I need to take ownership of a remote registry key across the network in order to delete it but I'm struggling to work out how. PSRemoting is turned off and needing to download additional software etc to do so is untenable (this is part of a toolset script that is used by multiple teams).
Thus far I've tried doing it using REGINI but always get the same error
REGINI: CreateKey (\\computername\HKU\SID\software\microsoft\windows NT\currentversion\windows) relative to handle (000000000) failed - 161
REGINI: Failed to load from file 'acl.txt' (161)
Has anyone else had the need to do this and found a good solution?
Thank you.
Have you tried psexec in conjunction with the regini command?
psexec -s \\computername regini c:\temp\acl.txt
Don't forget to copy the acl.txt to target computer's c:\temp folder.
Related
I've added an option to copy a proper UNC path to the context menu of all directories via PowerShell.
Edit:
I didn't mention that I'm actually using two different keys: One to copy the UNC of the current directory, and one to copy it from a different directory. I didn't think it would make a difference, but it does.
End Edit
Currently, the key value is as follows:
powershell.exe -WindowStyle Hidden -Command . <path I have to censor>\Save-To-Clipboard.ps1 \"%L%\"
Expected behaviour:
The PowerShell script is run quietly.
Actual behaviour:
A PowerShell Window pops up and closes itself.
The same thing happens with cmd.
I've tried using a VBS wrapper as well, but it needs the current path as an argument, which I can't figure out how to do. Simply putting it after the filename as you would in the command line results in the error:
This file does not have an app associated with it for performing this
action. Please install an app or, if one is already installed, create
an association in the Default Apps settings page.
Key value here:
<path I have to censor>\ClunkyWrapper.vbs \"%L%\"
Admittedly, this is my first time running a command from a registry key, and I can't seem to find any resources about this topic. (I might just not know what exactly to google for.) So I would be thankful for more general information on how to run commands from registry keys as well.
Okay, I found a way.
First of all, apparently whether you need to use %L% or %V% depends on the key. I can't tell you why, unfortunately.
That solves the error message of the VBA script, but it still wouldn't run like this.
So I then used wscript.exe, and it finally worked.
wscript.exe <secret path>\ClunkyWrapper.vbs "%V%"
I'm having problems in uploading some folders from the local machine to a server.
When I run the command
scp -r -i pathtokey.txt pathtomyfiles pathtotheserver
For some folders the transfer doesn't succed. I noticed that this happens for the folders where I have R projects. It transfers just usually hidden files named as "source-pane.pper" "chunks.json", but nothing else.
For other folders, where I don't have any of that, the transfer goes fine, meaning that the command I'm using is ok.
Any suggestion of what is happening here and how to solve?
Just to give you all the information, my local machine has windows system
Thanks a lot,
Francesca
I'm unsure why this is failing unfortunately. However an alternative may be to look at using rsync:
rsync <options> <source> <destination>
rsync -azv source_dir/ username#server:~/path/to/folder
I've not tried this while specifying an ssh key explicitly but the answer below explains how to do so. Alternatively you can just type in the password manually if you know it.
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/127352/specify-identity-file-id-rsa-with-rsync
Yet another works-fine-locally-but-looses-its-mind-in-a-remote-session problem.
I have a PS script that runs standard Windows command line ftp.exe to get a file. Works a treat when ran directly, however when ran remotely via Invoke-Command it suddenly leaves the files with the encrypted bit set.
If I then, in the same PS session (in the same script), run cipher /d on the file, I get Access Denied. However if I log onto the remote machine using the same account, I can decrypt it.
So, question the first, is this a "feature" of ftp.exe? I can't find anything suggesting as such, but no other method of creating a file seems to result in it being encrypted, so I'm left thinking it is an intentional act by the application, like it checks the logon type and encrypts if it a network logon.
Second, why can I not immediately decrypt it? Same account, same session.
The essential bits of the script in question:
#the ftp script is just open, user, binary, get, quit
& ftp -n -v -s:"$script"
& cipher /d "$file_path"
I realize this is probably a pretty obscure edge case, but I'll leave an answer just in case anyone runs into anything similar.
