the cloud is vital for both your company’s operational efficiencies as well as its bottom line. Cost is often the number one factor that will prompt businesses to move into the cloud. To help evaluate the costs of moving to Azure Microsoft provides their Azure Total Cost of Ownership Calculator (TCO Calculator). The TCO Calculator is a web-based tool that prompts you to enter the details of your on-premise server infrastructure. First, you tell it your workloads and their details like the type of servers they are running on. Next, you enter the details of your on-premises database and storage infrastructure. Finally, you supply the amount of network bandwidth you are currently consuming. The results of your MAPs analysis can be feed into the TCO Calculator.

Azure Hybrid Use Benefit

Another tool that can help in your hybrid cloud migration is the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit. The Azure Hybrid Use Benefit allows customers with Software Assurance to run Windows VMs on Azure at a reduced rate potentially providing significant cost savings. Azure Hybrid Use Benefit can be used with Windows Server Datacenter and Standard edition licenses that are covered by Software Assurance or Windows Server Subscriptions. Windows Server Datacenter Edition customers can use licenses both on-premises and in Azure. Windows Server Standard Edition customers can assign the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit for licenses on Azure. However, if they do they cannot use the Standard Edition license on-premise. While the actual savings depends on the Azure usage and size and type of VMs, one example Microsoft touts is that for every 100 Window Server licenses you can run up to 200 virtual machines with a potential savings of over $300,000 a year (based on the D3-V2 VM size).

Azure Migrate Service

The Azure Migrate service is a paid Azure service that assesses migrating on-premise VMware workloads to Azure. The Azure Migrate service can only work with on-premises VMware VMs. The VMware VMs must be managed by vCenter Server. To use the Azure Migrate service you must install a local virtual collector appliance that analyzes on-premises VMware VMs. The service performs performance-based sizing as well as cost estimates for moving the VMs to Azure. If you want to analyze Hyper-VMs or physical servers you need to use the Azure Site Recovery Deployment Planner for Hyper-V. The Azure Migrate service has a free 180 day trial period.

Azure Site Recovery and Azure Database Migration

While its main purpose is disaster recovery, Azure Site Recovery (ASR) is can also be used to migrate VMs to Azure. ASR is a paid service and it can migrate a number of different systems types to Azure including VMs on AWS, VMware, Hyper-V or physical servers. You can configure ASR to take advantage of your Azure Hybrid Use Benefit with PowerShell. If you want to migrate databases then you can use the Azure Database Migration Service which is also a paid service that can migrate SQL Server, Amazon RDS SQL and Oracle to Azure SQL Database.

Source
https://www.petri.com/migration-tools-for-the-azure-hybrid-cloud

How to disable SMBv1 Windows

How to detect, enable and disable SMBv1, SMBv2, and SMBv3 in Windows and Windows Server

Applies to: Windows 7 EnterpriseWindows 7 Home BasicWindows 7 Home Premium More

Summary

This article describes how to enable and disable Server Message Block (SMB) version 1 (SMBv1), SMB version 2 (SMBv2), and SMB version 3 (SMBv3) on the SMB client and server components.

Warning

We recommend that you do not disable SMBv2 or SMBv3. Disable SMBv2 or SMBv3 only as a temporary troubleshooting measure. Do not leave SMBv2 or SMBv3 disabled.

In Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, disabling SMBv2 deactivates the following functionality:

Request compounding – allows for sending multiple SMB 2 requests as a single network request
Larger reads and writes – better use of faster networks
Caching of folder and file properties – clients keep local copies of folders and files
Durable handles – allow for connection to transparently reconnect to the server if there is a temporary disconnection
Improved message signing – HMAC SHA-256 replaces MD5 as hashing algorithm
Improved scalability for file sharing – number of users, shares, and open files per server greatly increased
Support for symbolic links
Client oplock leasing model – limits the data transferred between the client and server, improving performance on high-latency networks and increasing SMB server scalability
Large MTU support – for full use of 10-gigabye (GB) Ethernet
Improved energy efficiency – clients that have open files to a server can sleep

In Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2016, disabling SMBv3 deactivates the following functionality (and also the SMBv2 functionality that’s described in the previous list):

