ttw

I have 10 Windows 8 laptops to roll out to staff - they came with Win8 Home, and I have successfully upgraded to Win8 Pro on one, to use as a master build. The idea was that I would then create a clone image with Clonezilla, and roll out to the other 9 devices so that they were identical. The big stumbling block is that they are UEFI machines, with no option to revert to a legacy BIOS to enable booting from a CD or DVD. The option to boot from a CD is there, but it must have a UEFI compliant O/S. According to the Clonezilla site, it is possible to load Clonezilla from an EFI file, at which point it seems to become doable, if I could work out how to point to the appropriate file in the EFI boot option. How do I do this?

I encountered this problem on a new build for an Acer Travelmate laptop. One of the first items that came up on a Google query was this: Mick's IT Blogs: "The Computer Restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error" during sysprep. I followed the instructions to modify the registry entry - lo and behold, one live, working laptop again!

It's actually very easy - all you need to do is add your new users using a.CSV file (Microsoft even supply a master for you!), allocate the licences, and then log in as each user (or explain to them what they have to do), and in the Outlook options there is a section "See all your emails in one place". Enter the account details using the .embc.uk.com alias - not the domain email address - and Office 365 will go and find the email account, and synchronise the two mail boxes. Not just the inbox - it also synchronises the sent items, drafts and so on. I'm working on a simple guide at the moment, for one of my schools to be able to do it themselves. You don't have to wait for the domain name to be transferred - the MXR will ensure that existing mail is sent to the EMBC box, but Office 365 will keep synchronising and showing the mail coming in. And if something is deleted from the old box, it doesn't appear to be removed from Office... It's made my life a lot easier! Contacts are a different matter - I haven't found a way of automating that yet.

We have several RM branded Interactive whiteboards throughout the school - these are basically GTO-Calcomp devices rebranded. These boards are driven by Interwrite software, and we are using version 6.02.003. Most of the devices with shich we are having a problem are mains electricity powered, although one has had the control board replaced and is now USB powered. The issue we are having is that, if the PC is connected to the School LAN, it is impossible to draw a complete line more than a few centimetres without breaks appearing in it. Hence, it is not possible to write on the board; teachers and pupils cannot drag and drop items, because the pen stops working momentarily, and stops dragging the item; in general, they are pretty useless except as a means of projecting a video. This happens whether or not the cabling is connected to a switch at the remote end; the mere connection of a patch cable to the wall port is sufficient to disrupt the board. Once the PC is disconnected from the LAN cabling, the boards are fine. So far, we have tested the mains supply for interference; we have replaced the board, the control board on one device, the patch cable, the USB cable to the board, the LAN switch, and all the PC's. We have run a new cable from the PC to the switch, and run a shielded cable from the PC to the switch. The fault is only present in one part of the school (which seems to me to rule out any effect from the server), and is particularly noticeable on three devices - all of which are powered from the same electricity distribution board, which they share with the school CCTV system. The CCTV system also started displaying a fault at the same time, in that there is some form of interference on the display, which our service provider is unable to explain. The LAN cabling through the roof void is clipped to the roof trusses so that it runs adjacent to the CCTV cabling. There is one board in this section of the school that does not have this problem; it was cabled at a later date, and the cable follows a different route back to the switch. I have now exhausted all my ideas, and those fo a few other people (like the RM support function!). Has anybody encountered this problem elsewhere? TT-W