How to check the model for a list of Dell PC with service tag

I have a need to check the model of list of PC. The only information I have is their service tag.

It may take desktop engineers a long time to check one by one if they do not have this record correctly.

I have written an auto-it script which basically do the following.

1. Load the list of the service tag from "c:\temp\tag.lst" into an array

2. For each service tag, do the following

a. Open up the Dell Service tag website (http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/servicetag/<your service tag>/diagnose?s=BSD) 

b. Download the file and search for the string "supportproductselected"

c. Extract the string in between "supportproductselect" and "/>"

3. Export the results into c:\temp\tagresult.txt

You need to install Auto-it before you can run this script and you need to put all your service tag into a text file "tag.lst" which has one service tag per line.

Here's the detail script for your reference.

-------------------tag.au3------------------------------

#include <String.au3>
#include <array.au3>
#include <IE.au3>
#include <file.au3>


Local Const $sFilePath = "c:\temp\Tagresult.txt"

    ; Create a temporary file to read data from.
    If Not _FileCreate($sFilePath) Then Return MsgBox($MB_SYSTEMMODAL, "", "An error occurred whilst writing the result file.")

   $fresult = FileOpen($sFilePath, $FO_APPEND)
      If $fresult = -1 Then
        MsgBox($MB_SYSTEMMODAL, "", "An error occurred when reading the result file.")
        Return False
    EndIf



$list = FileReadToArray("c:\temp\tag.lst")

 If @error Then
        MsgBox($MB_SYSTEMMODAL, "", "There was an error reading the file. @error: " & @error) ; An error occurred reading the current script file.
    Else
        For $i = 0 To UBound($list) - 1 ; Loop through the array.
            FileWriteLine($fresult, $list[$i] & "," & tag($list[$i]))
        Next
    EndIf

Fileclose($fresult)

func tag($word)

   $oIE = Inetget("http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/servicetag/" & $word & "/diagnose?s=BSD", "c:\temp\tag.txt")


   $f = fileopen("c:\temp\tag.txt",0)

   $con = fileread($f)
   fileclose($f)


$s = stringinstr($con, "supportproductselected")
$t = stringInstr($con, "content=", 0,1, stringinstr($con, "supportproductselected"))

$product = stringmid($con, $t+8, stringinstr($con, "/>", 0,1, $t)-$t-8)

consolewrite (chr(34) & $word & chr(34) & ", " & $product &@CRLF)

   return $product
EndFunc





------------------------------------------------------------

How to convert GroupPolicy backup file into HTML format without access to the original AD

I am working on a Active Directory migration project and there is a need to review all group policies in the legacy domain where we do not have the local admin right yet.

The administrator from the legacy domain only provided us the GPO backup file which is difficult to read.

Here's a simple script to convert that file into HTML format so that you could read each GPO one by one in your favourite browser.

------QueryBackupLocation2.wsf----------------


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved
//
// Title: QueryBackupLocation2.wsf
// Author: mtreit@microsoft.com
// Created: 1/7/2002
//
// Purpose: Takes a GPO backup location and prints information about
// all GPOs backed up there.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

///////////////////////////////////////
// Initialization
///////////////////////////////////////
<job>

// Include necessary libraries
<script language="JScript" src="Lib_CommonGPMCFunctions.js"/>

<script language="JScript">

// Create global objects for use by the rest of the script
var GPM = new ActiveXObject("GPMgmt.GPM");
var Constants = GPM.GetConstants();

///////////////////////////////////////
// Main script
///////////////////////////////////////

// Handle command line arguments
var ArgumentList = ProcessCommandLineArguments(WScript.Arguments);
var szBackupFolder = ArgumentList.Item("BackupFolder");
var bVerbose = ArgumentList.Item("Verbose");

PrintBackupLocationData(szBackupFolder, bVerbose);

///////////////////////////////////////
// Function Definitions
///////////////////////////////////////

