Category: Windows Admin

Windows Administration Blog Archives, by Peter Whyte (Database Administrator).
Includes: Database Admin, Windows Admin, PowerShell, WSL & more…

  • Install Git on Windows

    This is a post on how to install Git (version control system) on a Windows computer. For more information have a look at the git-scm page, which is where we can download the client. There are a lot of configuration options throughout this wizard install, but there is…

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  • Create a Link Between Local Windows Files and WSL

    Creating a link between local Windows files and WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) is a useful way to share files between the two environments. In this guide, I’ll show how to link a folder in Windows to your WSL instance using the ln command, and also explain how…

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  • Access Local Files from Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

    Accessing local Windows files from a WSL distribution allows integration between workflows, our local Windows environment and (WSL) Linux environments. This is done by navigating to the /mnt/c/ directory within your WSL Linux terminal. Alternatively, you can enter WSL directly from any Windows directory using a terminal. Both…

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  • Reinstalling a WSL Disto

    This post is a guide on how to reinstall WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) via command. This may be useful if you are looking to clear down and start a up fresh WSL instance, treating it as a throw-away environment. You should have any WIP code backed up…

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  • Enable Windows Subsystem for Linux (with Ubuntu 18.04)

    WSL allows Windows users to develop and run applications within a GNU/Linux environment. Previous to this feature release we needed VM’s or a dual boot setup. For more information, as always have a look at the Microsoft Docs. There’s a huge amount of tutorials and documentation on this…

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  • Creating a Linked Server with a MySQL Database

    This is my 3rd Linked Server demo post, and this time it’s to a MySQL database. Noteworthy weblinks: > My Linked Server Blog Posts > Microsoft Docs – Linked Servers Here is a simple diagram of the setup in this post. The above was setup similar to what’s…

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  • “Changing the Primary Domain DNS Name of this Computer Failed” – Server 2008 R2

    Within an AWS account I have a Windows Server 2016 Domain Controller, and I’m trying to join a Windows Server 2008 R2 to my Whyte.net Domain. I get this error: Changing the Primary Domain DNS name of this computer to “” failed. The name will remain “whyte.net”.The error…

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  • Testing Connectivity to Remote Server Ports with PowerShell

    All admins need a tool to test connectivity to remote servers on TCP ports. In Windows, this is commonly done using PuTTy or PowerShell. This post is a note on my favourite way of testing remote TCP connections in Windows, which is using PowerShell:> Check a Port is…

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  • Forcing Encryption in SQL Server

    If you’re ever planning to allow external connections to a SQL Server, one of the first things to ensure is that the data is encrypted at rest and in transit. SQL Server has an option where we can force all connections on a SQL Server to be encrypted,…

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  • Running PowerShell Scripts as Scheduled Tasks in Windows

    When you need something scheduled in Windows, the Task Scheduler is the tool at-hand. Running PowerShell (.ps1) scripts as Scheduled Tasks is done differently than differently than running regular .bat scripts. Sometimes I forget how it’s done, so a worthy enough post. Below I’m creating a daily reboot…

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