Anyone have any good recommendations for a good book on how-to batch/scripting for a beginner? Focus is to use these scripts for Active Directory.

Thanks

It is quite fast changing technology and a fairly advanced topic so you're better off

1) Getting a book on javascript/vbscript from the local library to learn the basics
2) Have a look at the help pages for WSH 5.6 for the features not mentioned in the book
3) Download scriptomatic from MS. If you don't know how to search for something, it will tell you which tables to look at etc
4) You will get examples in both VBScript and Javascript. Pick one for scripting but be familiar with the other. I find scripting easier in VBScript but that is because I work in C/C++/Java and find yet another variant to the syntax confusing.

There isn't very much for scripting AD stuff. There is a lot of LDAP stuff about but it doesn't work with AD: only with non-AD systems. Many examples are in VB so you have to be able to translate from VB to VBScript. Not very difficult: just remove all the types and recode the features that exist in VB but not in vbscript (eg enums).

XWB- Just downloaded the scriptomatic from microsoft and it looks very confusing. I'm not even sure where to begin.

Maybe I'm asking for the wrong books. I'm trying to learn how to write basic batch files for copying files from and to network, mapping printers and drives, finding computers on network and so on...

Is what you provide me on the first comment going to teach me this?

The best book you can get on batch scripting is "NT Shell Scripting". For AD scripting I would recommend using VBScript or WSH.

xwb,
"There isn't very much for scripting AD stuff."

Thats completely not true. You can script basically anything for AD with WSH, WMI, and VBScript.

Check out the M$ Technet Script Center for a good start on it.

M$ Script Center

"Computer security." — Oxymoron