Running Windows Core: How-to test web connectivity

Running Windows Core Series, test web connectivity from the command line.

When running these commands or using them in scripts keep in mind that some may become deprecated in future versions of Windows. Best practice is to use the PowerShell commands when possible to future proof any script that use these commands. These commands were run on Windows Server 2012R2.

When running Windows Server 2012+ without a GUI note that the GUI can be reinstalled via PowerShell (Install-WindowsFeature) and a reboot.

From Windows Server core command prompt:

*As Internet Explorer is not included when running Windows Server without a GUI the PowerShell 3.0+ cmdlet Invoke-WebRequest will not work.

To test connectivity with PowerShell.

C:>POWERSHELL

PS C:>[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(“System.web”)

PS C:>$WebClient=new-object Net.WebClient

PS C:>$WebClient.DownloadString(http://www.bing.com/)

or

Download PortQry from Microsoft downloads site; https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17148. Unzip to the server.

C:>PortQry.exe -n www.bing.com -e 80

or

Download Tinyget from the IIS6 Resource Kit Tools; http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17275.

C:>Tinyget.exe -h -srv:www.bing.com -uri:/

If you know any other interesting ways of getting this information from a Windows Server core installation post below.

Thanks for stopping by and see other Windows Server core tips; http://blogs.technet.com/b/chad/archive/tags/server+core/default.aspx