PJB » microsoft

How to call a batch file from within another batch file

PJ — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 08:38:46 +0000

Have you tried running an external batch file from within a batch file or script, only to find out that the original batch file script prematurely terminates as soon as the external batch script is executed?

For example:

Let’s say we have a main script called “mainscript.bat” and two external scripts called “external1.bat” and “external2.bat”, with “mainscript.bat” having the following lines:

@echo off
c:\testscripts\external1.bat
c:\testscripts\external2.bat

When you try to run the script, you’ll notice that external1.bat will run but external2.bat won’t. This is because external1.bat (the called script) won’t pass the control back to mainscript.bat (the calling script) — which means it won’t get to run external2.bat.

In order to pass the control back to the calling script, you need to use the “CALL” command.

Here’s a simple fix for mainscript.bat:

@echo off
CALL c:\testscripts\external1.bat
CALL c:\testscripts\external2.bat

When you run mainscript.bat, it will call (run) external1.bat. When external1.bat finishes, it will pass the control back to mainscript.bat. Which will then process the next line on the script — in this case, it will call (run) external2.bat — and so on.

No related posts.

How to enable telnet on Windows 7

PJ — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:22:17 +0000

The telnet command is disabled by default in Windows 7. But you can easily enable it using the following steps:

1. Open the Windows 7 Control Panel (Start > Control Panel)

Windows 7 Control Panel

2. Click on the “Programs” link.

Windows 7 Control Panel - Programs

3. Under the “Programs and Features” setting, click on “Turn Windows features on or off” link.

Windows 7 Control Panel - Turn Windows features on or off

4. Tick the “Telnet Client” selection box. Wait for Windows 7 to install and enable the selected feature.

Wait...

5. Done! You should now be able to run the “telnet” command on the Windows 7 command prompt.

Windows 7 telnet command

No related posts.

How to solve MS Outlook Error: “Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window.”

PJ — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:41:02 +0000

If you cannot open Microsoft Outlook 2007 and get the following error when opening Microsoft Outlook 2007: “Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window.” after previously being able to open it, then you might want to try the following:

Go to Start > Run and type the following: “outlook.exe /resetnavpane” (without the quotation marks) and press Enter.

This should fix the problem.

The “/resetnavpane” Outlook command switch clears and regenerates the MS Outlook navigation pane for the current profile.

No related posts.

How to configure Windows Active Directory logon scripts

PJ — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:18:33 +0000

There are instances when you need to run a script or program every time a user logs into your Windows network. One way to automate this is to configure and assign a Windows logon script to a particular user or group account.

Enabling Windows logon scripts is a two-stage process. The first stage is to create the script itself, and the second stage is to assign the logon script to a domain user (or group) account.

I. Where to save the logon script:

Create your logon script and save it in the appropriate format (Example: logon.bat, logon.vbs).
Go to your domain controller and copy the script into the %SystemRoot%\SYSVOL\Sysvol\DomainName\Scripts local folder (Ex. C:\WINDOWS\sysvol\sysvol\ENTIIS.COM\SCRIPTS).

This folder corresponds to the domain controller’s NETLOGON network share folder.

This makes the script accessible over the network via the \\ServerName\Netlogon network share folder.

To summarize:
If your domain controller’s name “DC01”, and if you have a script named “logon.bat”, which is saved on DC01’s “C:\WINDOWS\sysvol\sysvol\ENTIIS.COM\SCRIPTS” folder, then you can access the script over the network by going to the “\\DC01\netlogon“ network share folder, or by simply running \\DC01\netlogon\logon.bat.

II. How to assign a logon script to a user or group:

1. First, open “Active Directory Users and Computers” on the domain controller.

2. Now right click on the user you want to have the logon script and select the properties menu.

A properties dialog like the one shown below will appear. Select the ‘Profile’ Tab

By default, if no exact network path is given, as shown in Figure 3, above, Active Directory will assume that the user profile logon script will be at the %SystemRoot%\SYSVOL\Sysvol\DomainName\Scripts folder.

3. Click Apply.

4. Click OK.

Once configured, the logon script will run (on the local machine where the user logged in) every time the user logs into the network using the corresponding account.

Note: You have to check if the user account used to log into the local machine has the appropriate rights to run or execute programs.

How to call a batch file from within another batch file