NetSupport disappointment

[Jawloms]

I saw a demo of NetSupport at the BETT show and thought it looked very good. I finally got round to installing a trial version here and have run in to difficulties straight away with (what I deem) an unsatisfactory answer from their support.

 

I installed the server, fine. I installed a client by pushing it out, fine. I installed a second client by pushing it out and it replaced the first one in the console. It doesn't matter how many I push out, individually or lots at once, the only one which appears in the console is the last one I did. I got in touch with support and they have said this can happen if all the computers were built from the same image and there's a registry edit to do and a couple of other bits which will resolve it. Really? Why? Yes they were all built from the same image, but they were sysprepped first. This is a product aimed at environments where I would think most people would be building computers from an image. They've said it goes by MAC address, but the MAC addresses would all be different. The image has a VM on it so it could be picking up the MAC address from that which presumably would be the same on each computer? Why can't it cope? Impero (which is far from perfect itself) doesn't mind. Has anyone else come across this, and am I the only one who finds this quote odd. To be honest, it's almost put me off even bothering with the trial if they can't make it recognise different computers properly.

 

Can anyone (who doesn't work for them) tell me that it is worth the hassle and I should switch from Impero?

 

Thank you

 

Stuart

[Joanne]

So when I add netsupport onto newly imaged machines, I click tools, discovery and deploy and deploy via active directory. Is that how you are doing it?

 

I only ever tried it on full machines, not VMs.

[karldenton]

As above, like Joanne I deploy it via Discovery and Deploy wizard.

The only time we have had issues is if we installed netsupport first and then cloned the HDD onto another PC. It then replaces it in the console and you have to do the registry hack mentioned.

Do it via Discovery and Deploy and it should work fine

[newpersn]

So when I add netsupport onto newly imaged machines, I click tools, discovery and deploy and deploy via active directory. Is that how you are doing it?

 

I only ever tried it on full machines, not VMs.

 

As above, like Joanne I deploy it via Discovery and Deploy wizard.

The only time we have had issues is if we installed netsupport first and then cloned the HDD onto another PC. It then replaces it in the console and you have to do the registry hack mentioned.

Do it via Discovery and Deploy and it should work fine

 

Same as above. Not had any problem and i dont have it on my main image. (same for Solus/Sims and when we had Impero)

[Joanne]

i dont have it on my main image. (same for Solus/Sims)

 

This!!

[Al_NetSupport]

Thanks for the replies from other users. @Jawloms very sorry you didn't get off to a flying start. Do please let me know if you would like me to get someone else from support team to call you and discuss in more detail. You are absolutely right, many of, if not most of our customers have devices prepped from images.

 

Al

[Jawloms]

Just to clear up a couple of things;

 

Yes I am deploying it exactly the same way all of you are

I am not deploying it to VMs. They are physical computers which have a VM on that the kids use for programming. It isn't being deployed to that VM either. My only reason for mentioning the VM is that there is a network card associated with the VM. Is NetSupport picking up that one instead of the physical network card in the computer?

NetSupport is not in the image.

 

So why can't it cope with different physical computers which were built from a sysprepped image which didn't contain NetSupport when it is pushed out using the Deploy Wizard in the servers interface. I am doing everything properly aren't I?

[Al_NetSupport]

Just to clear up a couple of things;

 

Yes I am deploying it exactly the same way all of you are

I am not deploying it to VMs. They are physical computers which have a VM on that the kids use for programming. It isn't being deployed to that VM either. My only reason for mentioning the VM is that there is a network card associated with the VM. Is NetSupport picking up that one instead of the physical network card in the computer?

NetSupport is not in the image.

 

So why can't it cope with different physical computers which were built from a sysprepped image which didn't contain NetSupport when it is pushed out using the Deploy Wizard in the servers interface. I am doing everything properly aren't I?

 

I have asked Andy Earp our head of tech support to call you to assist. Al

[newpersn]

Just to clear up a couple of things;

 

Yes I am deploying it exactly the same way all of you are

I am not deploying it to VMs. They are physical computers which have a VM on that the kids use for programming. It isn't being deployed to that VM either. My only reason for mentioning the VM is that there is a network card associated with the VM. Is NetSupport picking up that one instead of the physical network card in the computer?

NetSupport is not in the image.

 

So why can't it cope with different physical computers which were built from a sysprepped image which didn't contain NetSupport when it is pushed out using the Deploy Wizard in the servers interface. I am doing everything properly aren't I?

 

With Hyper-V (you havent said which VM software you use) Dosn't create a NIC with a virtual switch attached x that by now many computers set up this way - which would have the same MAC unless changed?

[Jawloms]

It's a Windows 7 machine with Virtual box running on it.

[Jawloms]

I have asked Andy Earp our head of tech support to call you to assist. Al

 

Thanks, could you PM me a number and I'll call a little later? I've just come out of one meeting and am about to go in to another.

[IrritableTech]

Just to clear up a couple of things;

 

Yes I am deploying it exactly the same way all of you are

I am not deploying it to VMs. They are physical computers which have a VM on that the kids use for programming. It isn't being deployed to that VM either. My only reason for mentioning the VM is that there is a network card associated with the VM. Is NetSupport picking up that one instead of the physical network card in the computer?

