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Jeff

@techbyjeff.net
90 followers 282 following 206 posts

Microsoft's cloud kingdom, their cranky on-prem ancestors, and homelab adventures. Words at www.techbyjeff.net

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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 7h
yeah im a fan of using the wyse for small services. I have a handful of 5070s running and they sip power. There are some models that have a thicker version that lets you insert a pci card like a better network board, but it isn't an actual model designation so it took a seller communication to get.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 7h
If you can afford their prices raspberry pi and minisforum are good places for new. Cheaper alternatives I like are used Wyse boxes or beelink's on discount on amazon.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 14h
I said PingOne was the last identity provider I'd seed. That held for almost 24 hours. OneLogin made me rethink how a tool proves it created something before it deletes it: www.techbyjeff.net/a-role-with-... #PowerShell #OneLogin
techbyjeff.net
A Role With Nothing but a Name: Seeding OneLogin
What the TestEnvironment OneLogin provider seeds, how it proves it owns a role with no description, and role grants the API accepts and never applies.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 29/09/2026
everything is backed up locally, configs for iac are backed up off site in a private repo. cold storage offsite for extremely important data. restore test quarterly.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 29/09/2026
The wrapper runs the Intune rules as PSScriptAnalyzer rules. Exit codes are per script type: detection non-zero = run remediation, exits other than 0/1 flagged; Win32 detection needs exit 0 + stdout; 1618 = retry is an install code the runtime harness checks but can be overridden with -ReturnCodes.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 29/09/2026
It only adds rules; it doesn't mute any built-in ones. The IntuneScriptLab wrapper adds rules for exit codes or 64-bit context: exits other than 0/1, a script-scope return that eats exit 1, 32-bit redirection of HKLM/System32/Program Files. To mute a built-in: -ExcludeRule.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 29/09/2026
Ceph in a small lab is close to a part time job. 🤣
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 29/09/2026
I have been working on a new module to help validate and troubleshoot detect,remediate, and install scripts for #Intune -- including a PSScriptAnalyzer wrapper. www.powershellgallery.com/packages/Int... #PowerShell #Pester #MEM #EndpointManagement #Testing #SysAdmin
powershellgallery.com
IntuneScriptLab 0.25.0
Test Intune scripts before Intune does: static analysis, a runtime harness, Pester assertions
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 29/09/2026
My first PingOne seed from Windows PowerShell produced a directory where every accented name was a question mark. From PowerShell 7, same code, same environment, every name stored perfectly. The cause belonged to all six of my providers: www.techbyjeff.net/a-directory-... #PowerShell #PingOne
techbyjeff.net
A Directory Full of Question Marks: Seeding PingOne
What the TestEnvironment PingOne provider seeds, how it proves it owns a user with no free-text field, and why a boolean attribute has to be text.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 27/09/2026
Akane from oshi no ko is smarter than anyone in death note and I will die on this hill.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 26/09/2026
Thanks! That's on me for not clicking your individual links. I went to the tech community post -> learn.microsoft.com/previous-ver... -> download and it says dl no longer available. Time to work on how to integrate the changes with the eval lab.
learn.microsoft.com
Converting VBScript to Windows PowerShell
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 25/09/2026
if it's a replacement for slmgr where's the /rearm equivalent?
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 25/09/2026
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 25/09/2026
A Conditional Access policy is not an HBAC rule. An Entra role is not a sudo rule. Nothing in a cloud tenant answers the question a Linux fleet asks its directory. Seeding a FreeIPA realm with the states a review has to tell apart: www.techbyjeff.net/seeding-free... #PowerShell #FreeIPA #Linux
techbyjeff.net
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 25/09/2026
Did you have to do anything different with Mac devices in your fleet or did they accept it calmly?
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 25/09/2026
single pve with a baremetal pbs for recovery. nothing too crazy and majority of vm's aren't backed up.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 25/09/2026
A policy bound to the wrong UUID is created, returned, listed, and enforces nothing. A provider made through the API issues tokens with no claims. Seeding Authentik with the states an inventory has to tell apart: www.techbyjeff.net/seeding-auth... #PowerShell #Authentik #Homelab #SelfHosted
techbyjeff.net
Seeding Authentik, Where the Directory Is Only the Floor
What the TestEnvironment Authentik provider seeds above the directory: flows, policies, bindings, outposts, and objects that govern nothing.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 22/09/2026
Never in my life have I wanted alt tab to swap between browser tabs.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 22/09/2026
Just wild to me that I spent almost a grand usd and a brick wasn't included.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 22/09/2026
I think we have very different ideas on a) what merits an email 2) what is popular
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 22/09/2026
neat I didn't know they had stuff like that. seems like it was just simulated logs sent to splunk. do they cover setting up how the logs get there in a different section?
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 22/09/2026
If you just want bad rows to jump out, coloring them with $PSStyle in PS7 might beat alignment.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 18/09/2026
Just waiting till that feature makes its way to vscode
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 17/09/2026
imo its the push google has done to get into schools/academia from tablets to apps. people used to a product choose that product later on. those raised on ms are being replaced
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 17/09/2026
ah the age old question, what happens when a 'secure my network, make no mistakes' meets a 'get me into the network, make no mistakes'
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 17/09/2026
Quick tip: How to hide your name and profile picture from the Windows 11 Start menu www.neowin.net/guides/quick...
neowin.net
Quick tip: How to hide your name and profile picture from the Windows 11 Start menu
If you want to hide your identity from Windows 11's Start menu, Microsoft has introduced a change that lets you do just that.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 16/09/2026
I went back to write about my Okta provider again with better numbers and found the eight users unchanged and nearly everything around them replaced. What that means for a test lab living under a ten-user licence cap: www.techbyjeff.net/eight-okta-u... #PowerShell #Okta #IdentityManagement
