Surpass - Secure Client (what a pain)

[PotNoodleTech]

Also what idiot programmers put code in C:\Users\Public?

 

All education software programmers????

[Jaan]

I'm installing v12.33.101.048 via GPO and i'm getting a failed install. Language is null or ignored if i select to ignore it to try and fix the issue.

 

Anybody else had this? I don't normally have issues with it installing.

 

My PDQ attempt also fails

[Jaan]

i had to force the language Pack for it to install:

 

msiexec.exe /i "SecureClientInstaller 12.33.101.048.msi" ProductLanguage="1033" ALLUSERS=1 /qn /norestart /log output.log

[FragglePete]

I installed the latest version today as I've been informed it's going to be used next month - this installer is installing it in a slightly different directory from the previous version! Still in the C:\Users\Public\Surpass folder, but in C:\Users\Public\Surpass\SecureClient whereas last installer was putting C:\Users\Public\Surpass\Secure_Client !

 

Pete

[Jaan]

I installed the latest version today as I've been informed it's going to be used next month - this installer is installing it in a slightly different directory from the previous version! Still in the C:\Users\Public\Surpass folder, but in C:\Users\Public\Surpass\SecureClient whereas last installer was putting C:\Users\Public\Surpass\Secure_Client !

 

Pete

 

nice gotcha for applocker!

 

%OSDRIVE%\Users\Public\Surpass\*

Edited October 26, 2023 by Jaan

[mavhc]

If only there were a specific directory for program files to live in....

[3s-gtech]

Today's delight with SA (via WJEC). Not confirmed this with any other schools yet.

 

Certain keycodes not working, and clients showing an offline error underneath the keycode box. Other identical clients working. All clients updated. All clients showing as Ready in the control panel invigilation screen.

 

Looking in the logs, the client is trying to access https://wjecdhassessment.surpass.comassessmentservice.asmx/ and https://wjecdhassessment.surpass.comconnectionTest.html. If these look like malformed URLs, they are - they're missing a forward slash after .com. Our Smoothwall logged these too, so it's not just a logging error - the clients tried to go to these addresses.

 

Of course, I got the blame (by the board) for a firewall or filtering issue affecting many of our students in an exam. I tested the software and fired it up beforehand - it got to the login screen, which was as far as I could go.

 

Pretty sure there's a bug, but whether that gets acknowledged as the cause of all that stress, or whether I continue to get blamed, is another matter. Makes the school look bad either way.

[jthompson]

Good to know. I'll be asking our exams officer to arrange some system test keycodes ahead of our upcoming exams, then!

[mavhc]

Maybe they could, I dunno, test their software in the environment where it will be used, schools with firewalls and filtering.

 

That would be my first question if we were planning to pay them to do exams

[Brax]

Maybe they could, I dunno, test their software in the environment where it will be used, schools with firewalls and filtering.

 

That would be my first question if we were planning to pay them to do exams

But that would be sensible!

[PotNoodleTech]

Today's delight with SA (via WJEC). Not confirmed this with any other schools yet.

 

Certain keycodes not working, and clients showing an offline error underneath the keycode box. Other identical clients working. All clients updated. All clients showing as Ready in the control panel invigilation screen.

 

Looking in the logs, the client is trying to access https://wjecdhassessment.surpass.comassessmentservice.asmx/ and https://wjecdhassessment.surpass.comconnectionTest.html. If these look like malformed URLs, they are - they're missing a forward slash after .com. Our Smoothwall logged these too, so it's not just a logging error - the clients tried to go to these addresses.

 

Of course, I got the blame (by the board) for a firewall or filtering issue affecting many of our students in an exam. I tested the software and fired it up beforehand - it got to the login screen, which was as far as I could go.

 

Pretty sure there's a bug, but whether that gets acknowledged as the cause of all that stress, or whether I continue to get blamed, is another matter. Makes the school look bad either way.

 

My 7 IT ones went off ok this morning.

 

What subject were the tests in??

 

PS if the exam board kick up a fuss remind them that the software is not fit for purpose and doesn't allow the IT support personally to automatically test the software by clicking something like a "test connection" button which doesn't exist, but if they were competent and the test connection did exist we would be able to test every single workstation 30 minutes before the test starts to ensure everything ran smoothly.

Edited June 11, 2024 by PotNoodleTech

[3s-gtech]

IT Digital Tech, WJEC. It worked on some/most - we had 40+ students though so larger sample size. 15 or so failed.

