Throw Away Your Mouse! A List of Windows Snap-ins and Applets

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Hi.  This is Jim from Directory Services.  I spend a great deal of time working through remote Easy Assist / Live Meeting sessions, sometimes with client machines half way round the globe and the latency can be excruciating.

In my experience I have found that using the CMD line as well as START - RUN to launch administrative tools can be a more expedient way to do system administration.  Using the mouse and clicking repeatedly to launch an administrative interface is not always the most efficient, especially in an extremely latent remote session.  An errant click will always do you in. To this end I felt the need to create a one stop “short cut” reference to launch some of the more popular administrative applets.  This is suitable for pinup in your cube or office.  Feel free to commit them all to memory.

RUN/CMD shortcuts for AD management

ADFS.msc AD Federation Services
CERTMGR.msc Certificate Management –Current User
CERTSRV.msc Certification Authority
CERTTMPL.msc Certificate Templates
COMPMGMT.msc Computer Management
COMEXP.msc Component Services  C:windowssystem32com
DCOMCNFG  Component Services
DSA.msc  ADUC (AD Users and Computers)
DFSGUI.msc DFS Management
DFSMGMT.msc DFS Management R2
DNSMGMT.msc  DNS Management
DOMAIN.msc Domains and Trusts
DSSITE.msc Sites and Services
EVENTVWR.msc Event Viewer
GPEDIT.msc Local Policy
GPMC.msc  Group Policy Management Console
PKIVIEW.msc PKI management
RSOP.msc Resultant set of Policy
SECPOL.msc Local Security Policy
SERVICES.msc Services
SCHMMGMT.msc   Schema Management
TASKMGR Task Manager
TSCC.msc  TS Configuration

These are .exe’s

TSADMIN TS Administrator
LICMGR TS Licensing

The following are contained within the WINDOWS 2003 ADMINISTRATION TOOLS PACK
*Installed from the Windows Server 2003 CD

ADMGMT.msc AD Management –Domains, Sites, DNS and ADUC
PKMGMT.msc PKI Management – Authorities, Templates
IPADDRMGMT.msc WINS,DNS and DHCP in one console

2008 SERVER

SERVERMANAGER.msc Server Manager
NAPCLCFG.msc Network Access Protection Client Configuration
STOREXPL.msc Storage Manager
TSCONFIG TS Configuration
WBADMIN Windows Server Backup
WF.msc Windows Firewall + Advanced Security

RUN shortcuts for Windows OS management

NCPA.CPL  Network Properties
APPWIZ.CPL Add remove programs
DEVMGMT.msc Device Manager
FSMGMT.msc File Share Management
SYSDM.CPL System Properties
FIREWALL.CPL Firewall applet
DESK.CPL Display Properties
CONTROL Control Panel
SYSDM.CPL System Properties       
ACCESS.CPL  Accessibility Options         
APPWIZ.CPL Add/Remove Programs           
TIMEDATE.CPL Date/Time Properties
DESK.CPL          Display Properties 
FINDFAST.CPL           FindFast                      
FONTS  Fonts Folder     
INETCPL.CPL  Internet Properties           
JOY.CPL  Joystick Properties
LUSRMGR.MSC Local Users and Groups           
MAIN.CPL Keyboard  Keyboard Properties    
MLCFG32.CPL  Microsoft Exchange  
WGPOCPL.CPL  Microsoft Mail Post Office       
MAIN.CPL  Mouse Properties              
MMSYS.CPL  Multimedia Properties         
PASWORD.CPL Password Properties           
MAIN.CPL PC CARD (pcmcia)                         PC Card 
PRINTERS  Printers Folder               
INTL.CPL  Regional Settings             
STICPL.CPL  Scanners and Cameras          
MMSYS.CPL sounds Sound Properties              

- Jim "Mouse-Click Blues" Tierney