iTalc 2 Installation

[DriftGrant]

Hi Guys,

 

It's been a while since I've done a iTalc network install (1.0.9 which is from 2008!).

 

One of my schools has asked me to look into a classroom management system thats cheap so I've suggested iTalc and they've jumped at the 'free' price.

 

I've downloaded versio 1.0.13 remembering that at the end of the install it asks you do you want to save your installation settings into a .xml file which you can then inturn use to install other clients by 'setup.exe installstudent.xml'

 

Version 1.0.13 doesn't have that option! but their documentation says it does =\ so rather confused. I then read somewhere to skip 1.0.13 and go straight for 2.0 as it intergrates with AD.

 

Same again! no save installation settings or any other way to deploy it!

 

So I'm tearing my hair out here trying to figure out how to deploy the iTalc client to 50+ machines then the iTalc Master to 10 teacher laptops!

 

TL;DR - I cant deploy iTalc 2 and need help!

[skell]

This information can be found in the AutomatedSetupWithIMC.txt. To be honest, it seems to be a little hit and miss, although I haven't spent a lot of time with it.

 

1) Prepare a global common directory which can be accessed by all computers

in the network. Alternatively, a directory on an USB drive works as well.

 

 

2) Install iTALC on the master computer. Afterwards run the IMC and alter the

settings according to your needs and your environment.

 

In the "Authentication" area, launch the iTALC access key assistant and

let it create an access key pair and export the public key to the directory

prepared in step 1)

 

 

3) Create an iTALC client reference installation. Afterwards run the IMC and

alter the settings according to your needs and your environment. Then save

the settings via "File" -> "Save settings into file" to the directory

prepared in step 1) and choose a filename, e.g. ClientSettings.xml

 

 

4) Copy the content of the installation directory (e.g. all files in

C:\Program Files\iTALC\) to the directory prepared in step 1).

 

 

5) Write a batch file with the following commands and place it in the same

directory as the files in the previous steps.

 

mkdir "C:\Program Files\iTALC"

cp *.exe *.dll *.txt *.xml "C:\Program Files\iTALC\"

cd "\Program Files\iTALC"

imc -ApplySettings ClientSettings.xml

imc -ImportPublicKey PublicKey.key.txt

ica -RegisterService

ica -StartService

 

After running this batch file on a client, the client should be ready for use

with the iTALC network.

[russdev]

In my view it is not an easy program to setup. I installed it on few PCs other day and wasn't very impressed with limited feature set (but I would say that )

 

Just no thought into ease of setting up at all both from install and setting up in general...

 

Russ

Edited April 6, 2011 by russdev

[SimpleSi]

wasn't very impressed with limited feature set

 

I can cope with limited feature set (as its free ) and I don't mind manually setting it up (as I usually just have 1 or 2 banks or 15 laptops to configure) but the killer neg feature is that if you send out a lock desktop command (to get pupils attention) and then an unlock one and a laptop doesn't respond to the unlock, I can't find any way of manually unlocking it and I have to shutdown, lose any work in progress and start again

 

Now that's what I call a bad bug

 

Si

[Freedom]

I'm struggling just to get the master and client to talk on a 1 to 1 basis, yet alone deploy it out.

 

I've made the share folder which the client can access in explorer fine.

 

I've edited the registry settings to show it where the keys are as per the documentation, but the master just can't connect. Any ideas that I should try. Firewall is off and AV is not blocking the app (it was to start with).

[mouseslinger]

I spent the day playing with a .bat file to update lab computers from iTalc 1 to iTalc 2 in Windows XP. The supplied info above is great up until you hit the .bat file instructions. If you don't register the ica service before having imc apply the settings it has no idea what to do with itself. On your reference install machine use regedit to export the key "HKLM\SOFTWARE\iTALC Solutions" and save that as italc2.reg. Place the reg file in the same network deployment folder as the Clientsettings.xml file.

 

Here are the lines from the two .bat files I created.

 

Uninstall iTalc 1

c:\progra~1\italc\ica.exe -unregisterservice -quiet

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\iTALC Solutions" /f

reg delete "HKCU\SOFTWARE\iTALC Solutions" /f

rd /s /q c:\progra~1\italc

 

Install iTalc 2

mkdir "C:\Program Files\iTALC"

copy "\\pathtonetworklocation\*.*" "C:\Program Files\iTALC\"

cd "\Program Files\iTALC"

ica -RegisterService -quiet

imc -ApplySettings clientSettings.xml -quiet

regedit /s italc2.reg

ica -StartService -quiet

[jpteuf]

Hello,

 

I'm currently doing an internship in an NGO that operates a school in India. My task is to teach English, social sciences and soon computer classes. All the children never really had any contacts with computers before so I need to make sure I will have their attention when I want to show them something as they tend to be easily side tracked. This is why I wanted to use iTalc.