techbyjeff.net
Eight Okta Users, and Everything That Changed Around Them
What a year and a six-provider merge did to TestEnvironment's Okta provider: verification, repair and cross-directory comparison under a ten-user cap.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 16/09/2026
Absolutely, love the updates where it introduces something gross, changes the whole schema or even db entirely, and you can no longer roll back easily.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 16/09/2026
Not your fault. Office defaults to saving into OneDrive in the cloud, so nothing lands in a folder you can browse. In Word go File, Save a Copy, This PC, and pick Downloads. Or open office.com, find the doc, hit Download. Then the upload box will actually see it.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 16/09/2026
s'why I do most of my driving via graph now, that doesn't change on me so much.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 16/09/2026
Boomer take of the day: ordered a new phone and wireless charger and neither came with the power supply. Back in my day...
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 16/09/2026
Force close app did nothing, but surprisingly a restart worked. It's always did you turn it off and on again.
static.klipy.com
IT Crowd: Have You Tried Turning It Off and On Again?
ALT: IT Crowd: Have You Tried Turning It Off and On Again?
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 16/09/2026
So I went to account.microsoft.com/security and even created a passkey on that mobile device and saved to: authenticator, bitwarden, proton pass. Basically everything loops to "that username is already taken". No shit. Verified sign in with existing, not creating a new one.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 16/09/2026
Setting up a new phone and mobile outlook wants a mysterious passkey for my personal ms account that doesn't exist via nfc or usb. Can't choose anything else, despite authenticator connected to the account on that phone. Guess I just don't get email on phone?
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 15/09/2026
From focused inbox to copilot summaries. Email inbox shouldn't be this complicated.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 15/09/2026
r730 with proxmox, omv file share, windows server lab, pterodactyl for some game servers x3 wyse 5070s running authentik, freeipa and proxmox backup server rpi4 with uptime kuma and tailscale node docker containers: radarr, sonarr, seerr, tautulli, cleanuparr, huntarr, homepage, netalertx, feedcord
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 14/09/2026
Yeah definitely, I'm also concerned with what these IoT devices pick up on their own and are phoning back to 3rd parties to build out their profile on me. AI ratches it up an exponent though.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 14/09/2026
I seed about 1,180 objects into an Entra tenant, including eleven Conditional Access policies. Not one of them can ever enforce anything, and that is not a parameter. The design, and the Graph behaviour behind it: www.techbyjeff.net/seeding-entr... #PowerShell #EntraID #Security #Identity
techbyjeff.net
Seeding Entra ID When There Is Nothing to Paste
How TestEnvironment's Entra provider bootstraps its own service app, holds its objects in administrative units, and seeds policies that never enforce.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 14/09/2026
The part that bites small shops is users with no smartphone and shared frontline accounts. Pull the authentication methods activity report first so you know who is still SMS only, get those people registered before anything flips, and keep your break glass accounts excluded.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 14/09/2026
Sounds like a bluetooth issue over an AI thing though. Wish things didn't advertise so much, living in an apartment people are always trying to connect my samsung monitor and I can't for the life of me turn off it's advertising.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 14/09/2026
I'm biased, it's my favorite on all devices. If I never have to sed or grep another thing in my life I can die happy.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 14/09/2026
While being able to deploy/tear down the actual domain as code makes an easy reset/starting point. There is something to be said for having a domain that you can learn from as it updates, plus lifetime logs that can be useful. You can do the second, snapshot it, and deploy it as the first.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 14/09/2026
It should be known that some of these objects may not fit in that 'known good' category. Some are misconfigured on purpose to stand out as outliers. I tried my best to configure things for all cases, but I'm sure I'll be updating it as time goes on for more edge cases.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 14/09/2026
I think both have their merits depending on what your goal is. The reason I made this data module is so that it can be a baseline that is reproducible. If my other scripts/testing mess up the environment I can tear down and build out again quickly.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 13/09/2026
A year ago I published a module that fills a lab domain with test users, groups and devices. The three commands from that post still work. Besides the underlying rework, added more real users that may break a script. Then and now: www.techbyjeff.net/ad-test-data... #PowerShell #ActiveDirectory
techbyjeff.net
Active Directory Test Data, a Year and Six Providers Later
What the TestEnvironment Active Directory provider seeds, and how it tears a lab domain down, set against the standalone module it replaced.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 13/09/2026
Non LotR character who could resist the One Ring:
static.klipy.com
Solo Leveling: Sung Jinwoo Commands 'Arise'
ALT: Solo Leveling: Sung Jinwoo Commands 'Arise'
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 12/09/2026
Me in interviews lately.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 12/09/2026
I've built out a couple different modules that seed various idp's with meaningful test data to run scripts against. On the third provider I was duplicating processes. I made a centralized module that plugs in providers. www.techbyjeff.net/test-data-th... #PowerShell #Identity #AD #Entra #Okta
techbyjeff.net
Test Data That Breaks Scripts on Purpose
Why a hand-built lab agrees with the script under test, and how one PowerShell module seeds five identity providers with data designed to disagree.
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 12/09/2026
Teaser for what the next week or so of blogs will be: www.powershellgallery.com/packages/Tes...
powershellgallery.com
TestEnvironment 1.0.0
Seeds a realistic identity test environment in Entra ID, Active Directory, Okta, Authentik or FreeIPA - users in every lifecycle state, groups, devices and hosts, and the access policy over them - and...
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Jeff @techbyjeff.net · 11/09/2026
Does it handle the server side signature not showing in the compose window or in Sent Items? That is the complaint I get every single time a client moves off a client side tool.
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