// Takes a file system location and prints the backups in that location
function PrintBackupLocationData(szBackupLocation, bVerbose)
{
// Get a GPMBackupDir object representing the specified backup folder
try
{
var GPMBackupDir = GPM.GetBackupDir(szBackupLocation);
}
catch (err)
{
WScript.Echo("Could not get a list of backups in folder " + szBackupLocation + ".");
WScript.Echo(ErrCode(err.number) + " - " + err.description);
return;
}

// Create a search criteria object. 
//In this case we will use a blank criteria object to return all backups.
var GPMSearchCriteria = GPM.CreateSearchCriteria();

// Get a list of all backups in the folder
try
{
var Backups = GPMBackupDir.SearchBackups(GPMSearchCriteria);
}
catch (err)
{
WScript.Echo("Error querying for backups in folder '" + szBackupLocation + "'");
WScript.Echo(ErrCode(err.number) + " - " + err.description);
return;
}

// Check if no backups were found
if (Backups.Count == 0)
{
WScript.Echo("No backups found at " + szBackupLocation);
return;
}

// Build a list of all GPOs backed up in the specified folder
var e = new Enumerator(Backups);
var Backup;
var arrGPOIDs = new Array();
var arrOutputStrings = new Array();

for (;!e.atEnd();e.moveNext())
{
Backup = e.item();

if (! ElementExists(arrGPOIDs, Backup.GPOID))
{
arrGPOIDs = arrGPOIDs.concat(Backup.GPOID);
arrOutputStrings = arrOutputStrings.concat(Backup.GPOID + "  -  " + Backup.GPODisplayName);

}

}

// Now we have a list of all GPOs backed up in the backup folder
// Print out the list
WScript.Echo("\nThe following GPOs are backed up at " + szBackupLocation + ":");
WScript.Echo("\n-- Summary --");
e = new Enumerator(arrOutputStrings);
for (; !e.atEnd(); e.moveNext())
{
WScript.Echo("  " + e.item());
}

if (bVerbose == true)
{
e = new Enumerator(arrGPOIDs);
WScript.Echo("\n\n-- Details --");
for (; !e.atEnd(); e.moveNext())
{
PrintGPOBackupData(e.item(), GPMBackupDir);
}
}
}

// Takes a backup location and a GPO GUID and prints info for all backups
// for that GPO
function PrintGPOBackupData(GPOID, BackupDir)
{
var GPMSearchCriteria = GPM.CreateSearchCriteria();
GPMSearchCriteria.Add(Constants.SearchPropertyGPOID, Constants.SearchOpEquals, GPOID);

var GPMResult;

// Get a list of all backups in the folder
var Backups = BackupDir.SearchBackups(GPMSearchCriteria);

WScript.Echo("\n------------------------------------------------------------");
//WScript.Echo("\n== Backups for GPO '" + Backups.Item(1).GPODisplayName +"' " + GPOID + " ==");
WScript.Echo("GPO Name:\t" + Backups.Item(1).GPODisplayName);
WScript.Echo("GPO ID:\t\t" + GPOID + "\n");
WScript.Echo("  " + Backups.Count + " backup(s)\n");

var e = new Enumerator(Backups);
var Backup;
for (; ! e.atEnd(); e.moveNext())
{
Backup = e.item();
WScript.Echo("  BackupID:\t" + Backup.ID);
WScript.Echo("  Timestamp:\t" + Backup.TimeStamp);
WScript.Echo("  Comment:\t" + Backup.Comment + "\n");
Backup.GenerateReportToFile(1, "c:\\temp\\gpo\\" + Backup.GPODisplayName + ".html");
}

WScript.Echo("------------------------------------------------------------\n");
}


// Check if an element already exists in an array
function ElementExists(array, value)
{
var e = new Enumerator(array);
for (; !e.atEnd(); e.moveNext())
{
if (e.item() == value)
{
return true;
}

}

return false;
}

// Takes a WScript.Arguments object and returns a dictionary object
// containing the named arguments and values that were passed in
//
function ProcessCommandLineArguments(Arguments)
{
var szBackupFolder = "";
var bVerbose = true;