Transparent Failover – clients reconnect without interruption to cluster nodes during maintenance or failover
Scale Out – concurrent access to shared data on all file cluster nodes
Multichannel – aggregation of network bandwidth and fault tolerance if multiple paths are available between client and server
SMB Direct – adds RDMA networking support for very high performance, with low latency and low CPU utilization
Encryption – Provides end-to-end encryption and protects from eavesdropping on untrustworthy networks
Directory Leasing – Improves application response times in branch offices through caching
Performance Optimizations – optimizations for small random read/write I/O

More Information

The SMBv2 protocol was introduced in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

The SMBv3 protocol was introduced in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

For more information about the capabilities of SMBv2 and SMBv3 capabilities, go to the following Microsoft TechNet websites:

Server Message Block overview

What’s New in SMB

How to gracefully remove SMB v1 in Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 2012 R2, and Windows Server 2016

Windows Server 2012 R2 & 2016: PowerShell methods

SMB v1

Detect:	Get-WindowsFeature FS-SMB1
Disable:	Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName smb1protocol
Enable:	Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName smb1protocol

SMB v2/v3

Detect:	Get-SmbServerConfiguration \| Select EnableSMB2Protocol
Disable:	Set-SmbServerConfiguration -EnableSMB2Protocol $false
Enable:	Set-SmbServerConfiguration -EnableSMB2Protocol $true

Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016: Server Manager method for disabling SMB

SMB v1

Windows 8.1 and Windows 10: PowerShell method

SMB v1 Protocol

Detect:	Get-WindowsOptionalFeature –Online –FeatureName SMB1Protocol
Disable:	Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName SMB1Protocol
Enable:	Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName SMB1Protocol

SMB v2/v3 Protocol

Detect:	Get-SmbServerConfiguration \| Select EnableSMB2Protocol
Disable:	Set-SmbServerConfiguration –EnableSMB2Protocol $false
Enable:	Set-SmbServerConfiguration –EnableSMB2Protocol $true

Windows 8.1 and Windows 10: Add or Remove Programs method

How to detect status, enable, and disable SMB protocols on the SMB Server

For Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 introduce the new Set-SMBServerConfiguration Windows PowerShell cmdlet. The cmdlet enables you to enable or disable the SMBv1, SMBv2, and SMBv3 protocols on the server component.

Note

When you enable or disable SMBv2 in Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, SMBv3 is also enabled or disabled. This behavior occurs because these protocols share the same stack.

You do not have to restart the computer after you run the Set-SMBServerConfiguration cmdlet.

SMB v1 on SMB Server

Detect:	Get-SmbServerConfiguration \| Select EnableSMB1Protocol
Disable:	Set-SmbServerConfiguration -EnableSMB1Protocol $false
Enable:	Set-SmbServerConfiguration -EnableSMB1Protocol $true

For more information, see Server storage at Microsoft.

SMB v2/v3 on SMB Server

Detect:	Get-SmbServerConfiguration \| Select EnableSMB2Protocol
Disable:	Set-SmbServerConfiguration -EnableSMB2Protocol $false
Enable:	Set-SmbServerConfiguration -EnableSMB2Protocol $true

For Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008

To enable or disable SMB protocols on an SMB Server that is running Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, or Windows Server 2008, use Windows PowerShell or Registry Editor.

PowerShell methods

Note

This method requires PowerShell 2.0 or later version of PowerShell.

SMB v1 on SMB Server

Detect:

Get-Item HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanServerParameters | ForEach-Object {Get-ItemProperty $_.pspath}

Default configuration = Enabled (No registry key is created), so no SMB1 value will be returned

Disable:

Set-ItemProperty -Path “HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanServerParameters” SMB1 -Type DWORD -Value 0 –Force

Enable:

Set-ItemProperty -Path “HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanServerParameters” SMB1 -Type DWORD -Value 1 –Force

Note You must restart the computer after you make these changes.

For more information, see Server storage at Microsoft.

SMB v2/v3 on SMB Server

Detect:

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanServerParameters | ForEach-Object {Get-ItemProperty $_.pspath}

Disable:

Set-ItemProperty -Path “HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanServerParameters” SMB2 -Type DWORD -Value 0 –Force

Enable:

Set-ItemProperty -Path “HKLM:SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanServerParameters” SMB2 -Type DWORD -Value 1 –Force

Note You must restart the computer after you make these changes.

