Number6

Full time 35 hours / week + 30 days hols. There are four of us and we are usually fully stretched.

I'm not sure this would work for us but I can see your point. I'll have a think.

Why do you say that?

Thank you, for both answers.

If the desktop is redirected then it, and any files stored on the desktop get copied to and from the server at each logon.... don't they? Anyway, whatever the result of using folder redirection I need to be able to put links into the all users>desktop folder so that any user logging onto a particular PC has the same shortcuts.

The start menu is fine, we have that and I can see that it works. We don't have a Shared Desktop folder though, can I just create it?

I don't really want to set up a redirect for the desktop, some users, despite admonishments, continue to put large files on the desktop and these cause slow logons.

Tell me about it! This only cropped up yesterday when a user asked me to put a shortcut on the desktop for every user; no problem said I........

Where is the All Users folder in W7? I need to put some links in the equivalent of the XP All Users>Desktop folder. Can I add a Desktop folder in C:\program data\microsoft\windows? Or what?

Roaming profiles are not permitted on our network. Thanks anyway and it would be a plan otherwise.

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes, running a domain. All the user policies are in place and correct, the problem is purely that, so far as I understand it, when the original image was built a default profile was copied to the image. The wrong profile was copied and that default gave "student" privileges, not higher level "teacher" privileges. Hence, every user that logged on inherited "student" privileges. I can't and don't want to play with the policies themselves, I just want to reset the PCs so that when they next logon they will inherit a more open policy. One way I thought of doing this is to edit the ntuser file, or simply to copy an ntuser file from a higher order machine and copy it to the affected PCs. Then delete the user profiles and at next logon the new, or modified ntuser file will be copied to the new user profile. What I want to know is, am I being too simplistic? Will this plan work? Should I edit the existing ntuser or copy a new one over? Or are there pitfalls that I haven't considered?

I have an issue to resolve in the quickest and easiest way possible. Here's the problem. A group of XP workstations were deployed using an image that, to be blunt was based on the wrong default user profile. I didn't set up the image, nor did I deploy the PCs so I'm not exactly sure what happened. The problem is that the defualt profile in the image was based on a "student" profile that had very limited permissions. The image was then deployed to "teacher" PCs an now the teachers are moaning that they can't do basic stuff like install software, install printers, modify wallpapers, etc. I need to reset these machines in a hurry and need to know the best way of doing so. I could obviously re-image all the machines with a newly created image but I would prefer not to have to go round 40'odd PC's, remove the HD, copy the image and put the HD back. Can I modify the default user ntuser.dat file so that I can then just delete the user profiles and copy or export the new ntuser file to the default profile on each machine? If so how would I do this and what keys would I have to add or modify? Any other suggestions?

SBS 2003 The All Programs menu has a complete list of all the domain users home folders followed by the 'normal' programs menu. I can access all of the home folder contents from here. Why could this happen? How can we stop this and make All Programs only disply the normally expected list of programs.

Thanks for that AT. That worked. I had already tried this method but it failed, the reason it failed was that MS support gave me an incorrect key! It worked fine with the key from the page in your link. All the best.

OK, I'll try sysprep, thanks. Yes, can change key in properties but don't you need then to enter a VLK? We don't have one.

Three of our shiny new Win 7 workstations had to be activated using a MAK key and I'd like to revert these machines to KMS. Can this be done painlessly? Effectively I want to revert the machines back to an unactivated state, remove the MAK key and let them then find our KM Server. Is there a way of doing this that doesn't involve a reinstall of Windows? I've tried rerarming the machines but that doesn't work. Presumably it's a registry edit job but I can't find anything on Google. Can anyone help?

We deployed Win 7 a few weeks ago along with a new instance of Sophos running on a new W2008 server. Sophos installed and ran on the Win 7 Clients without any issues at all.

I've just DL'd the Sophos software (es311sfx) to install on a Server 2008 machine. The install routine requests a restart due to "the system must be restarted before installing this product to allow prior file update operations to complete. (These operations were previously scheduled by another install or uninstall operation)". I restarted and ran es311sfx again - same message... and again and again. It's stuck in an endless loop of restart requests. There's nothing pending so far as I can see, it's a new server, the only other app installed on it is SIMS. Nothing else has been installed or uninstalled. I can find nothing in the Sophos FAQs about this issue. Any ideas anyone?

We were intending to deploy Ultimate but we only seem to have Pro on our VLSC list. Is Ultimate not being provided under School Agreements?

Just had a message from Capita. They're working on making SIMS compatible with W7 now - allegedly.

If we weren't rolling out SIMS at classroom level in September I wouldn't hesitate.

I've been running W7 on two test PCs and a laptop ever since Beta was released. It's a dream of an OS (well, for MS anyway). Stuff just works, much like stuff 'just works' on a Mac. The only incompatibilities we've found are SIMS (because Capita's product development is rubbish - system doesn't even work on Vista without patching) and some of the more screwy educational software, most of which is rubbish even on XP. Even SIMS will run on 7, our problem is the support side - if you have an issue then Capita just won't help you if you're running on a non-supported OS! As all our staff will be using SIMS at classroom level from September then we're stuufed. But in general, those who are saying XP is still the way to go are really burying their heads in the sand. W7 is light years removed from XP and has been a dream to support so far - not even found any major issues running W7 as a client to Server 2003. It's about time Capita got real, after all they've had many months now to get drivers coded for W7, there's just no excuse, especially at the prices they charge! It would also be nice if writers of educational software also generally got their act together and realised that BBC micros are no longer used in schools!

This is the only thing stopping us from a full rollout also! Capita are a gigantic PITA!!

Except that SIMS is not officially supported on W7 and won't be until next Easter! It runs fine, except for 'system' but the trouble is that if (when) we run into a problem, whether OS related or not, Capita will see W7 and say 'not our problem matey' and then we're in the shite! Hence we have no option but to stick with XP even though we're replacing almost our entire PC fleet this summer and installing Server 2008. It's a total pain because by the time Capita get their arses into gear it will be the Devil's own job for us to upgrade to W7.

Place booked