// Check if this is cscript. If not, print an error and bail out
if (WScript.FullName.toLowerCase().search("wscript") > 0)
{
WScript.Echo("You must use cscript.exe to execute this script.");
WScript.Quit();
}

if (Arguments.Length == 0)
{
Arguments.ShowUsage();
WScript.Quit();
}

var Result = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.Dictionary");

szBackupFolder = Arguments(0);

if (Arguments.Named.Exists("Verbose"))
{
bVerbose = true;
}

Result.add("BackupFolder", szBackupFolder);
Result.add("Verbose", bVerbose);

return Result;
}

</script>

<!-- Usage and command line argument information -->
<runtime>

<description>
Takes a file system location and prints information about all GPOs backed-up at that location.
</description>

<unnamed name="BackupFolder" helpstring="The file system location to query" type="string" required="true" />
<named name="Verbose" helpstring="Display detailed information about each backup" type="simple" required="false" />

<example>
Example: QueryBackupLocation.wsf \\MyServer\GPOBackups
</example>

</runtime>

</job>

----

This script is using the QueryBackuplocation.wsf from Microsoft and just add one line in the file. This line will create the html file for each policies with the displayname as the file name. You will be able to look at each GPO one by one using this script.

Backup.GenerateReportToFile(1, "c:\\temp\\gpo\\" + Backup.GPODisplayName + ".html");


The prerequisite for this script to work is to install the GPMC in your windows 7 machine and you also need to have the Lib_CommonGPMCFunctions.js in the same directory as your script. You can get this js file by downloading the GPMC sample script from Microsoft

Cheers

Philip

Extract quoted data from a text file using dos batch script

In some cases,  you may need to remove the quote that contains the value you want to extract. Here's the small piece of script I used to "clean up" the value.

--start of script ---

:DeQuote

for /f "delims=" %%A in ('echo %%%1%%') do set %1=%%~A

goto :eof

---end of script----

Usage:

Call :DeQuote <variable name>

Here's an example. 

------------value.txt-------------

"Gas"

"Labels"

"Schedule"

"Location"

"Options"

---------end of value.txt----------

Here's the script to clean up the files

-------------start of script-------------

SETLOCAL EnableDelayedExpansion

del /q out.txt

for /f %%i in (value.txt) do (

set tee=%%i

call :DeQuote tee

echo !tee! >> out.txt)

goto :eof

:DeQuote

for /f "delims=" %%A in ('echo %%%1%%') do set %1=%%~A

echo %1

goto :eof

----------end of script-----------------

You will be able to get out.txt as below

------out.txt--------------

Gas 

Labels 

Schedule 

Location 

Options 

---------------------------

Qvod Cache !mv files to rmvb ( Qvod快播（安卓）下载文件（!mv）合并方法)

If you have been using Andriod Qvod player, you will be a little bit frustrated if you want to move the downloaded file from your phone to a computer or other media player.

Qvod is a very fantastic application in Andriod which allows you to download Peer to Peer files very easily.

While there are a lot of Qvod cacher conversion program in the internet, you do not know if they are malware or contains virus.

I written this simple batch file in dos format, the key thing it is doing is to extract the number in the middle of the cache file name, expand that with leading zeros so that the system can sort the file names accordingly.

-----------Start of qvod.bat--------------
ren *.!mv *.

for /f "tokens=1,2 delims=_ " %%i in ('dir/b') do (


setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION


set ttt=000000000%%j
set ttt=!ttt:~-5!
ren %%i_%%j !ttt!.rmv
endlocal

)
)

setlocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
set tttt=copy/b
for /f %%u in ('dir/b *.rmv') do (
set tttt=!tttt! %%u +
)

%tttt:~0,-1% result.rmvb

endlocal

-----------End of qvod.bat--------------

View PowerCli Script: Automate linked clone master (base image) OS update and recompose

I believe this is one of the nightmare of View Administrators. When you have a lot of View Pool, the effort to maintain the master image is going to be tough.

While you can use ThinApp to simplify the application management, there are some occassion you cannot use ThinApp, you may have to manually update OS patches or application in the master image and do recompose to keep your link clone updated.

This process is tedious and I have two scripts to automate the OS patches update.