As usual, ProcMon has all the answers...
At my company %HOMESHARE% is set to a network file server (by some GPO I believe).
As ftp.exe is retrieving a file, it writes to a temp file and then once finished, copies it over to the specified location. Even after knowing this, one might expect %TEMP% to be used for such a purpose, but no.
I'm not quite sure exactly how ftp.exe goes about determining the temp file location, but when I'm in a PSsession, it chooses my Documents folder (%USERPROFILE% I suppose), but when I'm in an RDP session it uses %HOMEPATH%. So of course my Documents folder is set to encrypt new files and so the temp file is encrypted and gets copied over, but the file share is not so it copies over clean.
Also, while I have found nothing official stating this, it does seem that cipher.exe is completely ineffective for a network logon. If after entering a PSSession I create a new file with Set-Content and attempt to encrypt using cipher /e <file> it gives the same access denied. Same account over RDP encrypts no problem;
I'm having difficulties trying to setup a startup task in an Azure role.
The ultimate goal is to disable RC4 cipher, along with other SSL configurations. In my (VS2012Express) project (solution partially achieved following another answer here in SO that led me to https://gist.github.com/sidshetye/29d6d48dfa0c2f5488a4 ) I created a Startup.cmd file like this:
# Execute powershell command to disable RC4 and imporve SSL security settings
ECHO Batch started >> "StartupLog.txt" 2>&1
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted .\HardenSSL.ps1 >> log- HardenSSL.txt 2>&1
EXIT /B 0
HardenSSL.ps1 is the PowerShell script from the previous link. Both the .cmd and .ps1 scripts are placed in the application root directory, marked as "Content" with properties set to "CopyLocal=Always".
In my service definition, I put this:
<Startup>
<Task commandLine="Startup.cmd" executionContext="elevated" taskType="background"></Task>
</Startup>
Now, when I deploy the application to Azure, "nothing" happens. I configured the role instance to allow remote desktop, connected to the machine. I verified the scripts where published, and there were no log files, RC4 still enabled. I tried to manually run the .cmd and the machine runs the scripts to completion, disables RC4 and restarts. So the scripts are actually "correct".
The problem is that the scripts are not getting fired up at startup. I may be wrong, but I don't see anything related looking Windows events. Actually, the server now keeps all the configurations, but I have to be sure the scripts get executed in case I'll have to publish to new instances/cloud services.
I also tried to:
1. place the scripts on a child directory
2. create other 2 "simpler" .cmd that just create a log file with "script started" to exclude problems related to the .cmd calling the PowerShell script.
None of those scripts got executed.
Hope I've been sufficiently clear, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
Alberto
UPDATE 1
Reading through various discussions, I missed one very important thing: the script files are actually published in 2 distinct places, one being inside the /bin folder.
Ex: I placed my scripts in a /StartupScripts folder in my project, and when I connect via Remote Desktop to the Azure server I find the scripts both in "approot/StartupScripts" and in "approot/bin/StartupScripts".
The scripts the are actually executing are those placed inside the "bin" folder. the real problem is that I have probably a path problem inside the .cmd since I now found the execution logs with an error.
Now I will try to change it up and update the question here on SO.
Ok.
In the end it was indeed a problem with a path in my Startup.cmd file: .\HardenSSL.ps1 could not be found if the StartUp Task pointed to a subfolder.
Solution was to place both Startup.cmd and HardenSSL.ps1 files in the application root, remove the ".\" part when calling the PowerShell Script and all worked well.
Anyway, I would like to suggest anyone to pick this other solution I found in stack exchage:
https://security.stackexchange.com/a/79957
It links to a NuGet package that does the same thing as the script I found on the link to github in the original post, just "better"; mainly:
Better configuration of cipher suites, with support for ForwardSecrecy for all reference browsers on SSLLabs
Retain SSL support for Internet Explorer 8 on windows XP (unfortunately still a necessity for us)
Alberto.
