If the syntax sounds complicated to you, trust me, it will become clear as we use it. The syntax of PsExec is fairly simple, as shown below: psexec | user ]] cmd Non-admins will also be able to use PsExec locally, but there is not much you can do without admin privilege. Whichever you choose, just make sure you launch an elevated session since PsExec requires administrator privileges to run programs on remote computers. If you want to use it in a command prompt, you can launch a command prompt. To start using PsExec, just close the existing PowerShell console and launch a new one. Similarly, you can also view the System Path environment variable using the following command: ::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","Machine") -Split " "Īt this point, PsExec (and other utilities in PsTools) are ready for use in your system. Also note that the semicolon ( ) before the directory path is intentionally added to separate the new value from the old values. No matter which environment variable you set, be sure to specify the full path of the directory to which you extracted the PsTools executables. ::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $path + " C:\Program Files\PsTools", "User")Īdd PsTools to the System Path environment variable To do this, you can use one of the following commands:įor the User variable: $path = ::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","User") If you want PsExec to be available only to your current user profile, you could add it to the User Path variable. If you want PsExec (and other tools) to be available for all users in the current system, you can add it to the System Path variable. It depends on how you want to use the PsExec tool. Again, there are two path environment variables- System and User. You just need to modify the Path environment variable and specify the full path of your destination directory. Let's extract the zip archive using the following PowerShell command: Expand-Archive -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\downloads\PsTools.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\Program Files\PsTools" -Force You could choose either way it's just a matter of your own preference. I like extracting these files into a separate directory inside %systemdrive%\Program Files alongside other programs and then setting up the Path environment variable. Some people prefer directly extracting them inside the %systemroot%\System32 directory so that the executables can run directly without having to specify the full path. The installation of PsTools depends on how and where you want to extract the files. All you need to do is extract the files from the zip archive and start using them. There is no installer in the PsTools zip file. To use PsExec utility, we need to download the PsTools suite from the Sysinternals website. Downloading and installing PsExecĪs mentioned above, PsExec is part of the PsTools suite. ![]() Since PsExec uses the file and printer sharing service, which is vulnerable to various viruses and ransomware, please make sure you properly secure and restrict this service and its associated ports to the local network only never expose it to a public network. In a nutshell, PsExec is a safe sysadmin tool in itself, but in the end, it totally depends on how the person is using it. This is the reason that major antivirus products have started flagging PsExec as malware. Due to its abilities, it is often used by hackers in combination with other tools, such as the Metasploit framework and Mimikatz, to carry out malicious attacks. In the right hands, it can be a great tool, but in the wrong hands, it can be a disaster. PsExec is kind of like a double-edged sword. Please make sure you are using the latest version of PSExec (2.34 is the latest version at the time of writing). However, starting with version 2.1, it encrypts the alternate credentials and commands in transit. If a remote computer is in the domain, the members of the domain admins group will be able to use PsExec without a problem.Īn earlier version of PsExec wasn't that safe since it was used to transmit passwords and commands in clear text over the network. ![]() View default admin shares using PowerShell Security considerations
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