Chapter 7 - System Services, Drivers, and the Registry

Abstract

This chapter introduces command-line tasks that can be used for maintaining a system. It discusses how to obtain system configuration information, query and configure system services, obtain information about device drivers, shut down and restart local and remote systems, and work with the Registry from the command line. The main commands covered in this chapter include the Systeminfo command, for obtaining system configuration information; the Driverquery command, for getting information about device drivers; the SC (Service Control) command set, for querying and configuring system services and device drivers; and the Reg command, for managing the Windows Registry. The SC and the Reg commands are composed of several subcommands and, as this chapter shows, are very useful for troubleshooting as well as configuring local and remote computers. The Shutdown command allows one to shut down and restart a local or remote computer without having to be present at the console.