Author: hewagen
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ADMXComparer – Take Control of Administrative Template Changes from the Command Line
Group Policy Administrative Templates (ADMX/ADML) are constantly evolving. Every new Windows release, browser version, or feature update introduces changes—new settings, removed settings, or sometimes even a reorganization of templates. But answering simple questions like: …is surprisingly difficult with standard tools. This is exactly where ADMXComparer comes in. 🔎 What is ADMXComparer? ADMXComparer is a C#…
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UpdateWindows – Take Control of Windows Updates from the Command Line
Keeping Windows systems up to date is essential—but not always transparent or easy to automate. Which updates are installed? Which ones are missing? Which cumulative update (LCU) is actually active on a system? And what exact OS build is running on that machine? To solve these problems, I built UpdateWindows.exe — a lightweight .NET Framework…
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Demystifying the Client Repeatable Feature in Edge
Autofill behavior in modern browsers can sometimes feel confusing—especially when suggestions suddenly stop appearing even though data is still being entered correctly. In Microsoft Edge, this behavior is often caused by a feature called the Client Repeatable Feature. This article explains how Autofill works in Edge, how Frequently Saved Data (FSD) and Parsable Name are…
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Understanding Windows Settings URIs and How to Use Them in Enterprise Environments
Windows provides a powerful and flexible management framework that enables organizations to configure, restrict, or simplify the Settings experience for their users. One of the key mechanisms behind this framework is the ms-settings: URI scheme — a consistent, internal navigation system that defines how each Settings page in Windows is accessed. If you have ever…
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Slightly clear the fog around BlackLotus mitigations
Hi, I’m Helmut Wagensonner, a Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft. Despite the detailed information we’ve previously provided about mitigating the UEFI BlackLotus bootkit, it appears there is still considerable confusion surrounding the entire process. What specifically needs to be addressed, and why are manual steps required to activate the mitigations? Understanding BlackLotus and its mitigations…
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Remotely create a combined trace
Why combined remote tracing? Sometimes the machine you need to investigate is physically inaccessible, hung, or its GUI has become unresponsive. In such cases, you can still capture rich diagnostic data—kernel events, network traffic, and user‑mode system calls—by driving tracing entirely from a separate “Admin PC.” Combining multiple trace types into one workflow lets you…
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Create a performance trace
Performance traces can help to figure out, which processes slow down the system. To create a performance trace, we use XPERF and NETSH commands. NETSH is part of the operating system while XPERF is a part of the Windows ADK (Assessment and Deployment Kit) and needs to be downloaded and installed. Find the latest version…
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Windows 10 or Windows 11 GPO ADMX – Which One To Use For Your Central Store?
Hi community, My name is Helmut Wagensonner. I’m a Customer Engineer at Microsoft and this blog should help you to understand, which Administrative Templates (admx) to choose for your Windows 11 / Windows 10 mixed environment. Note: The content of this article is only useful if you use ADMX file versions released before 21/07/23. All…
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May 2023 cumulative update for Win10/Win11 explained
Hi all, mitigating the Secure Boot UEFI bootkit using the May 2023 cumulative update still causes misunderstandings at some of my customers. So I wrote this short article to give you an overview and illustrate how this update works, especially regarding the elemination of the BlackLotus bootkit, covered in CVE-2023-24932. A very detailed description can…
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How to get your Intune package source files back
Hi community! I am Helmut Wagensonner, a customer engineer for Windows client OS at Microsoft. This blog is about getting back the source files of a Win32 app uploaded to Microsoft Intune. Not long ago, I updated one of my tools (https://technet.blogs.ms/stayawake-updated/) and I wanted to add it as a new app package in my Intune…