Windows sysinternals

Chapter 6 Pstools 173
Some of the utilities perform remote operations simply by using Windows APIs that allow
specification of a remote computer on which to operate. Some of the utilities accomplish
remote operations by extracting an EXE file embedded in its executable image, copying
that file to the remote computer’s Admin$ share, registering it as a service on that system
and starting that service using the Windows Service Control Manager APIs, and then communicating
with that service using named pipes. Creating a remote service requires that file
sharing and the Admin$ share be enabled on the target computer. A table at the end of this
chapter lists which of the PsTools utilities require these features for remote operation.
Remote Operations on Multiple Computers
Several of the utilities can operate on multiple remote computers with a single command.
(The table at the end of this chapter lists which ones support this feature.) For these utilities,
you can specify the remote computers directly on the command line or in an input file.
The command-line syntax is a pair of backslashes, followed by the computer names or IP
addresses separated with commas and with no spaces between them. For example:
psinfo \\server1,server2,192.168.0.3,server4
That command line lists system information from server1, then from server2, then from the
computer at IP address 192.168.0.3, and finally from server4.
Another way to specify the remote computers for utilities that can operate on multiple
computers is by using a text file containing each computer name or IP address on a separate
line, and naming the file on the command line prefixed with an @ symbol. The previous
example can be accomplished with a file called computers.txt containing the following lines:
server1
server2
192.168.0.3
server4
And then running the following command line:
psinfo @computers.txt
Finally, for the utilities that can operate on multiple remote computers, passing \\* on
the command line directs the utility to operate on all computers in the current domain or
workgroup:
psinfo \\*
If none of these options are used, the utility operates on the local computer.
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