Is it me or does Ranger just not work properly with windows 7?

[deebee]

We're running the latest Ranger (7.4.3.0) with XP clients on a server 2003 domain.

 

The XP clients work fine, but I'm wanting to get moving on updating the network to windows 7. I've done a vanilla installation of windows 7 (x86) onto a laptop (not even gotten to automated deployment stuff yet) and then installed Ranger on it having set up the relevant policies/desktop/start menu setups required in Ranger Administrator.

 

Apparently naïvely I expected Ranger to behave at least similarly to how it does with windows XP, 'Ranger Group Desktop' should redirect the desktop set up for the users group in Ranger Administrator, and the same goes for the start menu.

 

Evidently I was wrong as neither the desktop nor the start menu is redirected in any way. Am I missing a trick here or is Ranger simply a broken product for post-XP use? Does anyone have this working correctly with Ranger on its own without resorting to GPO? Am I just missing a step somewhere?

[jennajohnston]

Hello,

 

I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing issues with Ranger. Have you contacted our support desk to raise this? 0845 404 0000 Alternatively please drop me an email and I'll see that this is looked into for you.

 

Thank you

Jen

[SHimmer45]

we are also testing this,

we have found that using the "ranger groups" does redirect the selected items but does change the permissions of the home directories of the user depending on the additional options you set for security in ranger admin (this is iffy )

we had to reset a load after testing a couple of account permissions, it does appear to emulate some of the native policy options for folder redirection permissions and id suggest that its granting exclusive rights for the user. ---- slight thread drift

 

i wouldnt say its broken product as such but windows 7 and XP are completely different animals

[jamesfed]

We cut out Ranger when we moved to Windows 7 - as far as management tools go AD/GPOs do just as well

[SHimmer45]

its a shame to loose all of the easily accessible logging for users application and the other application limitation that can be easily applied from the one interface

[deebee]

I'm waiting to hear back from the consultant we buy Ranger through - we don't have an active service contract and last time I asked for any help from ranger direct, the reply was a 'you don't have a contract, we can't talk to you' so I was less than impressed, especially so given my question was a simple one if I remember correctly.

 

I really hope Win7 support is stepped up significantly in Ranger 8 or we'll more than likely be disappearing from the list of Ranger customers from our next renewal.

 

With RM behind the product now, I have at least a little faith we should see some improvements, as *everyone* currently running XP on Ranger will be having to upgrade to 7 over the next 12-18 months given Microsoft's finally dropping XP, which is fair enough.

[jennajohnston]

Our Ranger resellers should be on hand to help our customers that do not take an RM Support contract. In the meantime I have asked our support for advice on the issue described. If you can PM me your school name then this will help in the process.

 

Many Thanks

Jen

[57chevvy]

Hi,

 

This is unusual as this has been a pretty good Ranger release by my current experience and we have a couple of hundred good installs of Ranger using Windows 7 so far.

 

Would you please confirm a couple of things.

 

1. The logged in user is in the configured group (Ranger client icon in taskbar) and this is the group Ranger is delivering the configured environment for.

2. The environment/group/start menu/Programs folder (classic mode only) is not ticked as you are using Windows 7 and this is for Vista as there is no classic mode in Windows 7 - Programs placed in folder from start menu in Windows 7 - looks the same.

 

User folder permissions are usually only changed from your preferred settings because the "inherit permissions from parent folder" is not selected and the "grant user exclusive rights" option is in force.

 

Hope this helps.

 

If you need more please feel free to contact.

 

 

Rgds

[Michael]

Windows 7 requires more permissions applied to the re-direction share than Windows XP. I would of thought this is most likely the problem rather than Ranger itself.

 

GPMC and Active Directory still run in the background with Ranger on top. RM's exactly the same. If you feel confident setting up and applying GPOs yourself you can save a lot of time and indeed money.

[NetmanDH]

Hi, Seeing as this has turned into a bit of a 'complain about Ranger' post- I have found the service has gone since they sold out to RM - I was having a conversation via a guy to get my Windows 7 Ranger working correctly recently, then when communications stopped I found out the guy had left the company and they wouldn't help becuase my licence had expired - they hadn't sent me a renewal request or anything. Someone said the sales rep would call me, but they didn't. I'm going down the GPO route - shame though, Ranger was good while it lasted.

[jennajohnston]

NetmanDH - I am sorry that you didn't recieve the service that you needed to resolve your Ranger set up, if you PM me your details I can look to see what happened.