mattpant

Hi All, I've got a couple of Dell Inspiron 5520 (15R) machines that for varies reasons I need to downgrade to Windows XP Pro for the short term. Whilst I know the machines are not officially supported to run Windows XP, I have managed to get my hands on most of the drivers and they work. I'm struggling on a couple and hope somebody is able to point me in the direction of a known working driver. The audio is showing as HD Audio - and the device ID is showing as HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_14F1&DEV_506E&SUBSYS_10280569&REV_1000, I believe it installs as part of the Intel Drivers, but I can't get it to work, other references show it as Conexant HS audio, but again can't find a working one. Also, there is a device showing with ID - USB\Vid_8087&Pid_07da&Rev_7869, possibly webcam?? And the Network Card (LAN) seems to have installed but won't work, and get yellow !! next to it, it shows up as Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller - The WiFi drivers work ok. Any help tracking down working XP drivers would be much appreciated. Many Thanks, Matt

I'm STILL waiting to hear anything back!!! I'd have thought I'd have heard something by now :-(

Thanks, I kinda though that due to the recent Sims update that the support desk would be bombarded with issues and would be taking longer to respond! Will keep you posted!

A little update, but nothing too exciting!! This job was logged with the Capita Service desk by our LEA last Thursday, we've been given a case reference number but so far have heard NOTHING back! I don't know how long we should be waiting for some kind of response to the issue from their support teams? Cheers Matt

Thanks Rawns for the input you've given me, once we get to the bottom of the issue I will be sure to keep you updated! Many Thanks Matt

We are using the latest version of Solus3 - 3.5.20 I think it is?!? Thanks

Yes, there's nothing in either the \Deployments or the \Deployments\Packages folder with todays date stamp on with the machines that are not showing the "Successfully finished dowloading update", the machines that are showing this message do have files in those folders with todays date stamp. Sorry, I put the ...All Users\Capita\Solus3\Deployments path in, as some of the machines are Windows XP and use a different path! Cheers Matt

I've just looked in a few of the machines that is not showing the message under agents, and there is nothing with todays date stamp under the ...Capita\Solus3\Packages folder so it doesn't look like it has. I have raised the issue with our local LEA, who have logged it with Capita, so hopefully we will find the answer soon! Thanks for your help! Matt

Yes, Connect.ini and FMSConnect.ini was already in place, it was just the SIMS.ini that was not there, But it didn't appear to actually make any difference it not being there when deploying a new workstations! Check Agent Status get's a "good" reply... SIMS Workstation Group?? Whats that?? Or do you simply mean when you go into define which computers are set to have SIMS installed on them from Update Enviroment? If so, yes they are. Thanks Matt

Thanks Rawns, I've put those details in... does anybody have any idea why only 15 computers out of the 103 in Solus3 are showing up as "Successfully finished downloading the update"? None of the other machines have changed all day? Is there any kind of report that can be run to show which machines have received the updates files, as the message in the Solus3 Agent windows vanishes after some time. Thanks, Matt

I'm having the same issue, I'm trying to use the "Auto Download to Agents" feature of Solus3 to send out all the setup/update files to clients prior to "Deploying" it. I can see about 15 computers (out of 103) that show up saying "Successfully finished dowloading update" but the remainder that are online don't appear to have done anything. My time frame is set as 09:00 - 17:00. I can't seem to find a report to show if machines have downloaded the updates files, nor does anything appear to show up in the Solus 3 agent window to suggest that there is files been download waiting for deployment. Does anybody know where on the actual client computer these updates files "sit" waiting for deployement? I've looked in Program Files\Solus3 and the Sims.net folders. Also, I read in a posting above about making sure that the Default SIMS.INI infomation is setup within the Solus3 Deployment Serivce Workstation settings for this to work. Does anybody know what the minimum is needed to put into a text file and save it as SIMS.INI should be, I know your not suppose to copy it from another computer as the SIMS.ini file is created specifically for settings on that computer, and some sims.ini files on workstations seem to be quite "bloated"! Thanks Matt

Hi, I've spent some time searching the different forums for this, and all I've found is somebody asking the same thing on the Office 365 Forum with a reply to say to ask on Microsoft ADFS forum, then the same posting on the ADFS Forum saying to ask on the Office 365 Forum!! So I'm going to give it a shot on here! I have got Office 365 Setup with an ADFS server in place to allow authentication. The authentication method is a Form based authentication screen, rather then the Windows login box. When a user signs out of Office 365 - it takes them back to the https://login.microsoftonline.com sign in page rather then our own ADFS Sign In page. Does anybody know if there is a file that we can edit in the ADFS IIS setup that we can set to redirect back to a specific URL on sign out rather than going back to the https://login.microsoftonline.com page? Many Thanks Matt

Hi All, I know this question has come up numerous times over the years and has always had a mixture of answers. In short, is it possible to simply clone a Windows 7 machine (or Windows 8) using something like Clonezilla and simply restore it on a suite of machines rather then using the WDS setup? I believe Windows 7 is different in terms of cloning then XP and the Sysprep is different. Do I need to run the Windows 7 version of Sysprep, I heard that you don't need to do this as Windows 7 will automatically regenerate a new SID, I would just need to change the Systems Name. Can anybody confirm this for me? Thanks Matt

