This topic contains conceptual information about Administration Scripts, including IIS Admin Objects, the Cscript.exe command-line scripting utility, and the default installation location of Administration Scripts.
Administration Scripts automate some of the most common administrative tasks and demonstrate the functionality of the IIS Admin Objects. You can use them to create and control Web sites, applications, directories, and more.
You can run Administration Scripts through the use of VBScript files that are installed by default to the directory Inetpub\adminscripts. For increased performance, you can also use an executable version of adsutil.vbs (adsutil.exe, which is also installed by default to the directory Inetpub\adminscripts) that accepts the same parameters as adsutil.vbs. Adsutil.exe is a sample that demonstrates how to manipulate the metabase using Microsoft Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) in C/C++. Adsutil.exe can read commands from a file, while adsutil.vbs cannot.
The VBScript Administration Scripts are meant to be used with the Cscript.exe command-line scripting utility and work best if Cscript is registered for running .vbs files. To register Cscript, run the adsutil.vbs sample. It will register Cscript.exe for you.
You can also register Cscript.exe as the default scripting host by running the following command in a command prompt:
cscript //H:cscript