Registry Editor

Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure that you back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To enable or disable SMBv1 on the SMB server, configure the following registry key:

Registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanServerParameters
Registry entry: SMB1
REG_DWORD: 0 = Disabled
REG_DWORD: 1 = Enabled
Default: 1 = Enabled (No registry key is created)

To enable or disable SMBv2 on the SMB server, configure the following registry key:

Registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanServerParameters
Registry entry: SMB2
REG_DWORD: 0 = Disabled
REG_DWORD: 1 = Enabled
Default: 1 = Enabled (No registry key is created)

Note You must restart the computer after you make these changes.

How to detect status, enable, and disable SMB protocols on the SMB Client

For Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012

Note When you enable or disable SMBv2 in Windows 8 or in Windows Server 2012, SMBv3 is also enabled or disabled. This behavior occurs because these protocols share the same stack.

SMB v1 on SMB Client

Detect:	sc.exe qc lanmanworkstation
Disable:	sc.exe config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb20/nsi sc.exe config mrxsmb10 start= disabled
Enable:	sc.exe config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/mrxsmb20/nsi sc.exe config mrxsmb10 start= auto

For more information, see Server storage at Microsoft

SMB v2/v3 on SMB Client

Detect:	sc.exe qc lanmanworkstation
Disable:	sc.exe config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/nsi sc.exe config mrxsmb20 start= disabled
Enable:	sc.exe config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/mrxsmb20/nsi sc.exe config mrxsmb20 start= auto

Notes

You must run these commands at an elevated command prompt.
You must restart the computer after you make these changes.

Disable SMBv1 Server with Group Policy

This procedure configures the following new item in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanServerParameters

Registry entry: SMB1 REG_DWORD: 0 = Disabled

To configure this by using Group Policy:

Open the Group Policy Management Console. Right-click the Group Policy object (GPO) that should contain the new preference item, and then click Edit.
In the console tree under Computer Configuration, expand the Preferences folder, and then expand the Windows Settings folder.
Right-click the Registry node, point to New, and select Registry Item.

In the New Registry Properties dialog box, select the following:

Action: Create
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key Path: SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanServerParameters
Value name: SMB1
Value type: REG_DWORD
Value data: 0

This disables the SMBv1 Server components. This Group Policy must be applied to all necessary workstations, servers, and domain controllers in the domain.

Note WMI filters can also be set to exclude unsupported operating systems or selected exclusions, such as Windows XP.

Caution

Be careful when you make these changes on domain controllers on which legacy Windows XP or older Linux and third-party systems (that do not support SMBv2 or SMBv3) require access to SYSVOL or other file shares where SMB v1 is being disabled.

Disable SMBv1 Client with Group Policy

To disable the SMBv1 client, the services registry key needs to be updated to disable the start of MRxSMB10 and then the dependency on MRxSMB10 needs to be removed from the entry for LanmanWorkstation so that it can start normally without requiring MRxSMB10 to first start.

This will update and replace the default values in the following 2 items in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetservicesmrxsmb10

Registry entry: Start REG_DWORD: 4 = Disabled

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanWorkstation

Registry entry: DependOnService REG_MULTI_SZ: “Bowser”,”MRxSmb20″,”NSI”

Note The default included MRxSMB10 which is now removed as dependency

To configure this by using Group Policy:

Open the Group Policy Management Console. Right-click the Group Policy object (GPO) that should contain the new preference item, and then click Edit.
In the console tree under Computer Configuration, expand the Preferences folder, and then expand the Windows Settings folder.
Right-click the Registry node, point to New, and select Registry Item.

In the New Registry Properties dialog box, select the following:

Action: Update
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key Path: SYSTEMCurrentControlSetservicesmrxsmb10
Value name: Start
Value type: REG_DWORD
Value data: 4

Then remove the dependency on the MRxSMB10 that was just disabled

In the New Registry Properties dialog box, select the following:

Action: Replace
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key Path: SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanWorkstation
Value name: DependOnService
Value type REG_MULTI_SZ
Value data:
- Bowser
- MRxSmb20
- NSI

Note These three strings will not have bullets (see the following screen shot).

