J
jrauman
Guest
My job requires me to remote desktop to every machine in the office once a month over a weekend. We have 150 servers (Windows Server 2012R2/2016/2019) and 150 clients (Windows 7/Windows 10 Enterprise). To do this, I open Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) on my Windows 10 Enterprise machine and I type in the name of the computer I want to remote access. Up until now, my user account was a domain admin, so I was able to save a lot of time by passing my credentials to RDC, thus avoiding having to type my 'domain\username' and my 'password'. While still a tedious job, at least I was able to avoid a lot of typing. Fast-forward to 2019 and we have implemented Privileged Access Management. My user account is no longer a domain admin. It's just a regular domain user. I have a second account though I can use that IS a domain admin, but when I want to access another machine, I can no longer pass my credentials through RDC (if I did, the remote connection would be denied because only the domain admins group has remote access to every machine in the office). So now, I have to do these steps:
1. Open Remote Desktop Conneciton
2. Click in the Computer field and type the computer name
3. Click the drop-down box
4. Click in the User Name field and type my new "admin account" 'doman\username'.
5. Click Connect
6. Type this ridiculously long password (because it's a domain admin, we have stricter password policies)
7. Click OK
Rinse and repeat 300 times!
There must be an easier way. The reason I remote desktop to the machine is so that I can look for any warnings or pop-ups and respond to them accordingly. Then I open the control panel and open Windows Update and check for and install updates that are still pending. (I have a few more tasks that are considered audit tasks, and sometimes i'll install an update or third-party software product).
What options out-of-the-box do I have for at least getting those remote desktop sessions started. Could I run a batch script and feed a list of computers, as well as my credentials and automate the opening of 300 Remote Desktop Connections in one click? Do I need other products? Thank you for your ideas and suggestions.
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1. Open Remote Desktop Conneciton
2. Click in the Computer field and type the computer name
3. Click the drop-down box
4. Click in the User Name field and type my new "admin account" 'doman\username'.
5. Click Connect
6. Type this ridiculously long password (because it's a domain admin, we have stricter password policies)
7. Click OK
Rinse and repeat 300 times!
There must be an easier way. The reason I remote desktop to the machine is so that I can look for any warnings or pop-ups and respond to them accordingly. Then I open the control panel and open Windows Update and check for and install updates that are still pending. (I have a few more tasks that are considered audit tasks, and sometimes i'll install an update or third-party software product).
What options out-of-the-box do I have for at least getting those remote desktop sessions started. Could I run a batch script and feed a list of computers, as well as my credentials and automate the opening of 300 Remote Desktop Connections in one click? Do I need other products? Thank you for your ideas and suggestions.
More...