How can I start understanding Windows the same way I understand Linux-based systems? - Lemmy.World
So I’ve been working professionally with Linux-based systems for a few years,
and while I’m not the expert I would like to be, I have got a pretty good
feeling for the way those systems work. You have the bootloader, the initramfs,
the boot procedure, systemd, PID 1, you can check the logs, you have all those
little things that make the system work. Everything is a file, you have file
permissions and selinux contexts, you have networkmanager, systemd units, you
have (system) users, some just for some services, it’s all dandy… if I have a
problem with a program I can usually debug it, check its logs, and get it to
run. Now for work I suddenly need to do lots of administration of Windows
systems, Win11 and server, and troubleshoot deep, weird issues… And I’ve started
reading up on it, trying to use PowerShell as much as I can, but I’m just not
getting the same high level overview feeling of understanding of how the system
works, of how the parts work together. Or even what parts there are, and what
they do. (Especially within an Azure context.) Books on Windows tend to be very
surface level, just instructions on what menus to click through to get a working
configuration. But what’s going on underneath the hood? What do I do when I get
a weird VPN issue? I mean, there’s Get-EventLog to check for things in the logs,
but… nothing feels connected. Do you know what I mean? (Also, how cumbersome is
PowerShell? No proper paging like with less in bash, I mean, you can’t go back a
page, not with windows more or that powershell pager command, and you have to
type sooo many words… and yeah, everything is an object, and I see how that can
be a nice idea, but man, does that force you to select properties of those
objects like crazy. Is this really a good thing, once you have it figured out?)
Are there one-to-one equivalents between Windows and Linux distros that could
help me understand? Or is there a really good book that spells it all out, that
sets me on a path where I can someday debug ANY issue and understand what I am
seeing and doing? …and I mean, where do I even start out debugging and
understanding things like Entra ID issues in Windows365 machines, and hybrid
Azure domains… the Microsoft help usually just seems to be steps on how to
configure the stuff, but not understanding how it works… Sorry, this is all over
the place, but I’m just lost right now 🤷♂️ maybe someone has felt those same
things before and has something wise to tell me?