I downloaded the software and installed it on my computer to be the teacher and exported the key to use on the student’s laptops. After I installed the clients with the exported key, I tried to add them to a classroom and view their screen. As soon as I try, a message pops up on the client’s computer saying somebody tried to connect to this computer but did not authenticate itself properly and lists my computer’s IP address.

I checked online and it said it was probably because I didn’t use the same keys on both computers. I tried uninstalling on both, exporting directly to a usb key, copying the teacher’s public key file directly instead of the .txt file but it never seems to work.

I was wondering if there were other settings I need to adjust in order for the connection to establish itself. I made sure the firewalls let Italc pass through.

I’m usually knowledgeable with computers but I’m not an IT specialist and I have limited experience with network applications. The problem is I’m still the most capable person in the school to deploy the software.

Any help would be appreciated

Jean-Philippe

Edited October 3, 2011 by jpteuf
typo

[2097]

Hello,

 

I'm currently doing an internship in an NGO that operates a school in India. My task is to teach English, social sciences and soon computer classes. All the children never really had any contacts with computers before so I need to make sure I will have their attention when I want to show them something as they tend to be easily side tracked. This is why I wanted to use iTalc.

I downloaded the software and installed it on my computer to be the teacher and exported the key to use on the student’s laptops. After I installed the clients with the exported key, I tried to add them to a classroom and view their screen. As soon as I try, a message pops up on the client’s computer saying somebody tried to connect to this computer but did not authenticate itself properly and lists my computer’s IP address.

I checked online and it said it was probably because I didn’t use the same keys on both computers. I tried uninstalling on both, exporting directly to a usb key, copying the teacher’s public key file directly instead of the .txt file but it never seems to work.

I was wondering if there were other settings I need to adjust in order for the connection to establish itself. I made sure the firewalls let Italc pass through.

I’m usually knowledgeable with computers but I’m not an IT specialist and I have limited experience with network applications. The problem is I’m still the most capable person in the school to deploy the software.

Any help would be appreciated

Jean-Philippe

 

The latest version did the same with me on my xp clients . Version before was ok .

 

theres quite a few problems with it on XP so i gave up using it , i waited a year for a workable copy where everything works

[TechSupp]

Got ver2 working OK here, bit of a fiddle admittedly but fine once I got one pc and the teacher pc working together. Ended up using the bat files above but had to install from a unc path rather than a mapped drive as the service failed when I tried from a mapped drive, works fine now apart from the bugs already found, demo not working, missing task bar at bottom of screen when comming out of lock. For what I use it for, monitoring what they do and reviewing their work while they are all sat in front of me (primary) is brilliant. Remote connect is great so we can edit and correct each others work while sat together. This is all on an XP based system.

[Cagey]

2) Install iTALC on the master computer. Afterwards run the IMC and alter the

settings according to your needs and your environment.

In the "Authentication" area, launch the iTALC access key assistant and

let it create an access key pair and export the public key to the directory

prepared in step 1)

 

When you say "alter the settings to meet your environment" is this really necessary or are the default settings ok to use? I have an install that is currently not working. Went through the version 2.0 setup. Left all the defaults as they were. Exported the Public key to a share on the network. Installed the client and imported the public key. Left all the defaults as they were. I have no connection between the two however.

[6Foot2]

We are successfully deploying the software to the stations but we cannot see the remote stations unless an administrator our a network technician logos on first [at the remote station] and starts iTalc for the first time.

 

Deployment method:

 

Batch file:

 

mkdir "C:\Program Files\iTALC"copy "\\ServerName.ChildDomain.parentDomain.local\ServerShare1\iTALC 2\*.*" "C:\Program Files\iTALC\"
cd "\Program Files\iTALC"
ica -RegisterService -quiet
imc -ApplySettings clientSettings.xml -quiet
regedit /s italc2.reg
ica -StartService -quiet
end

 

We have used the iTalc Management Console to set:

 

iTalc service:

 

Tray icon hidden

Autostart

 

Configuration files:

 

Global configuration:

 

Global configuration: \\ServerName.ChildDomain.parentDomain.local\ServerShare2\Global Configuration\GlobalConfig.xml

Personal configuration: [Home Share]\iTalc Personal Configuration\PersonalConfig.xml

 

Data Directories:

 

Snapshots: [Home Share]\Snapshots

 

Authentication:

 

Authentication methods: ACL based logon authentication [key file authentication would not work for us at all (although that is what we had for XP and it worked]

 

Permissions:

 

Domain administrator: Full control

Network technicians: Full control

Domain computers: Full control

 

[i also put 'everyone' in with Full control but this did not improve things]

 

I have tried the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of iTalc on our 64 bit stations without success.

