Bev

I have just taken delivery of 33 PCs with Windows 7 Home Edition. I've also purchased a Volume Licensing Agreement for Windows 7 professional and Office 2010 and need to upgrade them so I can connect them to the domain. I can see in VLSC that there are Mac and KMS keys. And I think I understand that I can use the MAC key 50 times, but the KMS key is unlimited? We have paid for 20 full time members of staff, but we have more than 50 pcs that I was planning on eventually upgrading, so I take it that means I need to use the KMS. I've searched for instructions and found these A step by step guide on configuring and setting up KMS - Techieshelp.com and How to configure a KMS server in Windows Server 2008 R2 | ivan's blog Which both suggest I need to set up a KMS server on my Windows 2008 server? And I need to use a Server 2008 key? But I have only got keys for Windows 7/8 and Office 2007/2010/2013, I don't have a KMS key for Server 2008. I was planning on building one machine, and then using Ghost to replicate. I don't know if this affects my process at all?

I think there is something that is blocked on our school network. I've brought a few of them home, power-washed them, reconnected to enterprise, and then taken then back to school and they seem to be working fine. I'm not sure if there is a site or port they need access to for the initial registration process, but fingers crossed, if I rebuild them all and reregister them out of school, then we might have success.

I had to factory reset every one before the summer to get them to connect to the enterprise. the thought of having to factory reset them all again doesn't fill me with joy, but I suspect that will be the answer. Re that review. I agree with what it says, but for what we need, they should be fine. We just need internet access, and Google Docs, and that's exactly what they are designed to do. When they work, I think they are great, but if I have to go into class each time htey are used, and connect them to the network, and power-wash them etc, then they are of no use to me.

Anyone else having problems with Chromebooks. I bought 32 at the end of last year. We spent 3 or 4 days getting them all connected to the enterprise, logging in etc, and had them all working. Come back after the 6 weeks, and none of them are working now. They have a variety of problems, not connecting to Wi-fi, not recognising passwords, and then a strange error "Login has been cancelled because some of the device settings have been corrupted." I am at the absolute end of my tether with them, and ready to throw them out. All other reviews I've read seem to say they are fabulous and 'just work', Am I really the only person struggling ?

With a class set, each ipad doesn't have an individual user with an AppleId and Password, and I don't want to share the school's AppleId details with the students. We have now purchased a cart (lock n sync, very swish looking), and I'm working on getting the iPads all set up initially, and then hopefully we should be all setup.

I thought you just needed the free Apple Configurator tool?

I haven't started printing, but am going to order an Airprint/Chrome Print printer very shortly. I am hoping that will eliminate any issues with printing.

It won't be used as a server, it's simply going to be my workstation, and used to sync ipads. If I need to do something to the server, I log into it directly, but I don't use if for everyday work. it seems a waste to buy a machine that will sit untouched 90% f the time, and just use it occasionally for iPad syncing.

Would a Mac Mini be powerful enough to cope with Photoshop, and multiple Office & Browser windows open at once? I do tend to have 10 - 20 things on the go at once....

My current machine is standalone anyway, so not joining to the domain isn't an issue. The more I think about it, it's the most sensible way forward. I can't bring myself to buy a Mac that just sits there and gets used periodically for syncing and nothing else. I tend to access the server directly (it's in my office), so that's not an issue. I do need to remote into SIMS so as long as Citrix will work, we are onto a winner

We are rolling out ipads, so it looks like we're going to need to buy a Mac to look after the sync'ing side of things. At the same time, I am in need of a new machine for my office. I'm ICT Technician and general dogsbody (but not a teacher) I'm thinking it makes sense for me to use a Mac Mini as my machine, rather than buying a machine that will simply be used for sync'ing. I would need to access Windows Shared drives, Office (Which I know can be installed), and use Citrix to access SIMS. Is there any reason this wouldn't work? I use a macbook at home, so I'm quite comfortable with OSX but not so sure about using one in a predominantly windows environment.

So, I need to buy a Mac? Does it have to be a server? Would a Mac Mini do?

All our staff are getting ipads. they are sat in nice shiny boxes under my desk at the moment. I've got lightspeed on the students ipads, but not sure if it's offering me anything more than Meraki, so may/may not increase it to cover the staff ones. The plan is for each iPad to be personal to a staff member, but ultimately belong to school. They are to have school email on them, and also be linked to the school calendar. (We use a corporate gmail) We will buy some apps for all the staff (if I can ever get a VPP agreement set up). My first question: Do I put them all on the school's Apple-Id, or set up an Apple-ID for their school email address, or let each staff member create their own personal apple-id? I was leaning towards setting up AppleIds for the school email address, but I can't set them up without a credit card. 2nd Question: How on earth do you get the Volume Purchasing Agreement set up? I've filled in the online form a number of times, I get one initial email and then nothing.

Problem I'm havnig with Meraki (and I think it's the same with all of them), is that when you push out an App, a box pops up on the ipad and the Apple Id Password has to be entered. I assume if we did wired-syncing via a cart, that wouldn't happen?

We don't have any restrictions, although at the moment it is mainly the students that are using it.

I'm in the UK. Our LEA is encouraging it's use.

We also use it extensively. Within a few years, I expect it to completely replace Office in school. It's collaborative and work can move easily between home and school. It also works on many devices.

Yes, I am using Lightspeed, and I've got the website all sorted and my ipads are all connected to it, but the kids can just remove the profile as the ipads aren't in 'supervised mode' Apparantly, in order to set up the ipads correctly to work with lightspeed, you have to 'enable supervised mode' on them, and you need to use Apple Configurator to do that.

We've got 12 ipads, and we've bought Lightspeed to manage them. All looks good, except the first instrucion on the lightspeed deployment guide is to use 'Apple Configurator' to enable supervision. unfortunately, we don't have a new mac in school. There is one older macbook, but Apple Configurator requires OSX lion, and the macbook is too old for Lion. Is it really not possible to manage these iPads without buying a new mac?

We are a middle school, so we do 2 years of KS2, and they do Y9 in a high school. We tend to work from FFTD estimates for KS3, but they aren't always high enough. I have been told we should be looking for 12 points of progress in KS3, which is 2 whole levels. Where do you find the sliding percentages, or is that something you've calculated. It makes sense to me that the lower levels will make less progress, but I've never seen that anywhere, the assumption seems to be everyone should make 12 points, regardless of ability which is unrealistic.

Thanks, I've managed to get a manual emailed from Ranger

I am trying to set up our first W7 machine. We use Ranger. I've set up Ranger for Vista/W7 and when I log in I get an error. Windows cannot locate the server copy of your roaming profile and is attempting to log you on with your local profile. Changes to the profile will not be copied to the server when you log off. This error may be caused by network problems or insufficient security rights. DETAIL - Access is denied. I am always getting the start menu, sometimes the desktop icons, and never the wallpaper. I can't find anywhere that tells me what folder is being denied access. I've worked out that if I give my test user the 'Domain Admins' group then everything works fine, so it's definitely a permissions problem, but since i'd rather not give every child Domain Admin rights, I need to find out which folder neesd the security changing. Ranger support seems to be currently non-existant, and i can't even get onto RangerSuite to download a manual, so I'm hoping someone can help.

It's not very expensive, it's £1 per student for the first 200, and then 50p per student after that.

I'm still looking for the holy grail to ease my end of year reporting nightmares (which will start again after Easter) I've been looking at this, and it does tick most boxes, but I've got a niggling doubt about it. I just wondered if anyone had any experiences, good or bad, to share.

I do all my end of year reports in SIMS. What are you looking for? Are you wanting to see a printed report, or the setup?