win98 : printer setup (back to the ark)

[contink]

Seems I've managed to land myself a school with around 15 win98 machines and just 6 XP comps along with a win2k3 server... but it's a little tricky as the consultancy originally tasked with looking after this lot is currently making life a tad tricky as they've been caught out regarding their so called "maintenance" contract, so I'd like to avoid contact with them if poss'.

 

In a nutshell what I'm trying to do is get a couple of new printers onto the system, shared through the win2k3 server, and available to all the machines.. Now for the winXP machines I figure I can do this relatively easily provided I set them up as part of a different GPO and use a vbs script I've already used in a different school..

 

I'm more than a little unsure of how to proceed with the Win98 machines however as they're using a login.bat file to seemingly map some shared drives and also a *.pol policy to secure the machines (as much as possible).

 

 

From a fair amount of web reading it seems that I primarily need to:

• alter the policy to allow access to the network neighbourhood and printer control panel on the win98 machines
  
• Install the printers on each win98 machine (see below)
  
• use the adprintx.exe utility to add the printers to each of the users by editing the login.bat file.
  
• Sort out permissions so the printers are accessible by the win98 machines (erm.. help?!)

Couple of things I'm unsure about..

 

[*]The best way to deploy the drivers (is there any way to handle this automatically as part of the logon.bat)

[*]Any potential problems I might hit with the WinXp machines (ie: will they end up with the drivers too, can I test to avoid this?)

[*]Other potential issues that will make my days feel like years and lose me the will to live.[/list:o]

 

If anyone can provide the input I'll do the honours and pop it into a wiki article so all assistance appreciated..

 

 

edit: I'm also wondering if this might be as useful too..

http://www.edugeek.net/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=50759#50759

 

 

Note: Yes, upgrading is on the cards but not until the contractor mess is resolved which could take till June.

[Midget]

if its only 15machines I'd be looking at signing in as admin and doing it manually. esp as they'll be thrown out in 6months

[contink]

if its only 15machines I'd be looking at signing in as admin and doing it manually. esp as they'll be thrown out in 6months

Yep... Of all people my father was able to help with this one and it just seems like my main problems are going to be altering the policy if any jiggery pokery has been done to try and protect things.

 

We'll see but thanks for the response..

[SimpleSi]

I'm with Midget 0 just do it manually on each Win98 machine - learning curve for old equipment and time spent vs getting job done <> worth it

 

I came across some locked machines early on in this job and AFAIR I just went in and re-enabled everthing in using poledit and carried on as usual - the worst thing anyone does in my primaries is change the wallpaper to a picture of Rooney

 

regards

 

Simon

[witch]

Speaking as someone who has 35 Win 98 machines(about a third of the whole lot) in one school and 33 in the other (which IS the whole lot), I agree - do it manually.

As for the XP printers getting the 98 drivers - not usually a problem here, they don't seem to notice!!

 

I think I must have the oldest computers on the forum

Anyone else got a whole lot of Win98 machines between 5 and 8 years old?

[Midget]

ahh windows 98 policies, god i hated them. I was in the same position as you last year, except with 90 of the things.

 

don't forget to make sure you have the 98 printer drivers on the win2k3 server.

[contink]

ahh windows 98 policies, god i hated them. I was in the same position as you last year, except with 90 of the things.

Hmm, your world seems a little run down... Could use a little less of that garish blue with white writing all over it..

 

don't forget to make sure you have the 98 printer drivers on the win2k3 server.

Worked that out and got it sorted so that at least was easy enough

[_Bat_]

Speaking as someone who has 35 Win 98 machines(about a third of the whole lot) in one school and 33 in the other (which IS the whole lot), I agree - do it manually.

As for the XP printers getting the 98 drivers - not usually a problem here, they don't seem to notice!!

 

I think I must have the oldest computers on the forum

Anyone else got a whole lot of Win98 machines between 5 and 8 years old?

 

90% of the machines in one of my schools are windows 2000, but they didn't come with that. I've had to repair a couple recently and noticed these two had "designed for windows 95" stuck on the side. I'm guessing there are a few more "designed for windows 95" machines around, but most I think originally came with windows 98 (at least I hope).

[Midget]

I think I must have the oldest computers on the forum

 

Technically i still have ~40 machines running windows 95, and ~10 dumb terminals.

 

They just happen to all sit in a cupboard with the win98 ones, it's a beowulf cluster if anyone asks. *taps nose*

 

I also have 3 BBCs. I set one up in the 6th form IT Room and watched them sit and scratch their heads for a while.

 

I still have 2 NT4 servers (one for proxy, one for doorstop......... i mean Disaster Recovery*)

 

I'm just glad the whole site is now XP.

 

 

*It'll be a disaster if I have to recover it.

[crc-ict]

I think I must have the oldest computers on the forum

Anyone else got a whole lot of Win98 machines between 5 and 8 years old?

 

Yep! Over here!

 

One of my schools has a suite of '98 machines, and an elderly collection of '95 machines in the classrooms!

 

Not as many ancient ones as you, but just as old

[contink]

Ey up... it's the four yorkshire men sketch..

 

Ironically I found myself looking at the "old" machines I've just put to one side in another of my schools and was seriously considering putting some of those in as temporary replacements for a few months..

[GrumbleDook]

Do I mention at this point the pair of Mac Classics I have ... SE/30s ... ok, they are used as bookends ... but I still have them ;-)

[john]

and do I mention the Acorn Risc PC and Acorn 4000 that I have

[witch]

My server is an NT4 (in the school with all 98s)

So there

Nyah nyah nyah

[john]

EEEW Is all I can say Witch, jolly old NT4, should have been burn many years ago, but my kits still older

[Jon]

I have a school that has only 1 server (NT4) Plus a suite of 25 Windows 98 Machines, Plus 2 Windows 98 machines in each of the 16 classrooms.

 

No plans (read money) to upgrade anytime soon :-(

[alonebfg]

we have still got 3 bbc B machines and were still being used up till last year and have still got them in the school have also got some lovely bits to go with it like a turtle. not used no more we are going into the future lol