The default value includes MRxSMB10 in many versions of Windows, so by replacing them with this multi-value string, it is in effect removing MRxSMB10 as a dependency for LanmanServer and going from four default values down to just these three values above.

Note When you use Group Policy Management Console, you don’t have to use quotation marks or commas. Just type the each entry on individual lines.

Restart required

After the policy has applied and the registry settings are in place, the targeted systems must be restarted before SMB v1 is disabled.

Summary

If all the settings are in the same Group Policy Object (GPO), Group Policy Management displays the following settings.

Group Policy Management Editor - Registry

Testing and validation

After these are configured, allow the policy to replicate and update. As necessary for testing, run gpupdate /force at a command prompt, and then review the target computers to make sure that the registry settings are applied correctly. Make sure SMB v2 and SMB v3 is functioning for all other systems in the environment.

Caution

Do not forget to restart the target systems.

Source
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2696547/detect-enable-disable-smbv1-smbv2-smbv3-in-windows-and-windows-server

Windows Start Run commands

Accessibility Options utilman or control access.cpl Add Hardware Wizard hdwwiz Programs and Features appwiz.cpl (Add New Programs) control appwiz.cpl,,1 (Add Remove Windows Components) control appwiz.cpl,,2 (Set Program Access & Defaults) control appwiz.cpl,,3 Administrative Tools control admintools Advanced User Accounts Control Panel netplwiz Authorization Manager azman.msc Automatic Update control wuaucpl.cpl Backup and Restore Utility sdclt Bluetooth Transfer Wizard fsquirt Calculator calc Certificate Manager certmgr.msc Character Map charmap Check Disk Utility chkdsk Clear Type (tune or turn off) cttune Color Management colorcpl.exe Command Prompt cmd Component Services dcomcnfg or comexp.msc Computer Management CompMgmtLauncher.exe or compmgmt.msc Control Panel control Credential (passwords) Backup and Restore Wizard credwiz Data Execution Prevention SystemPropertiesDataExecutionPrevention Date and Time Properties timedate.cpl Device Manager hdwwiz or devmgmt.msc Device Pairing Wizard DevicePairingWizard Digitizer Calibration Tool (Tablets/Touch screens) tabcal Direct X Control Panel (if installed) directx.cpl Direct X Troubleshooter dxdiag Disk Cleanup Utility cleanmgr Disk Defragmenter dfrgui defrag Disk Management diskmgmt.msc Disk Partition Manager diskpart Display Color Calibration dccw Display DPI / Text size dpiscaling Display Properties (Themes, Desktop, Screensaver) control desktop Display Properties (Resolution, Orientation) desk.cpl Display Properties (Color & Appearance) control color Documents (open ‘My Documents’ folder) documents Downloads (open ‘Downloads’ folder) downloads Driver Verifier Utility verifier DVD Player dvdplay Edit Environment Variables rundll32.exe sysdm.cpl,EditEnvironmentVariables Encrypting File System Wizard (EFS) rekeywiz Event Viewer eventvwr.msc File Signature Verification Tool (Device drivers) sigverif Files and Settings Transfer Tool %systemroot%system32migwizmigwiz.exe Firewall Control Panel firewall.cpl Folders Properties control folders Fonts list control fonts Font preview fontview arial.ttf Game Controllers joy.cpl Local Group Policy Editor gpedit.msc Internet Properties inetcpl.cpl IP Configuration ipconfig iSCSI Initiator configuration iscsicpl Keyboard Properties control keyboard Language Pack Installer lpksetup Local Security Policy secpol.msc Local Users and Groups lusrmgr.msc Log out