Date: 2009aug18 OS: Windows Keywords: native Q. What scripting languages does Windows natively support? A. I know of: - Batch Scripts (.bat file) - Visual Basic Script (.vbs script) - PowerShell (.ps1 files.) in Windows Server 2008 and later - javaScript (.html or .js files) running in your browser Comments... The batch scripting language is very limited but at least you can run any command, rename, copy files, etc. Visual Basic Script is more like a real language. You can access COM objects with it. For example:

set wmiService = GetObject ("winmgmts:") set PD0_Set = wmiService.ExecQuery("select * from Win32_DiskDrive where DeviceID = '\\\\.\\PHYSICALDRIVE0'") s = "" for each item in PD0_Set s = s & "-----" & chr(10) s = s & "Id: " & item.DeviceID & chr(10) s = s & "Model: " & item.Model & chr(10) s = s & "Manufacturer: " & item.Manufacturer & chr(10) s = s & "Signature: " & item.Signature & chr(10) s = s & "TotalHeads: " & item.TotalHeads & chr(10) next MsgBox s, 0,"Disk Zero"

Since since the .vbs extension is associated with viruses you may need to zip and/or rename your scripts when mailing them to a colleague. PowerShell is good but not natively supported on all Windows. javaScript runs in a browser so can only reach out to local files with quite a bit of trouble.