Windows & SQL Server DBA Command Reference

A mixed collection of Windows CMD, PowerShell, and netsh/fsutil commands commonly used by SQL Server DBAs for troubleshooting, configuration, and performance tuning.

Usage: Most lines are NOT meant to be run as a single batch file. Copy individual commands into CMD or PowerShell as needed. PowerShell lines should be run in a PS prompt (not cmd.exe). Replace placeholder values before use.

Prerequisites: Administrator rights for most commands, PowerShell 5.1+ recommended, RSAT for cluster/WMI queries, Sysinternals psping.exe for TCP latency testing.

Warnings: Several commands modify system/network settings — test in non-prod first. The empty folder delete command (Section 7) removes folders in-place. The AD password reset via xp_cmdshell (Section 19) is logged.

1. Network & Port Diagnostics

Check if an application is listening on a port

@REM  Replace 1234 with the port number
netstat -ano | find "1234" | find "LISTEN"

Get the process name for a given PID

tasklist /fi "PID eq 1234"

TCP latency test to SQL Server (Sysinternals psping)

.\psping.exe -t SQL01:1433 | ForEach-Object { "{0} - {1}" -f (Get-Date), $_ } | Tee-Object -FilePath "C:\Log\SQL01_log.txt"

Runs continuously, timestamps output, and logs to file.

2. Software Installation

Silent install of SQL Server Data Migration Assistant

msiexec /i "DataMigrationAssistant.msi" INSTALLFOLDER="D:\Program Files (x86)\DataMigrationAssistant\" /qb

3. WiFi & Network Profiles

Show stored WiFi profile including plaintext password (requires admin)

netsh wlan show profile WiFiName key=clear

4. Server Connectivity Monitor

Continuously pings servers and logs failures with timestamps.

$server = @('s1','s2')
while($true) {
    $server | ForEach-Object {
        if(-not(test-connection $PSItem -Count 1 -Quiet )){
            Write-Output "$($PSItem) : $(get-date) - Request Timed Out" |
            Out-File c:\_tools\S_log.txt -Append
        }
    }
}

5. SQL Server WMI Provider Registration

Re-register SQL Server WMI provider (fixes WMI-related SSMS errors). Path may vary by SQL Server version (130 = SQL 2016).

mofcomp "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Shared\sqlmgmproviderxpsp2up.mof"

6. Event Log & Security Audit

Query Windows Event Logs within a specific time window.

$Begin = Get-Date -Date '12/10/2020 04:30:00'
$End = Get-Date -Date '12/10/2020 05:30:00'

# System log
Get-EventLog -LogName System -After $Begin -Before $End

# Application log
Get-EventLog -LogName Application -After $Begin -Before $End

# Setup log
Get-EventLog -LogName Setup -After $Begin -Before $End

# Security log - failures only
Get-EventLog -LogName Security -After $Begin -Before $End | Where-Object {$_.EntryType -eq 'FailureAudit'} | Out-GridView

7. File System Operations

Delete all empty subfolders recursively from the current script directory

WARNING: Run from the correct directory — this deletes empty folders in-place.

echo off
for /f "usebackq delims=" %%d in (`"dir "%~dp0" /ad/b/s | sort /R"`) do rd "%%d"

8. System Information

Get system boot time

systeminfo | find /i "Boot Time"

Check PowerShell version

$PSVersionTable.PSVersion

Get computer name

$env:computername

9. File Search

Find SQL Server executable files

Get-ChildItem "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server" -Filter *.exe -Recurse | ForEach-Object { $_.FullName }
Get-ChildItem "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server" -Filter *.exe -Recurse | ForEach-Object { $_.FullName }

Find old files (older than 180 days) on a drive

Get-ChildItem "K:\" -Filter "*.*" -Recurse -File | Where CreationTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-180) | Select-Object fullname, creationtime | Out-GridView

Find old .bak files (older than 20 days) with size in GB

Get-ChildItem "J:\" -Filter "*.bak" -Recurse -File | Where CreationTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-20) | Select-Object fullname, creationtime, @{N='SizeIngb';E={[double]('{0:N2}' -f ($_.Length/1gb))}} | Out-GridView

Advanced file search: large, old backup files

$path = "\\d$"
$size = 1MB
$limit = 500
$Extension = "*.bak"

$largeSizefiles = Get-ChildItem -Path $path -Recurse -ErrorAction "SilentlyContinue" -Include $Extension |
    Where-Object { $_.GetType().Name -eq "FileInfo" } |
    Where-Object { $_.Length -gt $size } |
    Where-Object { $_.CreationTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-7) } |
    Sort-Object -Property Length -Descending |
    Select-Object fullname, creationtime, @{Name="SizeInGB";Expression={$_.Length / 1GB}}

$largeSizefiles | Out-GridView

10. Services Export

Export all Windows services to CSV for auditing.

