Sheridan

We have capped SQL Server at 54 GB out of the 64Gb Ram available, but it just grabs all of it on boot anyway!

I suspected as much - when I first moved SIMS to the VM (from a crusty old physical server) there was barely any performance gain, now two years later the complaints are starting!

We seem to be getting complaints our SIMS is 'slow' - more recently. Its running on a VM with 16 Cores and 64Gb am (for 1600 students) so isn't exactly a slug I've looked and the CPU never seems to max out at more than 70% - normally running at 10-30% - the RAM is hogged by SQL server anyway, but its a dedicated VM so only runs SIMS I've shrunk the database and its around 12GB now, but we're still getting complaints about certain things being slow (census etc!) I've noticed a lot of people default to the Student teacher view, which shows a load of graphs, which obviously compile as you login. Apart from that I'm not sure if theres anything I can do to speed things up? I'd be interested to hear if anyone's had similar complaints, and if they found a reason/solution?

Could be, but it seems like a very simple program, it only seems to install into ProgramFiles. Before I tried the portable version I copied a previous install to a network folder and ran it from there and it worked ok, so it doesn’t seem to change registry settings, or put files anywhere else!

Hmm I’m not sure it’s the location of the msi as it’s in the same folder as all of the other msi files we deploy, which is a share that computer accounts have access to. We’ve deployed msi packages this way for years, just this little blighter won’t work!

It’s in the computer startup scripts, but it mustn’t even start the msi as the log is empty, not even a startup message. Manual install is running the same batch file from file explorer, using run as administrator. Testing the portable version has had good results though, so I will probably just use that now as it does seem specific to this application. I suppose I could try building my own msi and trying that as well.

Nice one, I hadn't even seen there was a portable version - giving that a try now.

Other MSI's have worked - just checked and we rolled out a package to W10 PCs in Easter this year. As for the manual install it doesn't bring up any prompts at all - repackaging it might be an option. Shame there isn't a portable version.

Its a pain - manually install using a batch file or running the MSI directly and you're fine. Using the msi with GPO just generates errors, and trying to install with a script weirdly does nothing for me, yet has worked for @Mako - although I'm using version 6 instead of 5 Our maths department say the web version is missing the bit they need - so its on the build list for the next image. Its been a while since I pushed an MSI out, so I'm assuming the bulk of the problems will be W10 related.

I've tried the script method as well - that logs no errors in the event viewer, but the application doesn't install. I directed the msiexec to output a log file as well, but that just gets created as a empty file! Its literally empty so it looks like the msiexec command hasn't even started

I'm trying to push out an msi (Geogebra) across our W10 stations, and have the MSI provided - which works fine when run manually When applied using GPO though, the client PCs all log the following: - The assignment of application GeoGebra Classic from policy GeoGebra 6 failed. The error was : %%1274 - The removal of the assignment of application GeoGebra Classic from policy GeoGebra 6 failed. The error was : %%2 - Failed to apply changes to software installation settings. The installation of software deployed through Group Policy for this user has been delayed until the next logon because the changes must be applied before the user logon. The error was : %%1274 - The Group Policy Client Side Extension Software Installation was unable to apply one or more settings because the changes must be processed before system startup or user logon. The system will wait for Group Policy processing to finish completely before the next startup or logon for this user, and this may result in slow startup and boot performance. Now this is a Computer only policy, with the Software Installation pointing to the MSI, which is accessible on the network to all domain joined PCs. They have been rebooted umpteen times as well! Is this just a dodgy msi, manually installing is an option but a complete pain.

It seems our staff have found a cupboard of microbits and now want to use them again - when we set them up a couple of years ago we allowed access to them from our VirtualBox VMs, which we also use for a development evironment Problem is virtualbox in Windows 10 doesn't allow drag and drop anymore - it used to, but nothing we've tried (and we've been trying for months) gets rid of that annoying 'no entry' icon when you try and drag a file into the VM - and this is exactly what they need to do to drop a file onto the microbits. I did consider allowing USB for the microbits directly through the PC - which isn't really a solution as whitelisting the Class ID for the microbits is effectively allowing all USB removeable storage, which we don't want to allow - I've checked and the GUID for a microbit is the same as a Kingston USB pen, and a Sandisk and so on! So, with our VMs broken I've looking for an alternative route, has anyone else been using the microbits sucessfully? I have to admit I'd forgotten we had them, as they'd been unused since the first flurry of activity a couple of years ago!

I'm a bit stuck here - I can't activate our LTSC2019 clients with ADBA because it just doesn't work. The solution seems to be creating a Server 2019 server and adding it in from there, but Server 2019 isn't on my VLSC. Microsoft told me it had been pulled due to the dodgy 1809 update but surely it should be back on now? I only need to fire up a 2019 VM to get the new LTSC 2019 clients to activate but its not going well!

It seems that since W10 (and Server 2016 as they're the same thing) MS don't test so much anymore - the fact they've pulled two updates this year suggests this is their new approach. On my failing LTSC 2019 client I can see the KMS keys using slmgr /ao-list and the DNS query shows both my newer ADBA server and the older KMS server as contactable - so it does look like I'm waiting for MS to sort out this bug.

I managed to get the LTSC 2019 KMS key on (after updates had completed on a 2016 server!) but my test 2019 LTSC box fails activation with the error 0xc004f074. I assume this means either the key is wrong, or its just W10 being W10....

Hmm - after all the updates etc I still get an error adding KMS keys for LTSC 2019 and Server 2019 "The Software Licensing Service reported that the product key is invalid” Error: 0xC004F050" I can't find a specific mention but it looks like you can't do this on Server 2012 Std (maybe R2 would work) so it looks like a new 2019 Server and ADBA is the next step.

Its got the latest updates, but its just Server 2012 Std, so I think only R2 upwards is supported. Looks like I need to rebuild KMS on a newer server, and I suppose at this point AD is the better option

I'm having a similar issue but I can't get the KMS key installed: Its shows in VLSC as 'Windows Srv 2019 DataCtr/Std KMS' but when I try and add it using slmgr it says its an invalid key? I also now have a 'Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 KMS' key but that won't add either. Do I need a different key, I seem to remember there is also a KMS host key but I can't see that in my VLSC?

Just setting up a SCCM server on 2016, and realised IIS hasn't installed, but when trying to add ANY role or feature now I get the error: "The WS-Management service cannot process the request. The service is configured to not accept any remote shell requests" Now, I managed to add IIS using powershell, but I'm not sure that I want to continue with this build if its borked. MS have nothing to offer on the error apart from the utterly useless sfc /scannow option!

Yeah I'm looking to use SCCM to manage defender, I was still stuck in the Windows 7 mentality where it was a paid for option (Security Essentials IIRC?)

Free! Blimey I really should have looked into this earlier! I've used defender at home for a while and its been fine - hence the reason I'm looking into it.

I take it having an OVS-EES agreement doesn't include Defender licensing? Never really looked into it until very recently, a few local primaries are also considering it.

I'm considering ditching sophos for Defender, but haven't tried it with SCCM, just local clients so I'm not sure how well it will work. I think it definitely the next step for us though.

Anyone got an idea when the updated 1809 admx templates will be available, I can only find 1803?

I used to use machine policies to deploy printers with W7 and it worked reliably but I gave up with 10, maybe I’ll deploy them with every method to increase my chances of success!