1. Script to trigger Windows Update automatically on all master (or base image) that need update.
2. Script to create a new snapshot, delete the old snapshots except the last snapshot and trigger recompose of the link clone pool.

The first script should be run first and let it run for a few hours to ensure all installation and reboot are completed before we go to step 2 to generate snapshot and link clone.

Script to trigger Windows Update automatically on all master (or base image) that need update.

The first script (OSupdate.ps1) is create to run the windows update script on all VM required.

Please visit my previous post and save that files (update.bat and wua.vbs) in the same directory as OSupdate.ps1

Prerequisite

To run the OSupdate.ps1 script, we have the following assumption.

• All VM to be updated by the script has the same username and password with local administrator right. If there are a few different username/password, you could group those VMs with same username/password.
• During the creation of those master image, the Windows update agent should be updated to at least 7.4.7600.226 and XP should be at least SP3.
• All VMs should be able to access Windows Update server in Internet or the agent should be configured to pointing to any internal WSUS server.
• All VMs are in the same folder

Basically, this script will be go through all VM in the folder specified, copy the update.bat and wua.vbs to c:\ and then run the update.bat. If the VM is powered off, it will be powered on by the script automatically.

Since the windows update are different every month, it may take a very long time for your script to download and install all patches, therefore, please make sure you have enough time to run this before you do the link clone recompose.

Here's the OSupdate.ps1 script, there are a few parameters here..

1. Vcenter - that's the Vcenter address
2. Folder - that's the folder contains all VMs to be updated.
3. Admin - That's the username with local admin right on the VM operating system.
4. Password - That's the password of the account with local admin right on the VM operating system. 

Usage:

./OSupdate.ps1 -vcenter VCENTER.DOMAIN.COM -folder "VMFolders" -admin Administrator -password Password


------------Start of OSupdate.ps1--------------

param ($vcenter, $folder, $admin, $password)

connect-viserver -server $vcenter
$VM = Get-Folder $folder | Get-VM

foreach ($v in $VM) {

if ($v.powerstate -eq "PoweredOff") {
start-VM -VM $v
start-sleep -s 180
}

Copy-VMGuestFile -Source update.bat -Destination c:\ -VM $v -LocalToGuest -GuestUser $admin -GuestPassword $password

Copy-VMGuestFile -Source wua.vbs -Destination c:\ -VM $v -LocalToGuest -GuestUser $admin -GuestPassword $password

Invoke-VMScript "c:\update.bat" -vm $v -GuestUser $admin -GuestPassword $password -ScriptType "bat"

}

--------------End of OSupdate.ps1--------------

 Script to recompose Link clone pool

The second script is to recompose the link clone pool.

Here's the parameter of the script

1. pool_id - the ID of the link clone pool
2. parentvm - the name of the VM of the master image
3. delay - the number of minutes delay you wants the recompose to happen (this allows you to run this script for all VMs at the same time but the actual recompose can happens at different time to avoid IOPS storm)
4. vcenteraddy - the full address of the Vcenter
5. folder - the VM folder name of the master image

Usage:

./recompose.ps1 -pool_id "VM1" -vcenter VCENTER.DOMAIN.COM -folder "VMFolders" -parentvm "VMDesktop" -delay 10


------------Start of recompose.ps1-------------


param ($pool_id, $parentvm, $delay, $vcenteraddy, $folder) 

#User set variables

#Connect to vcenter and set some other variables
Connect-VIServer $vcenteraddy
Get-Datacenter | set-Variable -name datacenter
write-host $datacenter
$VM = Get-Folder $folder | Get-VM -Name $parentvm

$p = $parentvm
$Snap = Get-Snapshot -VM $VM -WarningAction SilentlyContinue | Sort-Object Created
$count = 0
foreach ($s in $Snap){
$count = $count + 1
Write-host $count
Write-host $s.name
}

foreach ($s in $Snap){
if ($count -gt 1) {
$k = " Removing " + $s.name
Write-host $k
Write-host $count
Remove-Snapshot -Snapshot $s -confirm:$false
}
$count = $count - 1
Write-Host $count
}