logoff Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool mrt Microsoft Management Console mmc Access (Microsoft Office) msaccess Excel (Microsoft Office) Excel Powerpoint (Microsoft Office) powerpnt Word (Microsoft Office) winword Microsoft Paint mspaint Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool msdt Mouse Properties control mouse or main.cpl Network Connections control netconnections or ncpa.cpl Projector: netproj Connect to Network Projector Switch projector display displayswitch Notepad notepad ODBC Data Source Admin Default ODBC driver: C:windowssystem32odbcad32.exe 32-bit ODBC driver under 64-bit platform: C:windowssysWOW64odbcad32.exe ODBC configuration Install/configure MDAC drivers odbcconf On Screen Keyboard osk OOB Getting Started gettingstarted Password – Create a Windows Password Reset Disk (USB) “C:Windowssystem32rundll32.exe” keymgr.dll,PRShowSaveWizardExW Pen and Touch (Tablet/Pen input configuration) tabletpc.cpl Performance Monitor perfmon.msc Phone and Modem Options telephon.cpl Phone Dialer dialer Power Configuration powercfg.cpl and powercfg.exe Presentation Settings PresentationSettings Problem Steps Recorder psr Program Access and Computer Defaults browser / email / media computerdefaults Printers and Faxes control printers Print Management (.msc) PrintManagement Printer Migration (backup/restore) printbrmui and printbrm.exe Printer user interface (List all printui.dll options) printui Private Character Editor eudcedit Regional Settings Language, Date/Time format, keyboard intl.cpl Registry Editor regedit Remote Assistance msra Remote Desktop mstsc Resource Monitor resmon Resultant Set of Policy rsop.msc Settings (Windows 10) ms-settings: Scheduled Tasks control schedtasks Screenshot Snipping Tool snippingtool Security Center wscui.cpl Services services.msc Shared Folder Wizard shrpubw Shared Folders fsmgmt.msc Shut Down Windows shutdown Software Licensing Activation slui Sounds and Audio mmsys.cpl Sound Recorder soundrecorder Sound Volume sndvol Syncronization Tool (Offline files) mobsync System Configuration Utility msconfig System File Checker Utility (Scan/Purge) sfc System Information msinfo32 System Properties sysdm.cpl SystemProperties or sysdm.cpl DisplaySYSDMCPL System Properties Performance SystemPropertiesPerformance System Properties Hardware SystemPropertiesHardware System Properties Advanced SystemPropertiesAdvanced System Repair Create a System Repair Disc recdisc System Restore rstrui Task Manager taskmgr Task Scheduler taskschd.msc Telnet Client telnet Trusted Platform Module Initialization Wizard tpmInit User Accounts (Autologon) control userpasswords2 User Account Control (UAC) Settings UserAccountControlSettings User Profiles Edit/Change type C:WindowsSystem32rundll32.exe sysdm.cpl,EditUserProfiles Windows Disc Image Burning Tool isoburn C:moviesmadmax.iso Windows Explorer explorer Windows Features optionalfeatures Windows Firewall firewall.cpl Windows Firewall with Advanced Security wf.msc Windows Image Acquisition (scanner) wiaacmgr Windows Magnifier magnify Windows Management Infrastructure wmimgmt.msc Windows Memory Diagnostic Scheduler mdsched Windows Mobility Center (for notebook) mblctr Windows PowerShell powershell Windows PowerShell ISE powershell_ise Windows Security Action Center wscui.cpl Windows Script Host (VBScript) wscript NAME_OF_SCRIPT.VBS Windows System Security Tool Encrypt the SAM database. syskey (boot password.) Windows Update wuapp Windows Update Standalone Installer wusa Windows Version (About Windows) winver WordPad write Unless indicated otherwise, all the commands above work in all versions of Windows from Vista upwards. Most of these utilities can be found in %systemroot%System32 soruce