All,
Note: I have updated the question after some feedback.
Thanks to #jisaak for his help so far.
I have the need to run a PowerShell script that adds TCP bindings and some other stuff when I deploy my Cloud Service.
Here is my Cloud Service Project:
Here is my Cloud Service Project and Webrole project:
Here is my task in ServiceDefinition.csdef:
And here is the PowerShell script I want to run:
here is my attempt at the Startup.cmd:
When I deploy I get this in the Azure log:
And this in the powershell log:
Any help would be very much appreciated.
I think I am nearly there but following other people syntax on the web doesn't seem to get me there.
thanks
Russ
I think the issue is that the working directory of the batch command interpreter when it runs Startup.cmd runs is not as expected.
The Startup.cmd is located in the \approot\bin\Startup directory but the working directory is \approot\bin.
Therefore the command .\RoleStartup.ps1 is not able to find the RoleStartup.ps1 as it is looking in the bin directory not in the bin\Startup directory.
Solutions I know to this are:
Solution 1:
Use ..\Startup\RoleStartup.ps1 to call the RoleStartup.ps1 from Startup.cmd.
Soltuion 2:
Change the current working directory in Startup.cmd so that the relative path .\RoleStartup.ps1 is found. I do this by CHDIR %~dp0 (see here) to change into the directory that contains Startup.cmd.
Solution 3:
As Don Lockhart's answer suggested, do not copy the Startup directory to the output, instead leave it set as "Content" in the Visual Studio project. This means the files within it will exist in the \approot\Startup directory on the Azure instance. (You would then want to make sure that the Startup folder is not publically accessible via IIS!). Then update the reference to Startup.cmd in ServiceDefinition.csdef to ..\Startup\Startup.cmd, and update the reference to RoleStartup.ps1 in Startup.cmd to ..\Startup\RoleStartup.ps1. This works on the fact that the working directory is bin and uses ..\Startup to always locate the Startup directory relative to it.
You don't need to set the executionpolicy within your cmd - just call the script. Also, you should use a relative path because you can't rely that there is C disk.
Change your batch to:
powershell -executionpolicy unrestricted -file .\RoleStartup.ps1
Right click on the RoleStartup.ps1 and Startup.cmdin Visual Studio and ensure that the Copy to Output directory is set to copy always.
If this still doesn't work, remove the startup call in your csdef, deploy the service, rdp into it and try to invoke the script by yourself to retrieve any errors.
Edit:
Try to adopt your script as below:
Import-Module WebAdministration
$site = $null
do # gets the first website until the result is not $null
{
$site = Get-WebSite | select -first 1
Sleep 1
}
until ($site)
# get the appcmd path
$appcmd = Join-Path ([System.Environment]::GetFolderPath('System')) 'inetsrv\appcmd.exe'
# ensure the appcmd.exe is present
if (-not (Test-Path $appcmd))
{
throw "appcmd.exe not found in '$appcmd'"
}
# The rest of your script ....
I've found it easier in the past to not copy the content to the output directory. I have approot\bin as the working directory. My startUp task element's commandLine attribute uses a relative reference to the .cmd file like so:
The .cmd file references the PowerShell script relatively from the working directory as well:
PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -f ..\StartUp\RoleStartup.ps1
Ok,
So I am coming back to this after many different attempts to make it work.
I have tried using:
Startup config in the ServiceDefinition.csdef
I have tried registering a scheduled task on the server that scans the Windows Azure log looking for [System[Provider[#Name='Windows Azure Runtime 2.6.0.0'] and EventID=10004]]
Nothing worked either due to security or the timing of events and IIS not being fully setup yet.
So I finally bit the bullet and used my Webrole.cs => public override bool OnStart() method:
Combined with this in the ServiceDefinition.csdef:
Now it all works. This was not the most satisfying result as some of the other ways to do it felt more elegant. Also, many others posted that they got the other ways of doing it to work. Maybe I would have got there eventually but my time was restricted.
thanks
Russ