Get-WmiObject win32_service | Select-Object Name, DisplayName, State, PathName | Export-Csv -Path "C:\services.csv" -NoTypeInformation

11. File System & NTFS Information

Get NTFS volume information (allocation unit size, etc.)

Useful for verifying 64K allocation unit size for data/tempdb drives.

fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo d:\tempdb

Query volume block sizes across all NTFS drives

$wql = "SELECT Label, Blocksize, Name FROM Win32_Volume WHERE FileSystem='NTFS'"
Get-WmiObject -Query $wql -ComputerName '.' | Select-Object Label, Blocksize, Name

12. Filestream & 8.3 Short Name Best Practices

Query, disable, and strip 8.3 short names (recommended for SQL data drives). Replace F: with the target drive letter.

FSUTIL.EXE 8dot3name query F:
FSUTIL.EXE 8dot3name set F: 1
fsutil.exe 8dot3name strip /s /v F:

13. Windows Firewall

Enable WMI firewall rules (required for remote management/monitoring).

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="windows management instrumentation (wmi)" new enable=yes

14. Remote Session Management

@REM  Query active sessions on a remote server
query session /server:SERVER_NAME

@REM  Reset a disconnected session (replace [ID] with session ID)
reset session [ID] /server:SERVER_NAME

@REM  Query users across multiple servers (reads from servers.txt)
for /f %i in (servers.txt) do query user *username* /server:%i
for /f %i in (servers.txt) do query session /server:%i

15. TCP/IP Tuning — Cluster & SQL Server Best Practices

Show current TCP global settings

netsh int tcp show global

Disable features that can cause issues with SQL Server clustering

These should be disabled on SQL Server nodes per Microsoft best practices.

Netsh int tcp set global chimney=disabled
Netsh int tcp set global netdma=disabled
netsh int ipv4 set global taskoffload=disabled

16. Windows Cluster Configuration

Check and configure cluster subnet settings (for multi-subnet AG)

get-cluster | fl *subnet*
(get-cluster).SameSubnetDelay = 2000
(get-cluster).SameSubnetThreshold = 10

Rename a cluster network name resource

Replace XXXXXXXXX (current) and YYYYYYYYY (new) with actual values.

Get-ClusterResource "SQL Network Name (XXXXXXXXX)" | ForEach-Object { $_.Name = "YYYYYYYYYYY" }

17. Always On AG — Multi-Subnet DNS Configuration

@REM  View cluster resources
Get-ClusterResource

@REM  Get AG cluster resource parameters
Get-ClusterResource ag01 | Get-ClusterParameter

@REM  Disable RegisterAllProvidersIP (use 0 for multi-subnet AG with older clients)
Get-ClusterResource ag01 | Set-ClusterParameter RegisterAllProvidersIP 0

@REM  Set DNS TTL to 30 seconds for faster failover client reconnection
Get-ClusterResource ag01 | Set-ClusterParameter HostRecordTTL 30

18. PowerShell Module Management

Configure proxy credentials for corporate networks

$wc = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$wc.Proxy.Credentials = [System.Net.CredentialCache]::DefaultNetworkCredentials

Save a PowerShell module for offline/side-by-side installation

Find-Module -Name "azurerm.storage" -Repository "PSGallery" | Save-Module -Path "C:\temp\PSModules\" -Verbose

Show current PSModulePath

$env:PSModulePath

19. Active Directory — Password Reset via xp_cmdshell

WARNING: This command is logged in SQL error log and Windows security log.

exec xp_cmdshell 'powershell -command "([adsi]''WinNT://Domain/#USERNAME#,user'').ChangePassword(''oldpassword'',''newpassword'')"'

20. VMware — Balloon Driver Check

Check VMware balloon driver memory reclamation status.

VMWareToolBoxCMD stat balloon

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