 

Has anyone solved this problem where a user who is allowed to use the iTalc remote viewing interface has to logon?

 

Many thanks.

 

Edit: iTalc 2.

[ajcke]

I have a mixed xp and win7 environment running 2008 R2 servers. I'm using the same script as davep and mouseslinger. iTalc seems to install okay except for when an xp machine is applying startup scripts at boot they get an error

"The service 'iTALC Client' could not be registered."

 

I'm able to use iTalc to remote into the pc still. I'd like to get rid of this error. Is there something I'm missing?

[TechSupp]

Could it be a firewall issue, think there is a fix somewhere for it. Maybe why w7 does not havef the issue?

[ajcke]

What ports need to be opened? I thought I had these set in group policy but I'm not seeing an object for that.

[synaesthesia]

I think more can be achieved by using other products! Impero aside, Lanview is far less sluggy and crashy Tried iTalc 2 for a while and couldn't get on with it's unreliability. LV hasn't been supported for donkies yet is a mile more stable.

[jdoldridge]

Personal configuration: [Home Share]\iTalc Personal Configuration\PersonalConfig.xml

The way to sort your problem out is to get an admin or teacher whoever really to configure their end perfectly adding all computers etc. and then exporting their PersonalConfig.xml to the share also and the set the above setting to point to the share just like the GlobalConfig.xml is.

[nLinked]

We are successfully deploying the software to the stations but we cannot see the remote stations unless an administrator our a network technician logos on first [at the remote station] and starts iTalc for the first time.

 

Deployment method:

 

Batch file:

 

mkdir "C:\Program Files\iTALC"copy "\\ServerName.ChildDomain.parentDomain.local\ServerShare1\iTALC 2\*.*" "C:\Program Files\iTALC\"
cd "\Program Files\iTALC"
ica -RegisterService -quiet
imc -ApplySettings clientSettings.xml -quiet
regedit /s italc2.reg
ica -StartService -quiet
end

 

We have used the iTalc Management Console to set:

 

iTalc service:

 

Tray icon hidden

Autostart

 

Configuration files:

 

Global configuration:

 

Global configuration: \\ServerName.ChildDomain.parentDomain.local\ServerShare2\Global Configuration\GlobalConfig.xml

Personal configuration: [Home Share]\iTalc Personal Configuration\PersonalConfig.xml

 

Data Directories:

 

Snapshots: [Home Share]\Snapshots

 

Authentication:

 

Authentication methods: ACL based logon authentication [key file authentication would not work for us at all (although that is what we had for XP and it worked]

 

Permissions:

 

Domain administrator: Full control

Network technicians: Full control

Domain computers: Full control

 

[i also put 'everyone' in with Full control but this did not improve things]

 

I have tried the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of iTalc on our 64 bit stations without success.

 

Has anyone solved this problem where a user who is allowed to use the iTalc remote viewing interface has to logon?

 

Many thanks.

 

Edit: iTalc 2.

 

Did you ever sort this out, Dave? I'm having a similar issue. Works fine on my machine, but not teachers. But even if I logon as local admin on a teachers, it doesn't work. We're using AD logon option instead of keyfiles. When a teacher launches iTALC 2, it asks for a logon, accepts the teacher's account, and nothing happens - closes.

[6Foot2]

Did you ever sort this out, Dave? I'm having a similar issue. Works fine on my machine, but not teachers. But even if I logon as local admin on a teachers, it doesn't work. We're using AD logon option instead of keyfiles. When a teacher launches iTALC 2, it asks for a logon, accepts the teacher's account, and nothing happens - closes.

 

The problem of users other than administrators to use iTalc seems to have resolved itself [no cation from me] However we are still left with an iTalc deployment that does not work satisfactorily as it 'chooses' when it will work and when it will not.

 

We cannot ever see all of the screens all of the stations in a computer suite [some are visible] Sometimes the console will not work at all. Some times it will work all day without crashing but still not showing all of the selected screens. I would look at another solution [ABTutor, Impero,...] but there is no budget so now I guess I am waiting for the release of iTalc 2.1...