[PotNoodleTech]

IT Digital Tech, WJEC. It worked on some/most - we had 40+ students though so larger sample size. 15 or so failed.

 

Oh thats not good.

 

The only thing we noticed is apparently one of the pupils thinks a question was missing, and the other pupils answered that question.

 

Trying to get to the bottom of that with the exams officer now but we didn't have any error messages or anything else noticeable weird.

[LukeRowberry]

We ran Digital Tech this morning with about 40 students but didn’t have any issues with the software. We did have the paper copy on standby though!

[3s-gtech]

Very odd. Can you give me your version number? Plus, can you have a look in the log.xml in configfiles and see if you see any issues? Edited June 11, 2024 by 3s-gtech

[PotNoodleTech]

Very odd. Can you give me your version number? Plus, can you have a look in the log.xml in configfiles and see if you see any issues?

 

Version 12.34.76.52 according to add remove programs.

 

Ill find out which PC she was sitting at tomorrow and have a look at the logfile.

[LukeRowberry]

We’re on 12.34.076.052 and can’t see any errors in the log

[3s-gtech]

An update/reminder for this:

 

When setting the proxy settings in the proxy file in configfiles, you need to specifiy address, port, username and password.

 

Yes, even if you don't use a username and password. The software is that monumentally ****. If you don't put them in, it'll do the update loop.

 

I want it on the record that the ******* ***** that wrote this **** can go and . And I hope it hurts.

[jthompson]

An update/reminder for this:

 

When setting the proxy settings in the proxy file in configfiles, you need to specifiy address, port, username and password.

 

Yes, even if you don't use a username and password. The software is that monumentally ****. If you don't put them in, it'll do the update loop.

 

I want it on the record that the ******* ***** that wrote this **** can go and . And I hope it hurts.

 

It at least makes a change from edu software packages that are like "Oh, you want to use this behind a proxy? Umm..."

[Ironside]

Hi all, I have a mock exam in about 2 and a bit hours and am getting this error:

 

Invalid Keycode: OFFLINE - There was an error validating the keycode.

 

Any ideas? Don't seem to have any access to FAQ or anything for this. WJEC Secure Client if that's relevant?

[PotNoodleTech]

Have you edited the proxy server in surpass folder \configfiles\proxy.xml

 

Have you unbanned the list of URLs on the web filter?

 

In order to use SecureClient with a proxy server you will need to configure the proxy and/or firewall to not require authentication for communications to https://eal.surpass.com (Port 443).

 

 

 

This URL should also be added to the safe list of any firewalls.

 

 

 

Proxies should also be configured to allow ASMX, ASPX and ZIP file types.

 

 

 

Please ensure the firewall allows access to the following URLs:

 

https://eal.surpass.com

 

https://eal.surpass.com/launchtest/

 

https://cms.surpass.com

 

https://cmspublic.surpass.com

 

https://cdnukshared.surpass.com

[Tester2000]

As an additional point of note, even with everything setup correctly, you can run into an issue where at say 10:00 you may not be able to get any clients signed in with their keycodes, with that exact error message, however if you keep trying eventually the keycode will be accepted. It's sporadic and hugely stressful when you've got multiple suites of students ready to go yet the keycodes work on some but not others. Good luck!

[3s-gtech]

Thanks. It’s good to see someone else has had this today!

 

Looking in the logs it’s a 403 error. Their server is refusing the connection.

 

I guarantee they will blame us, so to have another school seeing it is good.

 

I hate this software and the chumps that run it.

[Ironside]

So my windows settings have no proxy address set and that matches my Surpass proxy I've got all the WJEC and Surpass web addresses chunked into our Authentication exceptions category from Smoothwall. SQL Server Compact 4 is installed. Internet access is all good on the PC.

 

I'm now getting the following error:

 

"Invalid Keycode: Unknown error"

 

Any idea?

 

I am getting an "unhandled exception occurred in your application. If you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. IF you click quit, the Application will close immediately."

 

Any suggestions?

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Thanks. It’s good to see someone else has had this today!

 

Looking in the logs it’s a 403 error. Their server is refusing the connection.

 

I guarantee they will blame us, so to have another school seeing it is good.

 

I hate this software and the chumps that run it.

 

How has this become industry-standard?

Edited March 7, 2025 by Ironside

[3s-gtech]

I think that's a .NET Framework error.