NetSupport is not in the image.

 

So why can't it cope with different physical computers which were built from a sysprepped image which didn't contain NetSupport when it is pushed out using the Deploy Wizard in the servers interface. I am doing everything properly aren't I?

 

Have you tried the reg hack and if it works why is that not satisfactory? Have to say Netsupport DNA is the best piece of software I've bought in a long while.

For the record we push the agent out via GPO onto an standard image which has never had it installed before.

[Al_NetSupport]

Thanks, could you PM me a number and I'll call a little later? I've just come out of one meeting and am about to go in to another.

 

PM sent

[Michael]

You can include the client as part of the image, but there's a guide you need to follow involving deleting various files and registry entries (top of my head). This is on top of Sysprep.

 

Personally I just Sysprep the image, deploy it and then deploy the MSI afterwards. It's only 33MB, so not any problem at all.

 

It's the same process with AV products; you can include them as part of the image, but again you're forced to delete files/registry entries... in addition to Sysprep.

 

DNA like many system applications allocates a unique ID to the machine it's installed on. Not entirely sure the MAC address is relevant, unless the ID is based on the MAC address? It isn't to the best of my knowledge.

 

I suspect it's this unique ID which has been cloned on all devices which is the root of the issue, irrelevant if the image is Sysprepped, this particular ID of course won't fall under the scope of Sysprep.

[dhicks]

This is a product aimed at environments where I would think most people would be building computers from an image.

 

Interesting - I'd vaguely assumed that running Sysprep would reset the MachineGUID value for a Windows machine, but a quick Google would suggest it doesn't. You could switch to automating the Windows install process via unattend.xml instead of using disk imaging, but of course that doesn't solve your immediate issue.

[Michael]

Running Sysprep will delete/reset Microsoft specific entries, it won't touch DNA or anything else.

[DrCheese]

Odd - How are you doing your imaging? We use the standard MS MDT tools & deploy over WDS then deploy the .msi using GPO, got it installed on over 500 computers without a dupe.

 

We switched from Impero & couldn't be happier, so it's definitely worth resolving with support who've always been v good with us.

[Jawloms]

Running Sysprep will delete/reset Microsoft specific entries, it won't touch DNA or anything else.

 

We used WDS to create and deploy the image. DNA was NOT in the image.

 

Odd - How are you doing your imaging? We use the standard MS MDT tools & deploy over WDS then deploy the .msi using GPO, got it installed on over 500 computers without a dupe.

 

We switched from Impero & couldn't be happier, so it's definitely worth resolving with support who've always been v good with us.

 

This is what I'm after, whether it's worth it.

[Jawloms]

Have you tried the reg hack and if it works why is that not satisfactory? Have to say Netsupport DNA is the best piece of software I've bought in a long while.

For the record we push the agent out via GPO onto an standard image which has never had it installed before.

 

I haven't had a chance to try the registry fix, but will, and am sure it will work. My point though is as first impressions go, it's not great, and surely it should be able to cope without registry hacks.

[NewFormz]

Another (mostly) happy customer here.

 

We are in the process of getting everything setup and although we've had a few snags their support team have helped us resolve all issues. We are rolling the DNA clinet out by installing the msi via a gpo. It took 5 minutes to setup and works a treat.

 

The only thing I haven't liked is that to get the netsupport school to on Macs you actually need another set of licenses for netsupport assist. I don't think this is made very clear by their website or sales people. They have now resolved this for me but I think this could be made clearer.

[fiza]

@Jawloms - We had the exact same issue. Its because of running Virtual Box on the machines too, its not because they were from the same image. I got an email explaining the issue and we had to do the registry hack. It is a pain as we re-image machines every summer so we will have to do the hack each time.

 

Other than this very happy with the software.

[DrCheese]

Ah you should be able to do that either via GPP or have a script that checks for a file & if doesn't exist, add the registry entry (Then copy down the check file)

[Asgard]

Have you tried the reg hack and if it works why is that not satisfactory? Have to say Netsupport DNA is the best piece of software I've bought in a long while.

For the record we push the agent out via GPO onto an standard image which has never had it installed before.

 

We have just today installed DNA it and already it's head and shoulders above Impero that's before we have even deployed School for the teaching staff.

 

Last night did the Little reghack to set the server name and then Deployed the MSI and watched it populate this morning.

 

Very good feedback so far from the techies.

 

Uninstalling Impero tomorrow and having Netschool install at the same time

 

Joy to the world Impero is no more

[Michael]

So if I've understood right the base image is Sysprepped, but seeing as you've included a VM, this part isn't.

 

Logically running DNA on the host OS should be OK, but running DNA in the cloned VM, I can see this causing issues. That would make sense.

[Al_NetSupport]

@Jawloms - We had the exact same issue. Its because of running Virtual Box on the machines too, its not because they were from the same image. I got an email explaining the issue and we had to do the registry hack. It is a pain as we re-image machines every summer so we will have to do the hack each time.

 

Other than this very happy with the software.

 

I think the point is well made and we will look to make this a more visible option within the UI, rather than require a registry key change.

 

The comments are all valid, it's not super slick or well signposted so we need to improve it for our next update - which we will.