If you are in s situation where you need to expand a disk and you happen to have either a DAS array or a SAN backend you can dynamically grow, you can then extend the existing volume to "grow" into the space you just added. Please note you are limited though by a few things:

• If this is a basic disk, the new space HAS to be the next contiguous block else it wont work
• If this is a dynamic volume, you can extend with no restrictions on where the space is so long as its the "same" disk
• You can't extend the primary OS partition in this fashion
• You can only "grow" space and not "shrink" it... So be careful what you do when you do this
• This operation can be done ONLINE but its not typically recommended for an SLA environment. Be sure you have a good backup just in case things go wrong.
• Although not recommended, you can do this operation on a cluster disk ONLINE as well if needed

So, now that you have decided to do this you can then perform the following steps:

1. Login via RDP into the system in question and open up a command prompt
2. Type "diskpart" and press Enter
3. Type 'rescan' and press enter (without a rescan the new disk will be unavailable)
4. Select your disk that you want to grow the space on
   • If you are unsure of the disk number do a list disk
   • Command for this is:
     

     select disk X (where X is your disk number)

5. Next select the volume you want to grow
   • If you are unsure of the volume number do a list volume
   • Command for this is:
     

     select volume X (where X is your volume number)

6. Finally, to grow the volume enter the following command:
   

   extend size=XXX (where XXX is the size you want to grow the volume in MB)

7. To check, open up the Computer Management MMC and go under Disk Management to confirm the disk was grown to the appropriate size

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For more information, please feel free to reference the Microsoft knowledge base document below:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590

To extend a volume in Windows (up to Windows 2003) you can use the diskpart.exe utility which was introduced as part of the Windows 2003 operating system.  The following link provides information on downloading and performing the disk volume extention:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590
For more information and scripting options on the diskpart.exe utility, you can review the following link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415

To add firewall rules from the command line, you can perform the following:


Do note this syntax is for Windows 2008 servers only. For more information please refer to the following link below:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947709

A full description of all event log description for security events in Windows 2008 can been found at the following link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977519/
The subsequent link for Windows 2003 can be found here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc163121.aspx#EKH

To lock down WMI to a static port, you can run the following command from the command line:

Once completed, you will need to restart the winmgmt service on the target box you are on. You can do this as follows:

For more information on the winmgmt command you can review the URL link below:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394525%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

This article should help engineers in solving the space inconsistency that may arise after expanding the disk.

If you encounter the issue similar to what is described below then here is the solution for the same.
Scenario: I have a SAN attached Basic Disk setup that I tried to extend from ~100 GB to ~200GB, after using DiskPart the partition appears to have expanded from ~100 GB to ~200GB, even the volume size in Disk Management shows that extra 100 GB space, but disk part and windows explorer show inconsistent disk space, it only shows ~100 GB.
Solution: The diskpart utility has an undocumented option called "extend filesystem" use this by first calling diskpart, then "select volume #" and then "extend filesystem".
1)      Open command prompt and type diskpart to open-up diskpart utility
2)      From the disk part utility execute the below commands:
a.       Execute command "select volume #" to select the volume to be extended
b.      Execute command "extend filesystem" and it should take care of the space inconsistent issue.

Having been recetly "bit" by UAC and the server needing a reboot to disable it, I thought I would do a refresh on how to disable UAC.
UAC is an attempt to control the level of access that a user has over protected applications or processes on a server. This article shows the method to disable UAC. If you need to leave UAC enabled but modify the default behavior there are a couple of links at the bottom.

Windows 2008

When you receive the below pop-up, UAC is turned on.

To disable this pop-up, there are a couple of different methods. The most reliable method to completely disable UAC is a via changes to the registry.
1. Launch regedit and navigate to:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
The default value is : "EnableLUA" = dword:00000001.
Change this default to: "EnableLUA" = dword:00000000.
2. Close regedit
3. Reboot the system
If you want to use the GUI to disable UAC navigate to:
Start - Control Panel - User Accounts


Un-check the radio box "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer"
Reboot the server.

Windows 2008 R2

The registry edit to disable UAC on a Windows 2008 R2 server is the same as for Windows 2008.
1. Launch regedit and navigate to:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
The default value is : "EnableLUA" = dword:00000001.
Change this default to: "EnableLUA" = dword:00000000.
2. Close regedit
3. Reboot the system
To use the gui, follow this path
Start? Control Panel ?User Accounts
The Windows 2008 R2 UAC uses a "slider" to disable the UAC.

For more information on UAC and to make adjustments rather than just disabling there are a couple of Microsoft links listed below: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709691(WS.10).aspx http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd759070.aspx

Reboot your machine Icon - If you want to be able to quickly reboot your desktop with the swing of your mouse, do the following.
Right click on your desktop, and select "New", then "shortcut". Paste the following command in the location that pops up:
<code>
%windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -r -t 0
</code>
Click Next, type in "Reboot Machine" for the name, and click finish. You can move this icon anywhere on your desktop, including the quick launch bar, the task bar, or even leave it on your desktop.

Lock Your Desktop Icon - If you want to be able to quickly lock your desktop with the swing of your mouse, do the following.
Right click on your desktop, and select "New", then "shortcut". Paste the following command in the location that pops up: %windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation
Click Next, type in "Lock Desktop" for the name, and click finish. You can move this icon anywhere on your desktop, including the quick launch bar, the task bar, or even leave it on your desktop.