Windows Tips & Tricks UPDATE, June 20, 2005, —brought to you by the Windows IT Pro Network and the Windows 2000 FAQ site
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FAQs
- Q. How can I use a script to determine a machine's OS version?
- Q. What's Windows XP N?
- Q. What's port 445 used for in Windows 2000 and later versions?
- Q. How can I disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT)?
- Q. How can I send an email message from within a VBScript script?
Commentary
by John Savill, FAQ Editor, [email protected]
In this issue, I tell you how to use a script to determine a machine's OS version. I explain what Windows XP N is and what port 445 is used for in Windows 2000 and later versions. I also outline how to disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) and how to send an email message from within a VBScript script.
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FAQs
Q. How can I use a script to determine a machine's OS version?
A. You can use Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to query the OperatingSystem information on the local machine. To do so, run the following script, which you can download at http://www.windowsitpro.com/content/content/46883/OSinfo.zip
strComputer = "." Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Dim WshShell Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" &_ "\{impersonationLevel=impersonate\}!\\" & strComputer & _ "\root\cimv2") Set colOperatingSystems = objWMIService.ExecQuery ("Select * from _ Win32_OperatingSystem") For Each objOperatingSystem in colOperatingSystems if objOperatingSystem.Caption = "Microsoft Windows 2000_ Professional" then wscript.echo "2000" if objOperatingSystem.Caption = "Microsoft Windows XP _ Professional" then wscript.echo "XP" Next
You can modify the script to perform various other actions and add other OSs by adding more "if" clauses. You can determine the name of other OSs by running the following script, which you can download at http://www.windowsitpro.com/content/content/46883/OtherOS.zip, on the local machine:
strComputer = "." Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Dim WshShell Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" & _ "\{impersonationLevel=impersonate\}!\\" & strComputer & _ "\root\cimv2") Set colOperatingSystems = objWMIService.ExecQuery ("Select * from _ Win32_OperatingSystem") For Each objOperatingSystem in colOperatingSystems wscript.echo objOperatingSystem.Caption Next
If you run the script on a machine that uses Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, for example, you'll see output similar to that which the figure shows. Thus, to determine whether the machine is running Windows 2003 Standard, you add the following line to the OS check portion of the main script:
if objOperatingSystem.Caption = "Microsoft(R) Windows(R) _ Server 2003, Standard Edition " then wscript.echo "2003 Std"
Q. What's Windows XP N?
A. As part of the European Union (EU) and Microsoft antitrust settlement, Microsoft had to create versions of Windows XP Professional Edition and Windows XP Home Edition that don't include Windows Media Player (WMP). These versions are called XP Professional Edition N and XP Home Edition N and are available only in Europe. You can find more information about the products at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/editions/xp-pro/edition-n.mspx .
Q. What's port 445 used for in Windows 2000 and later versions?
A. In pre-Win2K versions of Windows, the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol runs over NetBIOS, which in turn can run over TCP/IP. This combination of NetBIOS over TCP/IP is known as NetBT and uses UDP ports 137 and 138 and TCP port 139. Win2K introduced the ability to run SMB directly over TCP/IP without the NetBIOS layer. This new direct TCP/IP SMB runs over port 445 and is the preferred method for running SMB. By default, Win2K and later use SMB over TCP/IP rather than over NetBT whenever possible. However, if NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled and an SMB query to port 445 fails (meaning the target computer doesn't support SMB over TCP/IP), the system will use the older SMB over NetBT. You can use the Netstat command to check the status of ports in use. To do so, open a command line and type
netstat -anThe -an switch shows all listening ports in numeric format. The output will show which ports are listening. If only port 445 is listening, NetBT is disabled. If ports 137, 138, and 139 are also listening, NetBT is enabled, as the following output shows:
Active Connections
Proto Local Address Foreign Address State TCP 0.0.0.0:445 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING TCP 192.168.1.50:139 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING UDP 0.0.0.0:445 *:* UDP 192.168.1.50:137 *:* UDP 192.168.1.50:138 *:*
Q. How can I disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT)?
A. NetBT isn't always desirable because of its use of NetBIOS, and Windows 2000 and later versions let you run Server Message Block (SMB) directly over TCP/IP. Therefore, after your network is free of legacy machines (older than Win2K), you can disable NetBT. To do so on a per-adapter basis, perform these steps:
- Open the adapter for which you want to disable NetBT (Start, Settings, Network Connections, Adapter) and click the General tab.
- Select the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties.
- Click the WINS tab.
- Under "NetBIOS setting," select "Disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" and click OK.
- Click OK twice more to close all dialog boxes.
If you're using DHCP, you can disable NetBT by enabling the option "001 Microsoft Disable Netbios Option," as the figure shows, to avoid having to make the change on a per-computer basis. You also need to ensure that clients are configured with the default "Use NetBIOS setting from the DHCP server" setting enabled by using the previous instructions but in step 4, select "Use NetBIOS setting from the DHCP server."
Remember that disabling NetBT will stop file and printer sharing communications with pre-Win2K machines.
Q. How can I send an email message from within a VBScript script?
A. If you have Microsoft IIS with SMTP installed on a server, you can use the following code to send a basic email message from within a script:
Set objMessage = CreateObject("CDO.Message") objMessage.Subject = "Subject" objMessage.Sender = "[email protected]" objMessage.To = "[email protected]" objMessage.TextBody = "Your identity is compromised." objMessage.Send (Substitute your own email information and message text.) You can insert this code into any script that requires a message to be sent.
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