8 Ways to Build Windows Management 'Experience'

Most IT-related work can be learned in the process of obtaining a degree or certificate, but in the end, it is most important to experience it firsthand. The same goes for window management.

Experience is an important competitive advantage in obtaining a job, but in reality, you cannot gain experience until you get that job. However, the advantage of IT is that there are cases where you can avoid problems. In the IT field, it is often possible to gain first-hand experience using tools that are on your own computer or accessible through existing jobs to get new jobs.

People in the IT field enjoy trying new things. To gain practical experience, let's take a look at 8 Windows management related projects that you can do at home or at work. Best of all, you can try all of this inexpensively and, if possible, for free.

Beginner

Project 1: Find a Stability Monitor

Since Windows Vista, Microsoft has provided Reliability Monitor, a diagnostic tool that provides daily or weekly reports on Windows or application failures, critical events, warnings, and other important alarms. But the stability monitor hides in the old-fashioned control panel. If you haven't checked it yet, look for it. It can be quite useful and can help you fix a known problem or figure it out before it grows.

To access the Stability Monitor: Click the Windows search box or the Start button, search for "Stability" and click "View Stability Record."

A chart is provided with icons indicating the type of alert. To the right of the chart is a label for the warning type. At the top of the chart, the overall stability graph is marked with a line. This allows you to quickly check the reliability of your computer. Clicking on a date brings up a list of alerts, and you can click on each alert to see additional details.

Windows Reliability Monitor Screen

If you are lucky, there will be few or no failures or warnings. But if there is, let's check and fix it. You can also reinstall applications that are causing the problem repeatedly. You will learn something in this process. 

Project 2: Checking the computer management console

The computer management console has been provided since the early days of Windows and can be viewed on all existing PCs. This is not a single tool, but a console that allows you to access multiple tools in one place. There are some differences between Windows editions, and most can be accessed from each of the Windows Management Tools in Control Panel.

Computer Management Console

To access the Computer Management Console, click the Windows search box or the Start button, search for and click Computer Management.

If you select the task scheduler, you can check all tasks set in the PC. Some tasks are set by Windows, and some are set by third-party applications. As you explore, you can also add your own and what the task does. Programs, batch files, and other executable scripts can be launched based on a variety of triggers, such as a specific day/time, running, or computer idle.

Task scheduler of computer management console

The Shared Folders tool displays the folders your computer shares on the network, the user sessions on the network that the current shared folder is accessing, and a list of files that the user has open on the current network. You might be surprised to learn that Windows shares the root of each drive (denoted by adding a dollar sign to the end of the drive letter). However, these are hidden shares protected by passwords, so don't worry.

Shared Folder Tool of Computer Management Console

Project 3: experimenting with the command line

Window managers need to know a myriad of text-based commands. Windows provides some graphical management tools, but entering commands into a command-line interface (CLI) such as the traditional command prompt or the PowerShell framework introduced in the Windows 7 era is powerful. And it's an effective way.

Command prompt execution screen

In the case of PowerShell, you can see it as a programming language that provides much more functionality while still being able to use most of the basic old commands at the command prompt. 

PowerShell execution screen

You may already be familiar with some of the commands, but it's good to find something new and experiment. The basic commands that can be used in CLI are as follows.

• If you add a space and a path after Cd:, CLI will move to that path. (Example: cd c:\windows)
• cd..: Moves from the existing path to the parent directory (eg c:\windows → c:\).
• Dir: List files in a directory. Adding a space and /p divides the file list by page, which is useful when the list is long.
• Systeminfo: Provides a detailed configuration overview for the computer.
• ipconfig: Lists the status of the network adapter. Adding a space and /release releases the IP address assigned to the network adapter, and /renew requests the DHCP server to reassign the IP address. And /flushdns flushes the DNS cache.
• Ping: Add a space and an IP address or domain, and send a ping to check the connection and delay speed.
• Echo: Paste space and some text, and print the text to CLI. This is useful when creating batch files, for example. The CLI window can display details or questions that the user sees at a specific point in time while executing commands specified by the batch file.
• Pause: Pauses the CLI and displays “Press <Enter> to continue”. — Also useful when writing batch files. It can be used immediately after the echo command to cause the user to see and respond to messages.

Basically, there are countless ways to use commands in CLI, so let's study it in more detail. Microsoft provides a full list of commands and a lot of documentation, including an introduction to PowerShell. If you are a Linux or Unix fan, check out the new Windows Subsystem Installation Guide for Linux.

The basic tips that can be applied to CLI work are as follows.

• When you right-click, the copied text or command is pasted.
• Pressing the up arrow key cycles through the commands used.
• Normally, pressing Ctrl-C cancels the running process.
• Click the title bar icon in the upper-left corner of the CLI window to access properties and change the font size and color, as well as other cosmetic elements.

