Mass Logon

[FN-GM]

Hello

 

Is there any open source program that will allow a whole computer room to login on a pacific account when told to do so from a control computer in the techies office? If so can somebody point me in the right direction.

 

Thanks

[webman]

May the search be with you.

[Simcfc73]

iTalc does it too but its a bit buggy.

 

I've used it to log on and install software on a suite of machines at the same time.

[FN-GM]

@webman nope wont do that will automatically log the machines on, we don't wan that you see we have a guest account for CLC guests. Most of the people who use the computers aren’t CLC guests but schools users. I want it so when guests do come in we can just pop on the control machine and log the room on.

[User3204]

You could still use this system to logon the machines.

 

Have two OUs with two GPOs, one that does the auto logon thing, when you need to logon these machines, move all the relevent machines to the autologon OU/GPO combo, and then restart the machines (there's various ways to automate this).

 

 

It's a bit messy, but it should still work.

 

I've been looking for something that will allow me to logon 30 separate users into a room (as a test), for a while. If I find anything, I'll try to remember to post it here.

[FN-GM]

Yes but the receptionist will also log the machines on when techies aren’t there. Can't give the receptionist admin rights.

[ChrisH]

Might be a pain in the arse way of doing it but... Using my method expand the script slightly to check a file on a network share before it writes the registry entries. Then create a little hta for the secretary with an on/off button and use NTFS permissions to allow her to alter the value in the file.

[FN-GM]

I think its a little complex the receptionist isnt computer aliterate, when an admin logs on her machine we use a diferent domain to her. When she comes to logon she doesnt understand to change the domain. We are called every 2 mins about the Cisco call manager.

[webman]

I think its a little complex the receptionist isnt computer aliterate

 

What Chris is suggesting is to create a simple interface in an HTA with an On/Off button for the autologin - the expansion of his script will do the rest. Surely she can cope with On/Off?

[FN-GM]

i wouldnt put it past her! Sounds like an option i will look into it

[MkII]

iTalc looks the business - similar to ABTutor that we use in the same way... select a roomfull of PCs, logon, specify user account to log on with. It's designed for teachers to use, and as your receptionist is higher up the (IT) evolutionary tree she should cope with it no problem.

 

8)

[bishopsgarthstockton]

How about just create simple accounts i.e. visitor01 to visitor(however many computers you have) and enable the accounts when needed. no need to fanny about. if people strugle to log on to a machine, then they need slapping.

[FN-GM]

we have 10 guest accounts but we get alot of people not being able to logon

[bishopsgarthstockton]

you should give the 1st person that logs on a special treat like jelly babies and smack the rest across the head with a keyboard.

 

any one been on http://www.stickdeath.com lately

[FN-GM]

its a pain in the arse to do one morning i had to logon 120 machines, to make things worse the kids got there thought someone had left it logged on and logged loads of them off!

[bishopsgarthstockton]

i would praise them

[FN-GM]

I could have kill the little gits. The reason we can't give the passwords out is that the kids start using that guest account when there account has been disabled or been banned from the internet in there school, (you can logon or CLC domains in 30 schools). We used to change the password everyday but we kept loosing track.

[webman]

Easy way to set guest account password every day: Create a script to create a MD5/SHA1 hash of the date and choose the first 6 characters for example to set as the 'guest password for the day'. The script could be scheduled in the AM to reset the account and write it to a text file for you to read.

[FN-GM]

we thought of that but problems happen if the technicians with administrate privileges aren’t in. We go out filming for primary schools. Visit other school to look at there system sometimes etc

[bishopsgarthstockton]

there you go mate, problem solved

[webman]

Schedule it on the server under an admin account and get it to email someone or copy it to a staff-accessible shared area?

[FN-GM]

good idea but then you have to change the script everyday

[webman]

No you don't... it will dynamically get the current date each time it is run, which is the seed to generate the hash (32char or 40char is too long, so you pick limited characters).

 

MD5 hash of 17/08/2007 is 9a9b320803bd7a8ac00e18706e358747. First 6 chars is 9a9b32.

 

MD5 hash of 18/08/2007 is 9eff0d4665cde8ae8e2ec8cefbcd767d. First 6 chars is 9eff0d4.

 

And so on...

[bishopsgarthstockton]

http://md5.benramsey.com/

[MkII]

We have visitor accounts we only enable when needed (as bss says). works very well for us, never had a problem with it. Seems there are lots of answers in this thread.