NetSupport School Layout File

[mikefletcher85]

First post on this site, hope there are many knowledgeable people here.
The issue is mostly a cosmetic one. Our University uses NetSupport School 9 as well as Symantec’s Ghost. The machines get re-ghosted every now and then. When it happens the teachers complain because their layout gets reset. I located the .lyt file and was able to set the coordinates manually and it worked perfectly. The next problem I ran into was the fact that the University uses DHCP for all its machines. The .lyt file stores the IP addresses along with the computer name. as soon as I restarted the computers their IP’s changed and totally screwed up the layout. I attempted to remove the IP’s from the .lyt file and it doesn’t work anymore.
Does anyone know if there is a way to use a .lyt file without IP’s? Or does anyone know more info on how the .lyt file is formatted?

Thanks
~Mike

[AJKOK1]

I know Rob normally replies to these technical questions, but in his absence I will try and assist. I Hope this helps.

If the layout file is stored on the machine that gets re-ghosted, it will be reset.

It can be configured so that it is stored on a network drive:
- select "Configuration" from the "School" menu
- select the Profile option under Administration in the tree on the left
- select the Profile to change in the list on the right, and then click Edit
- the layout file is the fourth item down
- it can be configured to a simple filename like u:\mylayout.lyt where m: is a mapped network drive, or can include environment variables,
eg n:\%username%\layout.lyt, so that there's a different file for each user

2.
You should not have an issue with the layout file containing IP addresses, as long as the Tutor is configured for dhcp:
- select "Configuration" from the "School" menu
- select the Connectivity option in the tree on the left
- select the "Connect by Hostname (DHCP)" option

Alternatively, these settings can be set using the equivalent settings in the Active Directory templates supplied with NetSupport School.

Best wishes

Al (NetSupport).

[amcevoy]

We static our classroom IP addresses in DHCP which causes less problems. It can be a bore putting in a large amount of DHCP reservations, but it's worth it. We have 410 netsupport client licences, most of those are on reserved addresses.

Just remember to change the reservation if you change the network card.

Adam