Windows Service Edition v1.8.20230815.0

This release of SysAdmin Accelerator allows sysadmins to query information about Windows Services. It includes several functions that wrap the Win32_Service WMI class to make calls "safe" (i.e., executable without error). This is a fairly basic release to support the inventory of services in a downstream project.

I hope to pivot back to registry query development soon, allowing SAA to reach feature parity with some other tools I've developed over the years. Once we get there, a PowerShell release will be next!

Backward Compatibility Fixes Edition v1.7.20230519.0

Candidly, this release of SysAdmin Accelerator fixes some embarrassing backward compatibility bugs that affected code from running as expected on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and older operating systems.

It also reworks the build script to make administering items such as the output file name easier. The build script also has the added capability to skip files during the build process - and by default, is configured to skip the Version.vbs file in SysAdmin Accelerator -- this is because the original release(s) of VBScript did not support the creation of custom classes, and using the "new" keyword was causing a syntax error no matter what.

A PowerShell release is still planned!

Windows Autopilot Hardware Hash and Lenovo Hardware Info Edition v1.6.20230424.0

This release of SysAdmin Accelerator adds a function for obtaining the Windows Autopilot hardware hash: (GetWindowsAutopilotHardwareHash(). It also adds a few functions for obtaining the "computer system product" hardware information, which supplements the manufacturer, model, and serial number collection already in SysAdmin Accelerator. In particular, GetComputerSystemProductVersion() is useful on Lenovo systems as it displays the friendly model number, e.g., "ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 6". We also add a function to get the computer's UUID and detect whether the computer is running in AWS. Finally, we also have a new function for validating whether a string is correctly in GUID format.

This edition also fixes some bugs, including incorrect/incomplete virtual machine detection and incorrectly reporting TPM status information when no TPM is present.

A PowerShell release is still planned!

ISO 8601 Standardized Timestamps Edition v1.5.20210810.0

This release of Sysadmin Accelerator adds a few functions for taking scripting language-native datetime objects or CIM_DATETIME objects and converting them to ISO 8601-formatted strings. This is useful if writing timestamps to a log file that will be ingested into some sort of log-parser (at the time of writing, most log parsers are built to handle timestamps in this format).

I know this isn't the most exciting release, but it should be helpful. And I'm glad that I've found another immediate use for all the time zone functions that I wrote.

Yes, a PowerShell release is still planned!

System Uptime Edition v1.4.20210729.0

This release of Sysadmin Accelerator adds several functions for obtaining a system's last boot time or calculating its uptime in seconds.

It also includes some helper functions that calculate integer ceiling and floor (i.e., round up or round down to the nearest integer), and that break down seconds into years/months/days/hours/minutes/seconds or years/days/hours/minutes/seconds

Many more features to come! And I haven't forgotten about PowerShell :)

BIOS Version and Time Zone Edition v1.3.20210711.0

This release of Sysadmin Accelerator adds a bunch of functions for obtaining a computer's BIOS information and some time zone information.

The BIOS features allow you to check 1) the systems management BIOS version string, 2) the BIOS release date (in native timedate object format, converted to local time), and 3) the BIOS manufacturer's version string.

The time zone-related features allow you to check 1) the date in a month (e.g., June 30) given a relative date requirement (the last Wednesday of June in 2021), 2) the UTC offset for the local computer on a specified date and time, 3) the effective UTC offset for the local computer (now), and 4) convert a CIM_DATETIME-formatted string to a native datetime (VT_DATE) object

I'll be honest: the time zone features really just came along for the ride. They were necessary because WMI returns a CIM_DATETIME-formatted string for its properties that return a datetime. On Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and newer, in most cases, it is straightforward to use a WMI object to convert these. But on older operating systems or restricted OSes, we needed another way -- hence the need to have information about the computer's time zone.

Lastly, this release also includes 1) the capability to check to see if an object is a valid datetime (VT_TIME) object containing data, and 2) a few trivial bugfixes

I'm happy to report that PowerShell development has started in parallel. I owe a huge thanks to my colleague Sam Hansen (@shansen96), who has started this non-trivial effort!

Many more features to come!

Hardware Information Edition v1.2.20210629.0

This release of Sysadmin Accelerator adds a bunch of functions for obtaining hardware information. You can check the 1) manufacturer and 2) model number/model name of a computer. You can also 3) determine whether it is a physical computer instance vs. a virtual machine. And 4) if it is a physical computer, determine if it is a "stationary, non-server computer" (e.g., desktop), a portable computer (laptop/tablet), or a server chassis (rackmount or blade).

This release also contains a few trivial bugfixes and minor reorganization of headers/structure

I still plan to add a few more critical features and then begin PowerShell development.

Many more features to come!

TPM Query Edition v1.1.20210617.0

This release of Sysadmin Accelerator adds a bunch of functions for getting the TPM information on a computer. You can check 1) whether a TPM is present, 2) whether a TPM is enabled, 3) whether a TPM is activated, and 4) whether a TPM is ready. These functions should be very useful for a BitLocker rollout, Device Guard enablement, or similar project.

This release also contains one bugfix for the TestObjectIsAnyTypeOfInteger() function. It did not work at all in the previous release; now it does :)

I still plan to add a few more critical features and then begin PowerShell development.

Many more features to come!

Initial Release v1.0.20210614.0

Accelerator.zip

This is my first release of Sysadmin Accelerator. It is a set of useful functions that come together into a powerful set of tools for systems administration tasks such as inventory, environment detection, software installation, etc.

This first release is just VBScript. I plan to add a few more critical features and then begin PowerShell development.

Many more features to come!