PowerShell Basics: How To Unlock A User In Active Directory via PowerShell
Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes end users forget their passwords and lock themselves out of their Active Directory access. Administrators can unlock these accounts via the Windows GUI, but what if there was a quicker way. The PowerShell Active Directory module can save administrators time in governing end users and can also provide automation if required. This example will highlight how to unlock an end user account in minimal steps via PowerShell and the Active Directory module.Free Windows Server 2025 Security Advice Book
Windows Server 2025 introduces a suite of new and enhanced security features tailored to tackle modern threats across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments. Microsoft has just published a new Windows Server 2025 Security Advice book that you should download and read. For those responsible for Windows Server security in enterprise environments, this document is a technical roadmap for understanding the depth of protection now embedded in Windows Server. Here's an overview of what you can find in the document: System Hardening and Baselines A detailed breakdown of security baselines in Windows Server 2025 explains how to achieve compliance with standards like the CIS Benchmark and DISA STIG. It walks through deploying the baseline across the system lifecycle, leveraging tools like PowerShell and OSConfig. This section is invaluable for those who need to balance security requirements with system performance and compatibility. Credential Protection and Application Control The document provides a technical overview of how virtualization-based security (VBS) isolates sensitive credentials, along with insights on application control using Windows Defender. Advanced policies for application control are discussed in a way that shows how to tailor security to fit specific organizational needs, especially useful for environments where sensitive data and high trust levels are involved. Silicon-Assisted Security Innovations An explanation of the Secured-Core Server functionality that leverage hardware-based protections like TPM 2.0, Dynamic Root of Trust Measurement (DRTM), and memory integrity checks. The document explains how these components protect against increasingly sophisticated firmware and supply chain attacks. Operational Security and Continuous Monitoring The document demonstrates how to set up continuous monitoring, drift protection, and hybrid infrastructure management. IT professionals will appreciate the step-by-step guidance on implementing real-time security baselines and alerts, which are crucial for environments requiring high availability and fast incident response. Workload Security for Virtual Machines and Containers The document covers security enhancements specifically for virtualized environments. New virtual machine options, such as Secure Boot on Generation 2 VMs and workload monitoring through Microsoft Defender for Cloud, are explained in detail, helping admins understand how these features support integrity and compliance in virtualized setups. Enhanced Network Security with Micro-Segmentation A thorough section on Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Security Groups (NSGs) details how to implement micro-segmentation and enforce network isolation policies. This provides a foundation for reducing lateral movement risks. Advanced Compliance and Threat Detection The document covers **Microsoft Sentinel** integration, showing how security alerts from Defender for Cloud can feed into Sentinel for unified threat detection and incident management. Access the Windows Server 2025 Security Advice book. [Link Fixed, 5 Feb 2025]How to In-Place Upgrade Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2019
As you know the Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are out of support on January 14th, 2020. Customer will need to upgrade their Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to a newer version of Windows Server or migrate these servers to Microsoft Azure.PowerShell Basics: Are you using Get-ComputerInfo?
For years, administrators have used commands like Get-WMIObject or Get-CIMInstance , along with other built-in commands, to retrieve computer and system information. This often required multiple commands, and some crafty scripting to get all the information you needed. Well, PowerShell 5.1 brought some relief for admins needing computer specific information with Get-ComputerInfo . With Get-ComputerInfo , an object is returned that contains system and operating system properties. And like all objects in PowerShell, you can work with the data through the pipeline however you see fit.How to run a Windows 11 VM on Hyper-V
Happy new year everyone! Last month, before the holidays I wanted to run a Windows 11 VM on Hyper-V to run a few tests on Windows containers in a different environment than my local machine. However, it took me some time to get that VM up and running, simply because I forgot about the new hardware requirements for Windows 11 and that I had to get them configured before I installed the new OS in it. This blog post is my contribution so you don’t have to go through the same!WSL2 now available on Windows Server 2022
Hello folks! If you’re one of those Devs/ITPros using the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) you know how useful and powerful it can be. We announced during Microsoft Build last week that WSL2 will be broadly available in June. But I could not wait. Here’s how I installed it. It’s pretty simple. Check it out!
