Trying to automate all the crap we have to do since corporate policy doesn’t allow static service account/password combos any longer. Hey, no problem, we could use RSA keys. Except, hey, Windows doesn’t do that. So now we’re spending $FOO on some stupid utility to manage, in bulk, Windows service account logons. And $FOO is cheaper than figuring all of that out on our own. Oh, and for some reason one of the bog standard VMs we’re issued isn’t responding to RPC even though the other fifty or so do.

Who knows why? It must be a party!

Oh hai! What about all of the *nix boxes that need their sandbox tokens refreshed? Cool, we could use SSH from the same Windows box to run commands as a user remotely. Of course, Microsoft forgot to roll in an SSH client into their operating system. Oops!

“No problem, use PuTTY,” they say. And then you figure out that PuTTY is an utter dick about handling RSA key files. No way! Who would have ever thought doing something completely routine on any other operating system would be such a turdgargle when it comes to Microsoft?

How to solve? Install a bash client on the Windows box and then just do stuff right. Yet another afternoon lost to the joys of Microsoft. When can my employer start billing Redmond for my time?