$p = get-date.Year + get-date.Month + get-date.Day + get-date.Hour + get-date.minute + get-date.second

Write-Host $p
Get-VM $VM | New-Snapshot -Name $p
Write-Host "New Snapshot created"

$snapshots = Get-Snapshot -VM $VM -WarningAction SilentlyContinue | select VM, Name, @{Name="Age";Expression={((Get-Date)-$_.Created).Hours}} | Sort-Object Age
$parentsnapshotpath = ""
foreach ($s in $snapshots){
$parentsnapshotpath = "/" + $s.Name + $parentsnapshotpath
}
write-host $parentsnapshotpath

get-composerdomain | Get-DesktopVM -pool_id $pool_id | Send-LinkedCloneRecompose -schedule ((Get-Date).AddMinutes($delay)) -parentvmpath /$datacenter/vm/$folder/$parentvm -parentsnapshotpath $parentsnapshotpath -forceLogoff:$true -stopOnError:$true

update-automaticlinkedclonepool -pool_id $pool_id -parentSnapshotPath $parentsnapshotpath
Write-Host "Pool recomposed sucessfully."


-------------End of Recompose.ps1-------------


Here's some of my reference
http://terenceluk.blogspot.hk/2012/03/updating-a-vmware-view-50-automatic.html

View 5.1 PowerCLI powershell script to automate the Link Clone creation

Here's a script we used to create hundred of VMWare View link clone pool for our VDI project. While the user interface of View Administrator is very good for creating link clone, it becomes a nightmare when you need to create 100+ VM pools

This script basically do the following:-

1. Remove all old the snapshot of the Base Image except the latest snapshot
2. Create a new snapshot on the Base Image for the link clone. The name of the snapshot is the current date and time.
3. Create a new link clone pool using the latest snapshot (just created) using the following name as parameters
• $cluster - Cluster
• $pool_id - Pool ID 
• $displayname - Display Name
• $datastore - The Datastore for storing the Link Clone
• $minimumcount - Minimum number of VMs
• $maximumcount - Maximum number of VMs
• $vcenteraddy - The full path of the Vcenter Server
• $folder - the folder of the base image (we use the same location to keep the Link clone folder)
• $ou - the Organizational unit in the Active Directory
• $entitlementName - the group name in Active Directory that are entitled to this group
• $parentvm - the VM name of the base image
4. There are a few policy has been set by default and you could modify that in the first section of the script.
• $headroomCount = 2 
• $refreshpolicytype = "Never"
• $deletepolicy = "DeleteOnUse" 
• $powerpolicy = "AlwaysOn" 
• $autologofftime = 540 
• $IsUserResetAllowed = $true
• $nameprefix = $pool_id + "{n:fixed=2}"
5. Pre-requisite for this script to work for you
• You are happy to have the LC folders under the same folder of your Base Image are contained.
• All base image should be turned off and do ipconfig /release before doing so.
• You should have planned all the parameters e.g datastore, clusters,...etc on a spreadsheet for all the pools, then you can use a simple formula in Excel to create the script.
6. Here's an example of using this script (assume this script is saved as LC.ps1)

./LC.ps1 -cluster "ClusterA" -pool_id "VMD-1" -displayname "VM testing pool 1" -datastore "Datastore1" -minimumcount 2 -maximumcount 5 -vcenteraddy "vcenter.server.com" -folder "Pilot" -OU "OU=VDI" -entitlementName "VMUsers Group" -parentvm "VMDesktop"

Here's the detail of the script. Enjoy!!!

