quietriot1983

Fully agree. MinecraftEDU was (is) great and works a treat for a LAN game of Minecraft, either vanilla or you can lock down what the kids can and can't do. To the OP, if it being locked down isn't an issue, and you have iPads, you could go for Minecraft PE?

As far as I can see, a shortcut to Google is easy to set up, it's what happens when the children find & click a result - you'd have to also have 'allowed' any websites they click in advance.

It's not though,is it? I can't use the browser to go to google, type in a search query and read on a site that comes up in the results.

Am I right in thinking (after messing with this for a while) that you can't push a profile to an iDevice unless it is 'supervised' and the only way to get it 'supervised' is to use the Apple Configurator, which is only available on OSX?

We've got 15 of these and I've found them to be rubbish. Everything has to be pre-planned and authenticated, so for example you can't let your kids 'loose' researching via google. They rarely seem to check in with the server, so updating whats on them can take several attempts, and when using Education City, they are painfully slow, sometimes don't load, don't play...don't bother!

Not school-related, but hoping you can help. I've got a client who wants a very basic system, supply a card to a member, containing name and last date paid info. Then, upon swiping, said information is displayed on the monitor. No more features than that required. I've never dealt with any of these things before, can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks

When I run this, I get an "Expected Identifier" error, any ideas?

Just wondering- how many of you provide a laptop per teacher, and what do you do if and when you have a part time/PPA style teacher. Currently being told that anyone using their 'home' laptop is putting us on dangerous ground in terms of having personal effects and/or sensitive data on there.

Thanks for all the replies. An added obstacle, that I'm sure you all face too, is that the secretary is *always* on her machine (which is the SIMS server). Not too fussed about things carrying forward other than the data, as it is, no-one really has access other than the secretary, so it might be overdue a clean out of all the old LEA accounts etc etc.

I have exhausted options for getting hold of the sa password. LA are no help as we are a 'black sheep' school who opted out of RM's managed service, so they try to make it as difficult as possible for us.

Hmm. Might be a no-go then. I did hear somewhere that you could install SQL and set up new sa/admin accounts before copying and pasting the .mdf and .ldf files across...not sure how legit that is though.

Currently we use SIMS only in the office, and the new head wants it on her laptop, and she wants the teachers to use attendance instead of paper registers. Trouble is, I've inherited this system from the LA, and as such don't have the sa password. This means when we back up, I've had to script it to stop the SIMS services, copy the relevant folders/files and then restart the services...not ideal! Also, this means I can't use dbattach to transfer the entire database to a new office machine (seeing as they are stopping XP support). So my question is, what is involved in starting a new SIMS environment from scratch? As if it's all brand new?

Sorry to bump an age old thread, but I need to have my sa password to migrate the database to a new machine, inherited the system so no idea what it is. I tried the above method and I get an error saying password change failed because either the account does not exist or I do not have permission. I'm logged onto the machine as administrator. Any ideas?

Well, as soon as I unplugged the old server, EVERYTHING disappeared. DHCP, AD..everything. Ended up cloning, repairing then upgrading. Much easier.

I've (successfully?!) moved DHCP to the new DC, and disabled it on the old one...time for a brew.

At what point should I export DHCP from the old server and move it to the new one? Before I transfer FSMO roles, or after?

Ok, I'll do it your way! Now I'm left with a server called 'newgateway'..oops! Anyway, we're days from that point yet, Robocopy is currently doing its thing. EDIT: Seems some people have success: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/how-do-you-do/51222-rename-dc.html

I'm only looking at renaming as I have loads of teacher laptops that are standalone, and they have numerous folders and bits and bobs all shortcutted using the server name (we only have one), so rather than renew all those, and reinstall printers etc, I was hoping to use the same name. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794951%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

Ok, So far I have: Run adprep /domainprep and /forestprep on the old server. Done a system state backup of the old server (to a different location) Joined the domain with the new server Run dcpromo on the new server. I'm about to set up robocopy to bring across the data from the old Ddrive. I'm hoping at the end of everything, I can use netdom to rename the new server.

If the new server doesn't atleast end up with the same name, half the shortcuts, home areas etc won't work.

Bought a new server and installed Server 2008 on it...thing is, I don't know what to do next. I have a 2003 server as the DC currently, it provides DHCP, and has a separate drive in it with shares on, kids work etc. What's the best method to bring all the stuff from the old server over to the new one, with minimal downtime and fuss? Ideally the new server will just be called the same as the old one, then all the shortcuts around the school will still work. Thanks!

Try Lanway

We don't have a VLE, as I know none of the teachers would use it. We paid for Honeycomb for 2 years, and I tasked the most ICT-savvy teacher with using it and reporting back as to how useful it was etc....he never once logged on.

Vanilla here in Salford. I was heavily involved in the 'opt-out' process, saving my own job as we never entered into any of RM's services. From all I hear locally, we are envied, because RM area nightmare. We have 250 kids, 1 2003 server, 100clients. I'm full time so have done a lot of the leg-work. Everything runs swimmingly now, with the majority of my time being taken up by teachers who can't/won't learn to do the simplest of things.

My primary is just not bothering with a VLE/parental engagement. It is just not viable in terms of cost and time spent setting it up. For homework and such like, the children just email it to their teachers if need be at the moment, and that seems to work just fine. As far as PE goes, there is really no need for a parent to have to log on and check that their child is in a lesson, they don't move around rooms too much, there is very little scope for primary kids to play truant and/or disappear during the day. IMO, forcing primaries to invest in this is another waste of time, money and effort.