Category Archives: Windows 10

Copying certain files keeping directory structure with Robocopy

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I have a bad habit when it comes to storing files. When I reinstall an operating system, or upgrade a hard drive, I keep a copy of the existing hard drive (usually in a very descriptive directory named something like c).

Sometimes I might remove some of the unnecessary files, if there is time…

Over time, these ‘backups’ become nested, so I end up with a monstrosity like c:\users\aaron\desktop\c\users\aaron\desktop\c_backup\users\aaron\desktop\phone_backup\photos….

Awesome!

Windows 10 comes with a nifty and powerful copying tool called Robocopy. Say you wanted to pull out all the .jpg files within a disk or directory, but keep the directory structure (so that if files have the same name they don’t overwrite):

robocopy  [destination] [file filter] /S

(/S does not create empty directories. If you want to keep them use /E instead)

e.g. If you wanted to copy all .jpg files from g: to m:\old_photos, the command would be:

robocopy g:\ m:\old_photos\ *jpg /S

Windows 10 does not respond to ping

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By default, a new Windows 10 installation will have the firewall enabled and set to not respond to ICMP pings, even from hosts on a private network. This can resolved enabling the correct whitelist entries in the firewall.

  1. Click the Windows menu icon, then start typing firewall to start listing programs. Select Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

windows 10 ping image 1

  1. Select Inbound Rules (as we want the computer to respond to incoming pings).
  2. Find the rules File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request). There will be rules for IPv4 and IPv6, and possibly for different network Profiles. Right-click the rule/s you wish to activate and select Enable Rule. Most internal and home networks currently run IPv4.

windows 10 ping image 2

As soon as the rule is enabled the computer should start responding to pings.