------Start of the scripts--------

param ($cluster, $pool_id, $displayname, $datastore, $minimumcount, $maximumcount, $vcenteraddy, $folder, $OU, $entitlementName, $parentvm)  




#Connect to vcenter and set some other variables
Connect-VIServer $vcenteraddy
Get-Datacenter | set-Variable -name datacenter

$headroomCount = 2 
$refreshpolicytype = "Never" 
$deletepolicy = "DeleteOnUse" 
$powerpolicy = "AlwaysOn" 
$autologofftime = 540 
$IsUserResetAllowed = $true 
$nameprefix = $pool_id + "{n:fixed=2}"

set-variable -name vmfolderpath -value /$datacenter/vm/$folder


$VM = Get-Folder $folder | Get-VM -Name $parentvm

$p = get-date.Year + get-date.Month + get-date.Day + get-date.Hour + get-date.minute + get-date.second 

Get-Snapshot -VM $VM -WarningAction SilentlyContinue | select Id, Created | Sort-Object Created -descending
$Snap = Get-Snapshot -VM $VM -WarningAction SilentlyContinue | Sort-Object Created -descending

$count = 0

foreach ($s in $Snap){

if ($count -gt 0) {

Write-host "Removing Snapshot"
Remove-Snapshot -Snapshot $s -confirm:$false

}
$count = $count - 1
Write-Host $count


}

Write-Host $p
Get-VM $VM | New-Snapshot -Name $p
Write-Host "New Snapshot created"


$snapshots = Get-Snapshot -VM $VM -WarningAction SilentlyContinue | select VM, Name, @{Name="Age";Expression={((Get-Date)-$_.Created).Hours}} | Sort-Object Age 

$parentsnapshotpath = ""

foreach ($s in $snapshots){

$parentsnapshotpath = "/" + $s.Name + $parentsnapshotpath

}

write-host $parentsnapshotpath




get-composerdomain | add-automaticlinkedclonepool -pool_id $pool_id -displayname $displayname -nameprefix $nameprefix -vmfolderpath $vmfolderpath -parentvmpath /$datacenter/vm/$folder/$parentvm -resourcepoolpath /$datacenter/host/$cluster/Resources -parentsnapshotpath $parentsnapshotpath -datastorespecs "[Conservative,OS,data]/$datacenter/host/$cluster/$datastore" -persistence Nonpersistent -organizationalUnit $OU -minimumcount $minimumcount -maximumcount $maximumcount -headroomCount $headroomCount -refreshpolicytype $refreshpolicytype -deletepolicy $deletepolicy -powerpolicy $powerpolicy -autologofftime $autologofftime -IsUserResetAllowed $IsUserResetAllowed 

Write-Host "Pool created sucessfully.  Now I will entitle it."

#Add-PoolEntitlement 
$entitlement =  Get-User -name $entitlementName 

Get-Pool -pool_id $pool_id | Add-PoolEntitlement -sid $entitlement.sid

Write-Host "Entitled and building VMs."

Write-Host "THE END"

---------end of the script-----------

Vsphere PowerShell Script (1) - Update Network Adapter

This is a powershell script that help you to update the Network Adapter for the virtual machine in ESXi.

You can save this moveNet.ps1 and you will need to login to the ESXi server or your Vcenter before you can run this script.

The script basically help you to update the NetworkAdapter attribute of the Virtual machine using the Set-NetworkAdapter function.

In order to ensure the virtual machine get a new ip address after the network is changed, we put in some check to determine if the machine is powered on. If that's online, we will do ipconfig /release before updating the networkadapter and do an ipconfig /renew after that.

To use this script, in the PowerCli windows, after you connect to your ESXi or VCenter, you should run

./moveNet.ps1 -vmname VM123 -newnetwork VLAN1 -administrator Administrator -password password

Please refer to the detail and modify that to suit your environment!!

----start of moveNet.ps1-----

Param($vmname, $newnetwork, $administrator, $password)

$VM = Get-VM -Name $vmname
if ($vm.powerstate -eq "PoweredOff") {
Get-VM -Name $vmname | Get-NetworkAdapter | Set-NetworkAdapter -NetworkName $newnetwork -confirm:$false
}
if ($vm.powerstate -eq "PoweredOn") {
Invoke-VMScript "ipconfig /release" -vm $VM -GuestUser $administrator -GuestPassword $password -ScriptType "bat"
Get-VM -Name $vmname | Get-NetworkAdapter | Set-NetworkAdapter -NetworkName $newnetwork -confirm:$false
Invoke-VMScript "ipconfig /renew" -vm $VM -GuestUser $administrator -GuestPassword $password -ScriptType "bat"}

-----end of script-----