After having a good old play around this afternoon and lots of internet searches I've managed to take bits from different postings and I have managed to find a way to get this working!! Yipeeee

Hi All, Does anybody know if the following is possible, I've had a good hunt around and whilst I can't see anything, I'm sure that is soemthing that can be done in the backend that will probably allow this, using the Synchronization Service Manager (MIISCLIENT). We have Office 365 setup which syncs to our local AD using Dirsync, this all works fine. Our staff are setup in AD with the following attributes (for example), FirstName = Joe - LastName = Bloggs - DisplayName Mr J. Bloggs. Which for in school is what I want, so when staff have there computers in use, the pupils see on the screen Mr J. Bloggs rather then Joe Bloggs. When this syncs with Office 365, It pulls over, FirstName = Joe - LastName = Bloggs - DisplayName Mr J. Bloggs - So now when any e-mails are sent it shows them as coming from Mr J. Bloggs, but here I would rather it show up as Joe Bloggs. So what I want to know is can I change any of the backend settings to say Exchange Display name is made up from FirstName and LastName Attributes rather then the DisplayName attribute?? If not, is there a PowerShell command that I can run that will set the Display Names based on FirstName and LastNames? Thanks Matt

Thanks Andrew, Does the trolley come with all 16 Shelves or are some missing? The photo only seems to show 9 shelves? Thanks Matt

Hi, I know you say make a reasonable offer, What kind of price range were you hoping to get for the trolley? I'm interested if you still have it!

I'm so glad we got rid of this software from our network a few years ago!! Funny enough they told us we were the only customers getting the problem! Although the forums (at the time) didn't suggest that! I did think they may have loved things some 3years on, and trialed the software on 1 machine, and guess what... It started locking up and freezing as soon as it was installed! The trail didn't last very long for us!!

Thanks... I understand about the sysprep/cloning etc and having 100's of computers with the same name etc (i had this issue when i first olled out Sophos and loned the workstations!) but this wasn't the issue this time... Hopefully they will get it sorted soon!

This is rubbish!! And should be well documented within the administrators guides but I can see nothing! This is quite a common task renaming workstations! So we now have to:- 1 - Remember to remove the agent before changing the name (or if we forget go and do a manual uninstall of the agent) 2 - Remove the old computer name from the SOLUS 3 UI 3 - Go into Update Enviroment within SOLUS3 and find the same computer with the new name 4 - Re-install the agent back onto the machine we have just removed it from, now with the new name 5 - Change settings in both the config and the solus3.agent table This is madness... We use SOPHOS here for our Anti-Virus, this is also deployed from a console similar to SOLOS3.... I don't seem to get any issues with the Sophos install if I rename these machines, and if I look back in the Sophos Management Suite, the new computer names is visable and the old name is gone... shorly something similar can be achieved by Capita?

Hi Solus 3 Fans!! Does anybody know how Solus 3 deals with Computer name changes?? Since returning to school I've had to change a number of computer names which already have the agent installed on, for example "laptop-head" to "laptop-deputy" Prior to Solus 3, this wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to SIMS, but now I'm noticing that if I load up Solus 3 UI, the old name still appears, if I go in and click update environment nd browse computers, I can see the new name (which in effect is the same machine) I then get a message telling me that an agent is already installed... If I try an uninstall from the interface for that machine name, it won't work, as it can no longer find that machine on the network, so I then have to visit the machine to uninstall the agent manually only to then go back on the Solus 3 UI to re-install the agent again! Surely I shouldn't have to do all this? Can't the Solus 3 detect the name changed from the GUID?? Hopefully this is a "feature" which is being addressed?? Thanks, Matt

Our staff hate the fact they can no longer access Nova T4 for timetables for students and staff, Getting Timetables up was so much quicker! Nova could just be left running all day on the task bar! That can't be done with Sims.net when your in all kinds of different screens all day long!

Hi All, I'm looking at switching our e-mail system during the summer, and have been holding from going to Google Apps route knowing that Office 365 was just around the corner! I have setup an account for our school (Just waiting on the DNS / Domain Verify to kick in) A quick question, does anybody know if the system allows an Admin / Senior Leadership Team to easily access a pupils mailbox on the free A2 package? Is there anything in place to allow for such monitoring of accounts that are used for pupils? Many Thanks Matt

Hello "MYK-IT" I am currently in the process of trying to setup exactly what you have got setup using Ruckus and Smoothwall... do you have any kind of step by step idiots guide on how I do it? I have 2 NICs, one on a 172.16.x.x range (Main School Network) and another on 10.0.0.x range, which is what I've setup for Guest WiFi... I've setup a DHCP server on the Smoothwall box to dish out IP's on the Guest WiFi interface and this seems to be working... Our internet feed is via LEA which is on a 172.16 address... how do I setup the zone bridge so a wifi user can get a 10.0.0.x address, authenticate to the Smoothwall with their Active Directory logins (on 172. side) and still get internet access? I'm probably missing something very obvious but can't be sure! Thanks Matt

I have a few of the Zoostorm computers in our reception area and they have been absoultey fine, and are great value for money, however what I would say is the fan on the Power Supplys are rather noisy and therefore if you are thinking of kitting out an IT Suite with a large number of them then it could be an issue with all the extra noise. Matt