Heads Laptop

[MattDLEA]

OK Just wondered how you guys would go about this. Following on from the other thread in BTRD.

 

Current situation head has a networked PC at school, On there they have there own H drive access to the staff shared are and pupil shares etc these are a NAS box.

They also has 2 laptops one thats there own personal one and a school one, they have then copied their documents from the network on to the laptops and an external HDD. They then gets in a Tizzy as the documents are out of sync everywhere.

The last laptop I gave them I set up on the domain so in school just normal username and password so all network drives were available.I also added them as a local admin so that they could log on at home with a slightly different username and password, but with no access to the networked drives.

 

The user isnt very technical. Im talking not using computer short cuts and clicking random things.

 

So after talking to them again.

They want

- To get rid of there School PC and just use one device both at home and at a school ( so a laptop )

- The laptop must connect to the schools internet ( we use a proxy )

- Must connect to the schools printers

- Must connect to the networked drives.

- Must have there documents available at all times.

- They DO NOT want to use cloud storage for their docs ( dont ask )

 

So my thoughts are:-

1. Get a new laptop that they are happy with.

2. Copy the contents of the External HDD to the laptop so that on the laptop is the new versions of all their docs.

3. Remove old PC from their room.

4. Tell them to only use that laptop.

 

What would you then do about the printers network drives and backups?

 

Im guessing backups I could use something like oakford and scedule it daily to do a folder on her HDD.

 

How would you go about logging on at home and school?

 

Thank you

[hardtailstar]

Offline files for logging in at school and home.

[Joanne]

Are you on Office 365?

 

oops, just seen that they don't want to use cloud storage.

 

What we used to do here was offline files. Firefox was a browser for home (no proxy settings) ie was browser for school (proxy settings). So machine is on the domain and they login with same credentials home and work.

 

Only issue is that sometimes offline files don't sync, so if the laptop goes KERPUT files = gone. ADVANTAGE - CLOUD!!!!!

Edited November 10, 2015 by Joanne

[pooley]

Encrypted!!!

[sparkeh]

What OS are you using?

[EvLPhenom]

I would go down the route of offline files for the home drive, this way it will sync when in school so always upto date, can be added to the domain so the network drives and printers are available in school but not at home. This generally the route we use in my schools as stops them having two different logins. Add the proxy changer software to the desktop for them to turn proxy on and off, believe it is available on here somewhere.

[kidpressingbuttons]

Laptop on domain and VPN/Home Access Plus

[dry]

Sync their docs for offline usage, as soon as they come back into school they re-sync. Easy peasy.

 

Proxy- any reason you're not using a transparent proxy? You could either set up a PAC file or make a little script that the user can run to disable/re-enable the proxy. I made one a while ago that I could post up if you're interested? It's a couple of clicks on the user's part but hopefully said member of staff can manage that!

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/312171

 

As Pooley says, make sure the laptop is encrypted! Bitlocker should suffice but do your research!

[sparkeh]

Laptop on domain and VPN/Home Access Plus

Mmm kinda what I was thinking. Was asking about OS as Direct Access could be a good friend here. Or VPN would be a good option.

 

We use our Smoothwall's SSL VPN for teachers at home. About to test out Direct Access for even easier access

[MattDLEA]

Is this offline files thing easy to do?

 

Think it will be windows 7 Pro.

 

I know Cloud would solve a lot of the issues but they dont want that.

I need it to be as simple as possible.

Even if there was a icon on the desktop that would run a script for say in school / out of school.

[sparkeh]

Personally, I have not had good experience with offline files but others swear by it.

 

With regards to proxy, I just setup wpad so that when the laptops are in school they auto find and use our wpad proxy settings and when at home use a direct connection.

[Oaktech]

You could permanently run them in a terminal session... Or you could use windows 8/.1/10 and use direct access.

[sparkeh]

You could permanently run them in a terminal session... Or you could use windows 8/.1/10 and use direct access.

Tried that one above but its running Pro.

[GuyJD]

I've got my work laptop setup with offline files and works seamlessly at work and at home, I'd say that's probably your best route.

[NB9457]

Option Explicit

Dim valUserIn

Dim objShell, RegLocate, RegLocate1

Set objShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

On Error Resume Next

valUserIn = MsgBox("Are you at school?",4,"Cloaked Select")

If valUserIn=vbYes Then

RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyServer"

objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"PROXY HERE:0000","REG_SZ"

RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyEnable"

objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"1","REG_DWORD"

MsgBox "Proxy is Enabled"

else

RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyServer"

objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"0.0.0.0:80","REG_SZ"

RegLocate = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyEnable"

objShell.RegWrite RegLocate,"0","REG_DWORD"

MsgBox "Proxy is Disabled"

End If

WScript.Quit

 

 

Stick that on the desktop and in the startup folder for a simple proxy switch

[StevieM]

Tried that one above but its running Pro.

 

Which also means no BitLocker encryption!

[MatthewL]

Laptop, encrypted with VPN access (Direct Access if can as its seamless) and away you go. In theory no data stored on device and its secure.

[LukeRowberry]

You could make a little bat file on the desktop to map drives etc with net use and then just tell him to click that when in school

[walkd]

I have to 2nd Directaccess once up and running we have not had a single issue. Used this MS blog as a guide http://blogs.msdn.com/b/canberrapfe/archive/2012/07/12/simple-direct-access-setup-with-windows-server-2012-rp.aspx

[witch]

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff633429(v=WS.10).aspx

 

Offline files and redirected folders is the easiest way I reckon.

[john]

Offline files are a nightmare and can get so badly lost and corrupted if the end user doesn't keep an eye on the sync centre frequently and check they really are working as expected.

[Joanne]

Offline files are a nightmare and can get so badly lost and corrupted if the end user doesn't keep an eye on the sync centre frequently and check they really are working as expected.

 

I've found this. The only other option is cloud and if the head isn't interested then offline files is the best of a bad bunch!

[witch]

Never had many issues with offline other than the syncing takes forever on Windows 7. Have been running offline files ever since I started this game, 15 years ago - ish

[Joanne]

Our main issue is that the maximum cached storage has got past the settings in the sync centre. Also that the laptop hasn't synced for months. Staff don't check. Not ideal when they delete something and I'm all like, IT'S OK! WE HAVE BACKUPS!! Then actually it never made it to the server

[JackCPickup]

We use BitTorrent Sync instead of offline files. Got it running in dozens of schools for all staff laptop, no issues apart from we're using v1.3 or something like that due to a few issues with later versions.