https://ss64.com/nt/run.html

Microsoft Office Customization Tool

The Office Customization Tool creates the configuration files that are used to deploy Office in large organizations. These configuration files give you more control over an Office installation: you can define which applications and languages are installed, how those applications should be updated, and application preferences. After creating the configuration files, you can use them with the Office Deployment Tool to deploy a customized version of Office.

Note

The Office Customization Tool is part of the deployment process for installing Office on hundreds or thousands of computers. To follow this process end-to-end, we recommend completing the assessment and planning phases for your Office deployment. If you’re not an enterprise administrator and are looking to install Office 365 in your home or business, see Install Office with Office 365.

Get started

To work with the service, go to Office Customization Tool and choose the products, languages, and application settings you want to configure. For example, you can create a configuration file that downloads the 64-bit English version of Office 365 ProPlus, or you can create a file that installs the 64-bit English and German version of Office without Access and Publisher and with the EULA automatically accepted. When you’re done, you export the configuration file, which you can then use with the Office Deployment Tool or another software distribution solution to deploy Office in your organization.

Note

If you use System Center Configuration Manager (Current Branch) to deploy Office, we recommend using the Office 365 Installer wizard in the Configuration Manager console. That wizard includes a customized version of the Office Customization Tool. For more details, see Deploy Office 365 ProPlus with System Center Configuration Manager (Current Branch).

Create a configuration file

Follow these steps to create a configuration file that can be used by the Office Deployment Tool or another software distribution solution to install Office. Note that a product and language must be selected before you can export the configuration file.

Go to Office Customization Tool.
In the General section, type your organization name and a description for this particular configuration. For example, you might want to use this file to install the 64-bit version of Office for your finance department.
In the Product and releases section, choose the architecture you want to deploy. Each configuration file can only deploy one architecture. For details on which architecture to choose, see Choose the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Office.
Choose the products and applications you want to deploy, and then click Add. Note that you can create a package that includes Office, Visio, and Project by selecting each and adding them separately.
Choose the update channel you want to deploy. The update channel determines how frequently your client devices are updated with new features. For best practice recommendations, see Step 3 – Choose your update channels.
Choose which version you want to deploy. Unless you require a particular version, we recommend choosing the latest. For details on previous versions, see Update history for Office 365 ProPlus.
In the Language section, choose which languages to include. You can include multiple languages and you can select Match operating system to automatically install the same languages that are in use on the client device. For more details, see Overview of deploying languages in Office 365 ProPlus.
In the Installation section, choose whether to install the Office files directly from the cloud or from a local source on your network. For more details, see Choose how to deploy.
Choose whether to display the installation from your end users and whether to pin the Office icons to the taskbar. For more details on these options, see Display element and PinIconsToTaskBar property.
In the Update and upgrade section, choose whether to install updates directly from the cloud, from a local source on your network, or with Configuration Manager. If you want to update your client devices automatically, choose CDN and Automatically check for updates. For best practice recommendations, see Choose your update channels.
Choose whether to automatically upgrade from 2013 versions of Click-to-Run versions of Office, whether to automatically remove all MSI-versions of Office, and whether to automatically install the same language as the removed MSI-version of Office. For more details, see Install the same languages from a previous MSI installation.
If you are deploying a volume-licensed version of Office, Visio, or Project, specify the appropriate license key in Licensing and activation settings. Note that Office 365 ProPlus is not volume licensed and does not require a KMS or MAK activation. For more details, see Overview of volume activation of Office.
Choose whether to automatically accept the EULA.
In the Application preferences section, choose what settings to apply when deploying Office. You can search for a setting, filter the settings by Office app, and learn more about each setting by clicking it and reviewing the detailed description.
Click Finish, review the configured settings in the righthand pane, and then click Export.
Accept the terms in the license agreement, name the confguration file, and then click Export.
You can now use the configuration file in your deployment workflow with the Office Deployment Tool or another software distribution solution.

Edit an existing configuration file

Follow these steps to import and edit an existing configuration file.

Go to Office Customization Tool.
Click Import, and then select the configuration file you want to edit.
Change the settings you want, and then export the updated file.

Define application preferences

As part of the Office Customization Tool, you can define application prefences for Office 365 ProPlus, including VBA macro notifications, default file locations, and default file formats. When you define these preferences, you can apply them as part of deploying Office or you can apply them to an existing installation of Office without changing any other deployment settings. For more details, see Apply application prefences and Apply application preferences to an existing installation of Office.

Notes

When creating a configuration file, the Office Customization Tool includes two attributes for the Configuration element: The ID attribute, which identifies the deployment method, and the Host attribute, which identifies the deployment options that have been selected. These attributes don’t contain any personally identifiable information (PII), but Click-to-Run sends the attribute values to Microsoft so that we can better understand what configurations customers use and make customization even easier. Because of these insights, we recommend keeping the attributes. They are optional, however, and can be removed without affecting your deployment.

source
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployOffice/overview-of-the-office-customization-tool-for-click-to-run

Microsoft Office default installation folders for Windows

Installation Paths

All the applications provided by the Office suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, Access, Powerpoint), if installed, can be found within the given folder(s). The executable files have kept the same names since Office XP, which are the following:

