Disadvantaged children across England are set to receive laptops and tablets

[DJ-1701]

We've just had our first, "The dog chewed my charger".

 

Was the dog's name Sparky or Bolt?

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Was the dog's name Sparky or Bolt?

 

Crispy...

[kennysarmy]

We've just had our first, "The dog chewed my charger".

 

At least they can make use of the lead.

[enjay]

We've just had our first, "The dog chewed my charger".

 

I remember one of my teachers being unable to return our homework because his dog had eaten it :-)

[MrEprise]

In case someone has a faulty HP laptop from the DfE, HP are honouring the warranty from their end now (assuming they didn't before) and are upgrading any remaining warranty from RTB to Onsite due to Brexit (or so they told me.)

[LeMarchand]

We've had one or two, my process is:

Remove known networks

From the Start Menu, access the Settings menu, select Network & Internet, then WiFi, and finally Manage Known Networks. Delete all networks.

 

I may be jumping the gun (only tested on one machine!) but, if you have the admin password list, you can save time by logging in as .\localadmin and doing that first step; then just delete/recreate the localuser account.

 

Anyone want to test? (Or tell me this was mentioned pages ago and I missed it).

[Garacesh]

I may be jumping the gun (only tested on one machine!) but, if you have the admin password list, you can save time by logging in as .\localadmin and doing that first step; then just delete/recreate the localuser account.

 

Anyone want to test? (Or tell me this was mentioned pages ago and I missed it).

 

We do not, though I should probably get onto the council and get the boss to sign the taking-ownership-form-thing

[LeMarchand]

Anyone tried connecting these "as is" through your school's proxy?

We're hoping to just keep these more or less as issued for now (just in case...). I've been logging on as admin and removing/readding the localuser account to reset it, and removing all current wifi networks:

net user localuser /DELETE

net user /add localuser

netsh wlan delete profile name=* i=*

 

(Might help someone)

 

Joining to the wireless manually seems quicker than using the XML method and then I use netsh winhttp set proxy - no fancy transparent ones here! - restart and use inetcpl.cpl to set the proxy for localuser (seems to be per user). Chrome works fine, but Edge will not play ball. Even tried the netsh winhttp import proxy source=ie method.

 

Anyone else tried keeping the machines as "standalone" and got Edge to work?

[StevieM]

Anyone tried connecting these "as is" through your school's proxy?

I've connected them through the school's proxy while logged in as .\localuser. While configuring a proxy IP has been disallowed, using an automatic configuration script hasn't. I've just used a PAC file like I do for our iPads.

Anyone else tried keeping the machines as "standalone" and got Edge to work?

 

Chrome will use the proxy PAC fine but Edge is having none of it.

[LeMarchand]

Thanks @StevieM. Not just me forgetting something, then.

 

Wierd how bits are blocked even when logged in as localadmin.

[StevieM]

Of course, this does mean that any kids who have a bit of nous may be able to create their own PAC file to bypass the built-in filtering...

[LeMarchand]

Of course, this does mean that any kids who have a bit of nous may be able to create their own PAC file to bypass the built-in filtering...

 

Primary/Junior, so not so much of a problem (also AFAIK the only way around the filter is to use a phone or similar as a hotspot). More to the point, the most technical "hacker" on site got banned from Google as he spent all his time looking for games etc, but never worked out he could have used Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo etc etc etc.

[StevieM]

I was looking for clarification of when the secure DfE laptops stop being, well, secure and I found this:

 

The DfE have informed us that although the DfE laptops you have received came with Microsoft Intune installed, as some of the devices provided have not connected to the Microsoft server for a considerable period of time, the certificate for this software will expire soon. When this certificate lapses, the DfE will be unable to manage the devices and apply safeguarding and content filtering settings. Regular connection of your devices to Intune ensures that certificates are refreshed and will not expire. Please connect your devices to the internet immediately to get their certificate renewed, ensuring the safeguarding filtering continues to work.

 

It's dated this week so I thought I'd give everyone the heads-up.

[enjay]

Reassuring to see it isn't just our students who aren't using the equipment provided...

 

So, what will actually happen when these devices stop being managed by InTune? Will they continue being usable, or should we wipe them and put our standard school build on them instead?

[StevieM]

Reassuring to see it isn't just our students who aren't using the equipment provided...

 

I think they are referring to devices that have been returned/not yet distributed, but you can rest assured it isn't just your students.

 

So, what will actually happen when these devices stop being managed by InTune? Will they continue being usable, or should we wipe them and put our standard school build on them instead?

 

The linked article also encourages schools to apply their own management/security settings 'as soon as possible', and gives a link to instructions from the government on how to do this.

 

I'm also quite relieved to find that we aren't expected to make the standard laptops as secure as I thought we were. There is no mention of applying local security policies and it even advises against setting up an MDM if you don't already have one.

 

We've had 20 standard laptops delivered and we don't have SCCM or Intune (nor do I have the time to implement/learn how to use it, right now!). I have considered getting the BIOS password for one of the secured laptops, exporting the local security policy and importing it into the standard. Would that work, do you think?

[enjay]

Thanks @StevieM

 

That document also answers your earlier question about when the InTune switches off, 30th September 2021.

[enjay]

Thanks @StevieM

 

That document also answers your earlier question about when the InTune switches off, 30th September 2021. That gives me time to work out what I want to do with them, and get our remote Smoothwall monitoring working too.

[enjay]

I've just tried to log in to the Computer Center / Service Now portal, and it rejected my login. The password reset tool isn't working either, telling me to contact the service desk. Have they turned this off, or is it something else? If I do need to contact the service desk, does anyone know how?!

[LeMarchand]

Sending you the address that helped me out. They may need to contact whoever they think is the contact at your place first, but were pretty helpful. They did want all the serials though. I've found 2 out of 3 that didn't get recorded so far, but have deets for all the ones I sent them.

[kennysarmy]

Does anyone have a copy of the document : "How to reset your Microsoft Windows device to default factory settings’ so I can reset some locked down devices?

[Boredguy]

https://get-help-with-tech.education.gov.uk/devices/preparing-microsoft-windows-laptops-and-tablets#getting-local-admin-and-bios-passwords-to-install-your-own-software-and-settings says you can get the details from the Support Portal if you have the login details....

[kennysarmy]

Does anyone have a copy of the document : "How to reset your Microsoft Windows device to default factory settings’ so I can reset some locked down devices?

 

Don't worry - found it.

[DrCheese]

What are you folks doing with the devices you've had returned or yet to issue? (We had 60 turn up.. just before we returned) - They're just too weakly powered to use as general-purpose devices (My head toy'd with turning them into an IT suite (!!!)) but equally they're a bit of a waste being kept in storage. Edited April 28, 2021 by DrCheese

[AliG]

What are you folks doing with the devices you've had returned or yet to issue? (We had 60 turn up.. just before we returned) - They're just too weakly powered to use as general-purpose devices (My head toy'd with turning them into an IT suite (!!!)) but equally they're a bit of a waste being kept in storage.

 

We are going to issue them to pupil premium students to use at home at least they might get some use and are just about useable has a 1:1 device

[LeMarchand]

Chromebooks just went into trolleys. Windows devices are having the local user account deleted and recreated and wireless profiles wiped. Then just added to our trolleys as "internet devices". At least it'll be easy to reissue them if (when?) Lockdown 4 happens.