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Good Old HTTP Test on Windows with VBScript

Deploying a Point-Of-Sale system on a large store with existing security protocols is not a walk in the park. Processes that can be easily done in a test environment can be prohibitive in the actual production setup. ( TL;DR Scroll further down for the script)

Scenario

You are implementing a new electronic payment system in store ABC. Hardware replacement went well, installation went well, then its time to test. That easy, just run a few transactions and you will be out of the site in no time. Then it hits, the PINPad system had an issue downloading the configuration file from the server across the internet. The device routes its request to the POS so it will be easy testing the connection. The lengthy documentation tells you to just send a get request to a URL address in the Internet Explorer. Great! What Windows machine doesn't have IE? None you know of! But the system administrator is wise enough to disable it, avoiding possible vulnerabilities that might jeopardize their accreditation. Possible solutions:
  1. Wish that your friend "curl" from MacOS is in Windows. Unfortunately, none.
  2. Download curl for Windows. Ooops !  They don't allow you to install new software on the machine.
  3. Well, let us just call the IT support and make them watch our network traffic. Must have been the best resort, but there's a bureaucracy-like system in place, it will take you days to get this going.
  4. Do you know VBSCRIPT and sure that it will run on the system with no issues?  You can follow the steps below if you answered yes.
Create a VBSCRIPT file (e.g. httptest.vbs) with the content below and save it.
Dim request
Set request = CreateObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP")
request.open "GET", "http://your.url.com", False
request.send
Wscript.Echo request.responseText
Then, run the following on the command prompt.
C:\>yourdirectory\ start httptest.vbs
Windows will alert you with a message box showing the response text. Mine is a little expressive, your systems prompt may not.


I guess your fate will depend on what the system will tell you. Good luck!





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