Word:
WINWORD.EXE
Excel:
EXCEL.EXE
PowerPoint:
POWERPNT.EXE
Access:
MSACCESS.EXE
Outlook:
OUTLOOK.EXE
Visio:
VISIO.EXE
Project:
WINPROJ.EXE

Office XP

Windows 64-bit:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice10
Windows 32-bit:
C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice10

Office 2003

Windows 64-bit:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice11
Windows 32-bit:
C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice11

Office 2007

Windows 64-bit:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice12
Windows 32-bit:
C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice12

Office 2010

Windows 64-bit:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice14
Windows 32-bit:
C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice14

Click-To-Run

Windows 64-bit:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft Office 14ClientX64RootOffice14
Windows 32-bit:
C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Office 14ClientX86RootOffice14

Office 2013

Windows 64-bit:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice15
Windows 32-bit:
C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice15

Click-To-Run

Windows 64-bit:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft Office 15ClientX64RootOffice15
Windows 32-bit:
C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Office 15ClientX86RootOffice15

Office 2016

Windows 64-bit:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice16
Windows 32-bit:
C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice16

Click-To-Run

Windows 64-bit:
C:Program FilesMicrosoft Office 16ClientX64RootOffice16
Windows 32-bit:
C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Office 16ClientX86RootOffice16

If you never heard of Click-To-Run installation mode, read here.

GUID

In case you also need the installation GUIDs, for example to retrieve some Office-related installation data from Windows Installer and/or Registry Editor, I’m also enumerating those (source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/234788):

Office XP

Word: {8E46FEFA-D973-6294-B305-E968CEDFFCB9}
Excel: {5572D282-F5E5-11D3-A8E8-0060083FD8D3}
PowerPoint: {FC780C4C-F066-40E0-B720-DA0F779B81A9}
Access: {CC29E967-7BC2-11D1-A921-00A0C91E2AA3}
Office: {20280409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0050048383C9}

Office 2003

Word: {1EBDE4BC-9A51-4630-B541-2561FA45CCC5}
Excel: {A2B280D4-20FB-4720-99F7-40C09FBCE10A}
PowerPoint: {C86C0B92-63C0-4E35-8605-281275C21F97}
Access: {F2D782F8-6B14-4FA4-8FBA-565CDDB9B2A8}
Office: {90110409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9}

Office 2007

Word: {0638C49D-BB8B-4CD1-B191-051E8F325736}
Excel: {0638C49D-BB8B-4CD1-B191-052E8F325736}
PowerPoint: {0638C49D-BB8B-4CD1-B191-053E8F325736}
Access: {0638C49D-BB8B-4CD1-B191-054E8F325736}
Office: {0638C49D-BB8B-4CD1-B191-050E8F325736}

Office 2010

32-bit

Word: {019C826E-445A-4649-A5B0-0BF08FCC4EEE}
Excel: {538F6C89-2AD5-4006-8154-C6670774E980}
PowerPoint: {E72E0D20-0D63-438B-BC71-92AB9F9E8B54}
Access: {AE393348-E564-4894-B8C5-EBBC5E72EFC6}
Office: {398E906A-826B-48DD-9791-549C649CACE5}

64-bit

Word: {C0AC079D-A84B-4CBD-8DBA-F1BB44146899}
Excel: {8B1BF0B4-A1CA-4656-AA46-D11C50BC55A4}
PowerPoint: {EE8D8E0A-D905-401D-9BC3-0D20156D5E30}
Access: {02F5CBEC-E7B5-4FC1-BD72-6043152BD1D4}
Office: {E6AC97ED-6651-4C00-A8FE-790DB0485859}

source https://www.ryadel.com/en/microsoft-office-default-installation-folders-versions/

How to increase maximum size Microsoft Outlook pst files and ost files

In Outlook 2003 and 2007 the maximum recommended size of a Unicode pst-file and ost-file has been limited to 20 gb

In Outlook 2010, 2013 and 2016, the maximum recommended limit has been set to 50 gb

you can increase the limit with Group Polices and Registry

Registry
Outlook 2003
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice11.0OutlookPST
Outlook 2007
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice12.0OutlookPST
Outlook 2010
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice14.0OutlookPST
Outlook 2013
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice15.0OutlookPST
Outlook 2016
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice16.0OutlookPST create new DWORD with value MaxLargeFileSize
Don’t set this higher than 4294967295 (decimal) or ffffffff (hexadecimal) Group Polices
User Configuration-> Administrative Templates-> Microsoft Outlook <version>-> Miscellaneous-> PST Settings

