TL;DR / Summary: A scheduled task on a Windows VPS must survive reboots, missed runs, and a session that nobody is logged into. Configure it to run whether the user is logged in or not, and test after a real restart rather than a sign-out. The three settings that decide everything Task Scheduler offers many … Read more
TL;DR / Summary: A Windows VPS that restarts unexpectedly leaves a record, and Event Viewer is where it is. Check the shutdown reason first, then work backward through the minutes before the restart. Start with the reason, not the effect When a server reboots, the visible symptom is downtime. The cause is recorded as a … Read more
An air-gapped VPS has no route to Microsoft Update, and WSUS cannot synchronize its catalog without one. The workable answer is to carry the update metadata and binaries across the gap on removable media using wsusutil export on a connected upstream server and wsusutil import on the isolated downstream. The mechanics are simple; the disk … Read more
Nested virtualization is the requirement that stops most Hyper-V lab plans on a VPS: the guest Windows Server sees a CPU without the VMX or SVM flag, and Install-WindowsFeature Hyper-V reports that virtualization support is not present. Whether it works depends entirely on the host exposing the flag to your VM, which is a provider-side … Read more
Disk Cleanup Before Snapshots on a Windows VPS C: Drive TL;DR: Snapshots capture whatever junk sits on C:. Purge WinSxS leftovers you no longer need, temp folders, old IIS logs, and orphaned installer caches before you snapshot—then verify free space and reboot pending flags. Smaller, cleaner images restore faster on any Windows VPS. Why snapshot … Read more
PowerShell Remoting vs RDP for Windows VPS Maintenance TL;DR: Use RDP when you need a full desktop, installers with GUI prompts, or visual troubleshooting. Prefer PowerShell Remoting (WinRM) for scripted patches, service restarts, and log pulls. Keep both paths hardened and tested on your Windows VPS so one channel never becomes a single point of … Read more
Windows Server 2025 ships a long feature list, but most of it is aimed at datacentres with hundreds of hosts. If you are running two or three VPS instances for IIS, a small domain, and some build agents, only a handful of changes will actually touch your day. This post filters the release notes down … Read more
Let’s Encrypt certificates last 90 days, and the failure mode for a Windows IIS box is always the same: nobody set up renewal in month one, and in month four the site throws a certificate error while the admin is on a plane. win-acme is the most widely deployed ACME client for IIS on Windows, … Read more
Firewall Profiles: Public vs Domain After a Windows VPS Reboot TL;DR: After a reboot, Windows can reclassify the NIC as Public and apply a stricter firewall profile—silently blocking RDP, SQL, or custom ports that worked yesterday. Confirm the active profile, set the network category deliberately, and align provider security groups with guest rules on your … Read more
Migrating IIS Bindings Between Windows VPS Hosts TL;DR: Moving sites between Windows guests is less about copying inetpub and more about reconciling bindings, certificates, app pools, and DNS cutover. Export configuration, verify hostname and SNI bindings on the new Windows VPS, then flip DNS only after HTTPS responds on the destination IP. Inventory before you … Read more