Intermediate

Project 4: Modifying Group Policy

Through Group Policies, various Windows settings on a computer network can be centrally defined, applied, and controlled. The most popular Windows management tool in domain networks is to use Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) through Windows Server. You can manage some of the settings in the Windows GUI and command line, and there are many that can only be configured through Group Policy.

Even if you don't have PCs on your domain network (if you don't have the courage to challenge Projects 5 and 6), you can try modifying the individual Group Policy settings for your computers. However, to apply this, Windows Professional version is required.

If you have the professional version, you can access the 'Group Policy Editor'. Click the Windows search box or the Start button, enter 'Group Policy', and select 'Edit Group Policy' from the results.

Group Policy Editor screen

You will see 'Computer Configuration' and 'User Configuration'. By expanding the settings and templates in each, various settings are displayed and can be configured. It is well documented what happens when each setting is enabled or disabled. You can also find interesting settings, open them, and enable or disable them. But be careful not to break your computer.

Project 5: Managing with Microsoft Intune

Microsoft Intune was first introduced in 2011. It is a cloud-based tool for remotely managing mobile devices (Android and iOS) and computers (Windows and macOS). It's useful for managing devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops that aren't always in a domain or building. Devices can be remotely tracked to enforce data and security policies, manage OS updates, deploy software, and provide remote support.

Intune can be purchased as a standalone subscription or as one of Microsoft 365 Enterprise or Microsoft Endpoint Manager. Intune is a user-based subscription service, paid licenses are provided on a monthly user basis, and can use up to 15 devices per user. The 30-day free trial can save you a bit.

Intune is integrated into the Endpoint Manager Admin

If you install the free trial version, you can use the web-based GUI. Let's start experimenting after adding a mobile device and a computer. Later, if you're using Intune in the IT field, you'll get the first-hand experience, if not, at least you'll get a better picture of how the endpoint manager works in general. Let's explore the policies and management settings to see what features they offer.

Project 6: Running Windows Server

If you want to work as a Windows administrator, you're most likely to use and manage Windows servers. Microsoft provides many network services such as AD DS, but it also has file, web, DNS, and DHCP server functions. The exact server functionality depends on the version and edition. 

If you've never used Windows Server, I recommend doing it yourself. Microsoft offers a 180-day free trial of Windows Server download. It can be downloaded as a disk (ISO) image and installed on a physical device. 

If you don't have a spare computer, and you're running the Professional Edition with the latest version of Windows, you can use Hyper-V or use a third-party VM solution like VirtualBox to install Windows Server on a virtual machine. If you want to install and run the server more quickly, you can configure a cloud-based VM through Microsoft Azure (free trial for 30 days or more) or Amazon EC2 (free trial for 12 months). If you're doing Project 6, it's best to install Windows Server on a spare PC.

Server Manager screen of Windows Server

Once the server is up, step away from the server manager and add the roles, features, and servers you are interested in. As you get used to it, check out the project to install domain controllers. We also recommend a number of free training materials, such as Virtual Labs and Microsoft Learn, from Microsoft.

Advanced

Project 7: Setting up a domain network

In the home and in many small and medium-sized businesses, computers are usually included in what we call workgroup networks. In other words, it is common that there is no Windows server including a domain controller. Computers have a local Windows account and do not centrally manage users or computers.

However, if you have a Windows Server, you can use a Domain Controller (DC) and AD to centrally store user credentials, add computers to the domain, and manage settings centrally via Group Policy (as mentioned in Project 4). I can. Users can also log in to other computers using a single domain-based Windows account.

IT beginners often don't understand how to deploy and use basic domain networks or don't know what domain networks offer. This is also because it is not easy to add a computer to the domain after setting up the Windows server and the necessary functions. But it is worth investing time. It will be a great learning experience.

If you have completed the previous project ('Operating Windows Server'), you will be able to set up a Windows Server domain network because Windows Server is already running. Now let's add the AD DS role. After this is set up and users are created, add the computer to the domain and log in to a domain-based Windows account. It is a good idea to refer to the documentation and other sources provided by Microsoft.

AD management screen of Windows server

Project 8: experimenting with Azure AD

With enterprises using more cloud-based services than ever before, IT must be able to centrally manage access to websites and web-based applications through login credentials. For this, Azure AD was developed.

Although the name includes 'AD', this Azure service (as mentioned in the previous project) is completely different from the typical AD service provided through Windows Server Server. Features like Azure AD Join and Azure Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) add functionality similar to typical AD services but are not designed to replace on-premises servers for on-premises computers and devices.

Azure AD is basically a cloud extension of the usual AD user directory functionality. Once connected to Windows Server, users will automatically log into Office 365 and many other websites when they login to their domain Windows account. It is a single-sign-on (SSO) tool for the cloud.

Azure AD Dashboard

Like most other Microsoft products, Azure AD has a free trial. After completing Projects 6 and 7, we recommend configuring Azure AD with additional Windows Server.