Disk Part for Windows 7 and 10

The diskpart utility it’s a command line utility (available in Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10) can be used to create or delete partitions on your PC.
Open command prompt with administrative privilege. Click Start , type CMD , right click “open as an Administrator” . On command prompt, type diskpart . When utility is open , type list disk for list of all disk available. select disk “number” where “number” is hard disk you want use , for example select disk 2 and type Enter . after that, type command clean for delete any partitions on hard disk selected .

How to Remove Windows 10 Built-in Apps with PowerShell

With PowerShell . In a easy way we can uninstall applications installed on Windows 10

click to Start button or Cortana search bar and type PowerShell
Right click on PowerShell icon and Select “Run as Administrator”

Some buit-in apps, like Contacts, are integrated on Microsoft Windows 10 operating system and is not permitted remove it.

copy and paste on PowerShell Command below

3D Builder
Get-AppxPackage *3dbuilder* | Remove-AppxPackage Alarms and Clock
Get-AppxPackage *windowsalarms* | Remove-AppxPackage Calculator
Get-AppxPackage *windowscalculator* | Remove-AppxPackage Calendar and Mail
Get-AppxPackage *windowscommunicationsapps* | Remove-AppxPackage Camera
Get-AppxPackage *windowscamera* | Remove-AppxPackage Get Office
Get-AppxPackage *officehub* | Remove-AppxPackage Get Skype
Get-AppxPackage *skypeapp* | Remove-AppxPackage Get Started
Get-AppxPackage *getstarted* | Remove-AppxPackage Groove Music
Get-AppxPackage *zunemusic* | Remove-AppxPackage Maps
Get-AppxPackage *windowsmaps* | Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft Solitaire Collection
Get-AppxPackage *solitairecollection* | Remove-AppxPackage Money
Get-AppxPackage *bingfinance* | Remove-AppxPackage Movies & TV
Get-AppxPackage *zunevideo* | Remove-AppxPackage News
Get-AppxPackage *bingnews* | Remove-AppxPackage OneNote
Get-AppxPackage *onenote* | Remove-AppxPackage People
Get-AppxPackage *people* | Remove-AppxPackage Phone Companion
Get-AppxPackage *windowsphone* | Remove-AppxPackage Photos
Get-AppxPackage *photos* | Remove-AppxPackage Store
Get-AppxPackage *windowsstore* | Remove-AppxPackage Sports
Get-AppxPackage *bingsports* | Remove-AppxPackage Voice Recorder
Get-AppxPackage *soundrecorder* | Remove-AppxPackage Weather
Get-AppxPackage *bingweather* | Remove-AppxPackage Xbox
Get-AppxPackage *xboxapp* | Remove-AppxPackage

————————————————————————-

Remove all applications and mantain Calculator:
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | where-object {$_.name –notlike “*windowscalculator*”} | Remove-AppxPackage

Get-appxprovisionedpackage –online | where-object {$_.packagename –notlike “*windowscalculator*”} | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -online

Source
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1408834-removing-windows-10-apps-gpo

Matty_C

Upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7

Today you can again update your operating system and passing from Windows 7 Pro or Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 10 Pro, free of charge.

You need only download Media Creator Tool directly from Microsoft website , run the tool and select “update Windows 10” instead of “Using the tool to create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) to install Windows 10 on a different PC”

Instructions from Microsoft website:
1. Select Download tool, and select Run. You need to be an administrator to run this tool.
2. On the License terms page, if you accept the license terms, select Accept.
3. On the What do you want to do? page, select Upgrade this PC now, and then select Next.
4 .After downloading and installing, the tool will walk you through how to set up Windows 10 on your PC. All Windows 10 editions are available when you select Windows 10, except for Enterprise edition. For more information on Enterprise edition, go to the Volume Licensing Service Center. Requirements:
regoular Microsoft Windows 7 Professional – Windows 8 Professional activated.

At the end of the process, you can find Windows 10 Professional license activated