Windows · PowerShell · WSL
Notes from a working
Notes from a working
SQL Server DBA
I am a Database Reliability Engineer in Edinburgh looking after critical SQL Server estates. This is where the Windows, PowerShell and WSL side of that job gets written down: things I worked out once and have needed again since.
Start here
Three guides organise everything on this site. Each one collects the posts by task rather than by date.
🐧 WSL: The Complete Guide
Installing it, working with files across Windows and Linux, managing distributions, and fixing it when it sulks.
21 guides →
📜 PowerShell: The Complete Guide
Files and folders, CSVs, the Windows Firewall, scheduled tasks, and the cmdlets worth knowing by heart.
31 guides →
🛠️ Windows Administration: The Complete Guide
Building servers, domains and DNS, installing the tools you actually use, and the built-in commands that answer most questions.
15 guides →
Latest posts
Newest first. 145 posts here since 2017.
- Install Claude Code on Windows, Native and in WSL
- Claude Code Only Keeps 30 Days of Transcripts
- Compact a WSL or Docker Desktop vhdx to Get Disk Space Back
- Reset or Reinstall WSL Itself, Not Just a Distro
- Install PowerShell 7 on Windows and Keep Windows PowerShell 5.1
- SSH Keys for GitHub on Windows With the OpenSSH Agent
- Where My SQL Server Writing Lives Now
- Windows Administration: The Complete Guide
Browse by topic
Every post rolls up into one of these.
Not sure where to start?
Most people arrive here from a search for one specific thing. If that is you, the guide covering it will have the rest of the answer, and a few neighbours worth knowing.