Changing windows proxy to be either system or user based

Today I was trying to figure out how to change windows to use the proxy setting on a machine basis rather then by user. This registry key setting is supposed to be the 'key'.

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\

Internet Settings]

Value Name: ProxySettingsPerUser

Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)

Value Data: (0 = whole machine, 1 = per user)

Windows Schedule Jobs won't run if path has special characters - solved

While trying to trouble shoot an issue with a scheduled task on a Windows 2003 server I found a few interesting things to keep in mind.

1. Windows XP machines have the windows scheduler log file located under c:\windows\SchedLgU.Txt - This is not the case with Windows 2003 server. To view the log file on a Windows 2003 server run the following command %SystemRoot%\Tasks\SchedLgU.txt

2. If you attempt to call a batch file from your scheduled job that is under a path name that includes a special character like the ampersand (&) it will not run. You will need to move your batch file into a folder that does not have the ampersand anywhere in the path.

Here is an example:

c:\a&b\batch-file.bat - this file will work if you double click the file in Windows explorer, but it will not work as a scheduled task.

move the file to a folder without an &:

c:\batch-file.bat - This file will now execute properly as a scheduled task.

According to this link the reason is that a windows cmd will process as a separation of two commands. So the scheduled task trys to run 'c:\a' and also 'b\batch-file.bat'. Neither of these files exist, so the scheduled job will not run.

Search and replace text in multiple files quickly

I had the need to quickly update the same string within several HTML files.  Rather then open each file and do a global search and replace on the string I decided to see if there were any tools on the internet that could speed this process.  After a little googling I found a tool called TextCrawler.  

I had a list of over 30 strings to find and replace in 8 different files.  I was able to make the changes quickly using this tool.

Text Crawler is freeware, so download it and give it a try.

How to move files between vmware ESXi servers

Today I had to move files between two ESXi servers.

I was looking for a simple tool that could copy from one server to another.  At first I thought the only way move the files would be to use VMware Infrastructure Client to copy the files to my PC and then move the files from my PC back to the other VMware server.  Using Veeam Backup and FastSCP I was able to move the files between servers without actually copying them locally to my PC.  Their tool is free to download and use.