Here’s a simple little function I put together that will accept a user’s name in First Last format, and then return their last logon time information from AD. Here is the GitHub link: https://github.com/p8nflnt/SysAdmin-Toolbox/blob/main/Get-AdUserLogonTime.ps1
PowerShell – Send Email Notifications for VPN Connectivity Loss & Restoration
I’ve put together a simple script to perform a ping test against an endpoint across a VPN connection to confirm VPN connectivity. If the endpoint can’t be pinged, it sends an email notification to your desired internal email address. I’ve built in a notification interval so that you are not spammed with notification emails. And,…
PowerShell – Get Windows Host Info with PsExec
Over the past several days, I have been exploring the idea of retrieving information for diagnostic purposes from Windows hosts using PsExec of the Sysinternals suite. This is something that might make sense for a small environment, as it is clientless, and there is really no overhead besides the lightweight PsExec tool, and the ThreadJob…
PowerShell, Reddit, Confetti, and Rick Astley
The other day, I came across this Reddit post on r/sysadmin: https://reddit.com/r/sysadmin/s/FkC30bMxCJ The OP explains that his CEO has requested that he make confetti appear on everyone’s screen simultaneously to celebrate a milestone. I found the absurdity of the request hilarious. And, I took it as a challenge to script something similar- but I took…
PowerShell – Convert PsExec-run Cmdlet Output Strings Back to Objects, Properties, & Values
I have been experimenting with using PsExec of the Sysinternals suite to gather information from remote Windows systems for diagnostic use. I’ve found it to be a powerful tool, especially when integrated with PowerShell scripts. It is able to execute a script or command on a remote machine and return the output back to the…
PowerShell – Programmatically Determine the Primary User of a Device
Configuration Manager includes the device property and concept of UserDeviceAffinity, with which the Primary User of a device can easily be determined and referenced. But, what if your environment does not have MECM in place? MECM is a lot of overhead for a small environment. How might one maintain this capability? Well, user log on…
PowerShell- Launch Applications With Other User Context Within Interactive Session
There are many reasons one might want to establish a workflow in which they can quickly launch PowerShell or the ISE with alternative credentials from their interactive session, such as executing a script with a more privileged user context. To do so, create a script like the one below: Then, create a shortcut to execute…
Azure – Malicious Authentication Emulation and Mitigation
The attack surface of a cloud tenant should get a lot of consideration. It is important to understand that some legacy protocols, like SMTP, are not capable of accommodating multifactor authentication; and, although they are largely being deprecated, we may still see them in use. Attackers are particularly fond of these legacy protocols, as they…
PowerShell – Indulging the Memosphere – Invoke-Tune Function
I let my curiosity get the better of me, and I put together a PowerShell function for the purpose of creating music using PowerShell’s built-in console beep feature. And, in the very essence of internet meme culture, I present to you my triumph—a PowerShell function that unleashes the timeless anthem of Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna…
PowerShell- UltimateOCD Update + Demo
For the gentleman requesting assistance with my UltimateOCD script, I have revised it further to allow you to easily provide some parameters like the target directory, directory exclusions, and a custom temporary directory path. In addition, I have revised the logic to use the “product” & “x.x.x” (version number) directories to detect Oracle client instances….