[nLinked]

Thank you. So disappointed. Even if I make a VM on my PC with same settings as a teacher PC, and use a teacher account, it works GREAT. Just not on actual teacher machines.

[2097]

I could never get sharing of screens working properly . It would display but the user had to click to get this updated

 

also multiple login stopped working also , which i loved !

 

went to abutor instead , for a few hundred quid was well worth it !

[nLinked]

I just don't get it. I installed the same exact bundle on my own virtual machine, and the VM is placed in the same AD location as teacher machines. I logged on as a teacher, and logged into iTALC as a teacher (using AD option in iTALC, not keys), and it works great!

 

On an actual teacher machine, I get this event log error:

 

The application, C:\Program Files\iTALC\italc.exe, generated an application error The error occurred on 03/28/2012 @ 14:11:14.954 The exception generated was c0000005 at address 7C91A5DB (ntdll!RtlReAllocateHeap)

 

What does that even mean? I've checked the installation files and the count and size are exactly the same as on my working machine. I just don't get it. Same account, different machine, same AD location, same permissions. I can't figure it out!

[mstarczak]

Late last year I had no major issues using Italc2 with windows 7.

I'm intending to try it a new school in the next few weeks.

The script above will be invaluable as I wasn't aware of the /quiet switch and that bit had caused one of the few issues.

I know the fact that the security permissions have to be set on each machine for admin access will be a pain and I'll reread the thread and see if someone's got the technique right to avoid that.

I found a thread elesewhere that talked about how to setup a global repository of the machines, I know that method worked as well.

I'll get back after I've had a go as I think the program is quite useful.

Its not ABtutor, but the fact I can install it and have multiple vieweers makes it attractive for what i want.

[theforce]

In my view it is not an easy program to setup. I installed it on few PCs other day and wasn't very impressed with limited feature set (but I would say that )

 

Just no thought into ease of setting up at all both from install and setting up in general...

 

Russ

 

Hi Russdev, I'm assuming your the guy from imperio. If you are can you please advise on whether you just sell your classroom management module seperately. I work for a local authority, where a number of our schools are moving away from the expensive RM and other offerings, out there to Vanilla Windows. One school in paticular would like to purchase the classroom management module. Do you sell your classroom management software seperately?

 

If you so, can you please leave me your email address and I will contact you directly. Thanks.

[robp2175]

I know this is a somewhat old thread, but I thought I would share my script to install iTALC. This has worked flawlessly for me and is far less complicated than the above script. I do not use keys (I use acl-based auth), but if you store your keys on a network share to the clients, there should not need to be any changes made to this script. If you store you keys locally, you would also need to add a line in the script whereby you copy those keys over to the appropriate location. I hope someone finds this useful.

 

 

::Change the part after the equals sign to the ip address or domain name of the server
set server=serverip
set share=networksharefolder
::Install iTALC silently
\\%server%\%share%\italc.exe /S
::Check if installed on a 64-bit machine
::I always install the 32-bit version for simplicity
IF EXIST "C:\Program Files (x86)" goto x64
::Copy settings file
xcopy \\%server%\%share%\settings.xml "c:\Program Files\iTALC\" /Y
cd "c:\Program Files\iTALC\"
goto settings
:x64
::Copy settings file
xcopy \\%server%\%share%\settings.xml "C:\Program Files (x86)\iTALC\" /Y
cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\iTALC\"
:settings
::Apply settings
imc -ApplySettings settings.xml -quiet
::Restart the service
net stop icas
net start icas
::Delete Desktop Shortcut for XP and Vista/Win7
del "c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\iTALC.lnk"
del "C:\Users\Public\Desktop\iTALC.lnk"

Edited October 2, 2013 by robp2175

[robp2175]

I realized as soon as I posted that I actually posted the wrong script. You actually do not need to the x64 part because the silent install will always put it in the same folder. I forgot about this. Sorry if this caused any confusion.

 

::Change the part after the equals sign to the ip address or domain name of the server
set server=serverip
set share=networksharefolder
::Install iTALC silently
\\%server%\%share%\italc.exe /S
::Copy settings file
xcopy \\%server%\%share%\settings.xml "c:\Program Files\iTALC\" /Y
cd "c:\Program Files\iTALC\"
::Apply settings
imc -ApplySettings settings.xml -quiet
::Restart the service
net stop icas
net start icas
::Delete Desktop Shortcut for XP and Vista/Win7
del "c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\iTALC.lnk"
del "C:\Users\Public\Desktop\iTALC.lnk"