Remotely Managing Windows machines without Active Directory

I'm the on-site tech at a remote healthcare facility with a few hundred workstations/devices and half a dozen servers. I'm having difficulty having a physical presence everywhere I'm needed. Corp. IT doesn't allow unattended remote access(RDP) and getting help from AD/SCCM admins is difficult for anything smaller than a facility wide change/install. I have local admin privileges, but not domain level are there any tools or methods preferably within windows (without installing something like team viewer) to help facilitate making changes?

I'm intrigued by the idea of a cmd line ssh type session where I can do simple things such as run scripts, install network printers etc. Something net-cat(ish) would save me a lot of time.

Solution 1:

I'm intrigued by the idea of a cmd line ssh type session where I can do simple things such as run scripts, install network printers etc.

PowerShell Remoting will give you a rough equivalent to SSH on Windows.

Solution 2:

Look into Sysinternal's PsTools

It's really easy to use, no need to install anything on target machines, works with older Windows versions. Make sure you test the command on a test machine/VM, sometimes it needs escaping of parameters.

Examples:

1. Check new Microsoft Updates for all servers listed in servers.txt

for /F "usebackq" %%i in (cmd /c "more servers.txt") do psexec \\%%i cmd /c "hostname & net stop wuauserv & wuauclt /detectnow"

2. Wrap your actions in batch script, upload it and then execute

for /F "usebackq" %%i in (cmd /c "more servers.txt") do echo ====started %%i & copy /y install_msupdates_and_reboot.bat \\%%i\c$ & psexec \\%%i cmd /c "c:\install_msupdates_and_reboot.bat" & del /q \\%%i\c$\install_msupdates_and_reboot.bat

Note: there are backquotes in parenthesis there, it's being removed by website engine as part of markdown syntax)