Command Line Tools

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Sections
Software and hardware troubleshooting tools
File management
Disk management
Other tools

Networking troubleshooting tools

Network information
Information and diagnostics
Group management

Software and hardware troubleshooting tools

File management
The following commands allow you to copy files from the command line.

copy
Linux: cp
copy files by moving them from one location to another, such as from one drive to
another

Example: A company decides to upgrade its computers, but it’s still using the
same operating system and wants to keep its data and files intact. The IT
administrator can use copy to move the files and directories from the older
computers to the newer computers. The newer computers will now have
duplicates of the files.
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xcopy
copy files with options and control over how to copy files and directories

xcopy /s
includes subdirectories that contain content when copying files

xcopy /j
protects larger files while copying

Example: The hard drive on a computer is beginning to fail. The drive has tested
clean for viruses and other malware, so issue is purely mechanical. The IT
administrator decides to copy all the files on the drive to another drive. Some of
these files are very large and contain important data. The IT administrator
decides to use xcopy and copy all the files without buffering. They add the
switch /j to protect the larger files.

robocopy
copy files with more commands than xcopy, including commands for moving secure
files

robocopy /sec
copies files with security

Example: An IT administrator needs to move files from one place to another with
the security intact. The administrator decides to use robocopy to move the files
with the switch /sec which copies files with security.

Disk management
These commands are used to troubleshoot and perform tasks on a computer’s disk,
file system, and drives.
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chkdsk
Linux: fsck
check both the file system and its metadata for physical and logical errors

chkdsk /f
check the drive and repair any issues

Example: A user goes to an IT professional about a computer that has problems

opening files, and is not bringing up apps and programs the user needs. The IT
professional uses the chkdsk tool to scan the drive and display the status of the
disk. Chkdsk finds problem sectors in the disk. The IT professional uses chkdsk
and the /f switch to repair the drive.

sfc
Check the system for corrupted files and look for cached copies of the files to try to
repair them

Example: A computer is having problems running. It is constantly displaying

error warnings and periodically shuts down. The IT administrator first runs sfc to
look for and fix corrupted files before taking any further steps.
displays the first 10 lines of the patches.txt file

format
Reset the drive and erase all the data, only putting in data needed to operate the disk

Example: A user has been trying to start a computer, but it won’t consistently
start. When it does go on, it doesn’t stay on long enough to perform any tasks.
There may be a virus on the drive, bad sectors, or a number of other problems.
After explaining to the user all the data on the drive will be erased and getting
permission from the user, an IT professional formats the computer’s drives,
reinstalls the operating system, and checks if it starts up again with a newly
formatted disk.
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diskpart
Linux: fdisk
divide a hard drive into separate partitions that act like disks

Example: A user wants to have Windows running to be compatible with work

computers, but also to have the ability to run Linux. The user creates one
partition for each, and the computer can now start as a Windows computer or a
Linux computer depending on what the user needs at the time.

Other tools
These two commands are helpful tools for an IT administrator to troubleshoot and
gather information about a computer system.

shutdown
Linux: shutdown
shut down the local computer or other computers on the network

shutdown /fw
reboots the computer into the firmware interface after shutdown

Example: A company has decided to shut down all the computers on the internal
network for routine maintenance. The IT administrator uses the shutdown tool
to shut down all the computers in the network.

winver
display the current version of Windows
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Example: A new administrator needs information on which version of Windows

is being used on company computers. The administrator runs winver to get this
information.

Networking troubleshooting tools

Network information
This group of commands helps you gather information about the network that you
might need to troubleshoot and solve issues.

ipconfig
Linux (later version): ip
Linux (older versions): ipconfig
display the current network configuration information

ipconfig /all
display full configuration information for all adapters

Example: A user’s computer can’t connect to the Internet. The IT professional

goes to the command line and uses ipconfig to check the status of the
connection. They see the ip address as 0.0.0.0 and knows the computer is not
communicating with the DHCP server. This gives the IT professional important
information on how to start fixing the problem.

ping
Linux: ping
check the status of a connection to an address or the server speed of the connection
to determine if a website or router is running slow
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Example: A user is successfully connected to a website, but it’s very slow. The
user asks an IT administrator to find out why it is slow. The IT administrator uses
ping to check the router and finds no problem with the speed. Then they use
ping to check the website and they find the website is running slow, not the
user’s computer or the local router.

pathping
send out a request to each of the routers on the path to the destination, check the
packets from each router for loss and latency, and use the information to determine
where the packet loss is happening

Example: An administrator notices problems with a network and runs pathping

to check each of the routers on the path and discovers a specific router is losing
more packets than any of the others. This router needs repair or replacement.

tracert
Linux: traceroute
Mac: traceroute
trace the route of a packet of data from the user’s source computer to the destination
system

Example: An IT administrator notices packets of information are not arriving at

their destinations. The IT administrator uses the tracert (or traceroute)
command to find out where in their routes the packets were lost.

hostname
Linux: hostname
display the name of one device on a network
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Example: The IT manager needs to find the names of multiple computers on a

local network. The IT manager uses the hostname tool to find the systems’
names.

Information and diagnostics

This group of commands gives the IT administrator information about network activity
and user statistics. It also contains commands that help diagnose network issues.

netstat
Linux: netstat
display statistics about network activity and configuration, such as user information
about passive and active sockets

Example: An IT administrator needs to know which sockets are active and how
many there are. The administrator uses netstat to get the information.

nslookup
Linux: nslookup
obtain DNS record information by sending queries to the domain name server

Example: An IT administrator needs to find information from DNS properties, so

the administrator uses the nslookup tool with the set all parameters and is able
to find the current configuration settings for the computer’s DNS properties.

net user
add or modifies user accounts, or display user account information

Example: A computer in the company which allows external users access from
other computers is having problems. Huge amounts of files start appearing on
the computer including large photo files and other odd files. The IT
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administrator uses the net user tool and finds there is still an account active for
a recently terminated employee. The IT administrator then uses the net user
command and the /delete switch to delete the user account.

net use
Disconnect a computer from a shared resource and display a list of network
connections

Example: An IT administrator needs to remove a shared resource from a

computer. The administrator uses the net use tool to check all the computers
connected to the resource, find the one that needs to be removed, and uses the
/delete switch to remove the connection from the computer.

Group management
Both of the follwing commands are used to display and update group policies.

gpupdate
update group policy settings

Example: A company hires an IT professional after having done everything on

their own. The IT professional looks at the group policy in the system and finds
that everyone in the organization has free access to a delicate part of the
system. To prevent problems in the future, the IT professional updates the group
policy to restrict access to that part of the system.

gpresult
display the Resultant Set of Policy (RSoP) for a system
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Example: An IT professional uses gpresult to examine the RSoP policy already in

place. The IT professional then finds the access weakness described and
updates the group policy using gpupdate to protect the system.