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We currently have some general use kiosks setup to use one generic domain account (standard user). We are looking at converting these to thin clients using RDS VDI hosted on Hyper-V. Is there some method for using generic user accounts or is this just not supported? Anyone else have any good setup ideas for this particular scenario?

You can put those reg keys into a policy using preferences.

In the past, we would use the Windows Easy Transfer wizard to backup a user's data and profile settings. We could save the single file to a network share or external media and then simply run the file on their new machine. This worked well as it always brought over all their data and most, if not all, of their program settings. It even allowed us to choose which users to backup and again on the new machine, which users to restore. Since moving to Windows 8 and now beginning to rollout Windows 8.1, we have noticed that Windows Easy Transfer wizard is no longer an option. We have looked into using the latest version of USMT but this is a little more work and doesn't have the desired functionality. When moving a user from Windows 7 or Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 using USMT 5 (with the hotfix for Office 2013), it only moves their data and some settings for Office. There is the option to create custom XML files (or modify the default migapp.xml) but the amount of work required to figure out all the paths and locations where all the software we use stores the settings seems overly complicated. Anyone performing user profile migrations that has a better solution? Any help or ideas would be most appreciated. Thanks!

We saw that on our first Windows 8 deployments in a lab environment last summer. It only occurred when using roaming profiles, even if we blew away the old Windows 7 ones and started fresh on Windows 8 (building new read-only roaming profiles).

I've noticed quite a few of our Dell laptops and desktops have newer BIOS/Firmware updates that specifically address network connectivity issues with Windows 8.1. You might try checking your manufacturer for a newer one.

Been running Windows 8.1 on my workstation since the Preview was released (have since redone my station with RTM). I really like it as do most of my coworkers. Now that we have upgraded our KMS server we are actually deploying Windows 8.1 to some staff and faculty now and they are really liking it too.

Yep, I had a new SSD I wanted to put in my workstation so I used that as an opportunity to migrate to 8.1 Preview. Since I keep all my files on a network share I only had to reinstall the new versions of Windows ADK and RSAT for 8.1 Preview. So far I am really impressed. I have been running Windows 8 since last summer though at work and home (and on my Surface) so I am quite fond of what Microsoft has been doing lately. We are in the process of rolling out Windows 8 and Office 2013 in our organization and I will be pushing to get 8.1 approved as soon as it is available.

I have noticed two things. 1) Modern apps won't launch if the UAC is disabled 2) Best not to mess with the default modern apps before sysprepping

For anyone that was curious. I was trying to publish 32bit IE but in doing so, the x86 path to IE was not able to be published to non-admins. Using the 64bit Program Files path to IE allows IE to be published to non-admins. It also appears to default to 32bit IE in doing so since I am using 32bit Java plugin and everything is working. I am getting a 10 second hesitation before IE loads a site that uses the Java plugin though. Anyone have any performance tuning advise? Anyone familiar with this?

I setup a test server using Windows Server 2012. The main focus was installing Java and enabling the JRE plugin in Internet Explorer (we have an internal site that relies on JRE and we would like to remove java from our standard deployment). This worked perfect the first time I tried it using domain admin credentials. When I attempt to use a regular user account (that has access to the collection) it simply doesn't work. I have scoured the Event Log but have not found anything relevant. In searching online I have stumbled across a handful of other people mentioning the same trouble. All other apps that I have published in the same collection run fine it is only IE. Anyone have any experience with this?

Hello all, I am looking into the possibility of offering online "distance learning" programming courses. Anyone here have experience offering remote student access to Microsoft Visual Studio? I was looking to see if there was a special version for just such a purpose but it doesn't appear that there is. I have not had to ever really deal with CALs, but suspect that this project could lead me to.

Right click on IE9 (up at the toolbar area) and click "show tabs on a seperate row". IE9 has been running great on all of our systems. Integrated it into our new Windows 7 SP1 universal image. We did make sure to upgrade our Adobe Flash job at the same time...

Some of the sites require IE. I had thought of another way to possibly achieve this. By setting IE as the "custom user interface" but without the "-k" switch. And then manually resize the IE window to fill the screen. I was able to prevent users from closing IE or opening files from within IE by using group policy. The only issue is they are still able to minimize the window. I tried looking for something in policy and in the IEAK but had no luck. Anyone no how to prevent access to the minimize button? or better yet, how to hide it completely?

We are looking to create internet explorer-only kiosks, but the problem with using the kiosk switch with iexplore.exe is that it doesn't show the address bar and search box at the top. We are not limiting users of these systems to just one site so they need the search box and address bar to navigate. Anyone have any ideas on how to achieve this? Thanks!

We tried to use Sophos for 3 years. We finally just ditched them in favor of Microsoft Forefront. We have been much happier with Forefront, also, we only had to pay $15 for the management console (our campus agreement covered all the client licenses)!

Has anyone successfully been able to create and deploy desktop gadgets? We are looking at custom Windows 7 gadgets for disseminating information to computer labs and possibly staff machines. Or allowing them to "opt in" and choose to add certain gadgets or not (ex. college newspaper headlines gadget). If anyone has any handy tips or insight into this. Any and all information welcome.

I hadn't thought of the whole "naughty" pics results from the various search engines. In higher education its really a matter of treating people as responsible adults and holding them accountable when they are caught not living up to their end of that agreement. We didn't see too many malware calls while on XP, but they are almost completely nonexistent since migrating to Windows 7. Still, I always try to minimize the potential contact the users may have with malware or phishing sites and it seems like Bing is the way to go. Also, Microsoft seems to be reaching out to educators in a way I never saw from Google or any other search engine. Bing Education Bing Teacher Guide

lol. No linux here. I'll take Bing or Google w/ malware anyday.

Barracuda Networks - Worldwide leader in email and Web security Based upon the preceding article and my own research I have been contemplating switching over the default search for my labs to Bing. I was just curious if anyone else has switched?

Hello everyone, I have a network install point for Acrobat Pro 8.1 and there have been some issues reported relating to PDF cross-functionality with Office 2007 (specifically forms). So I first made sure that our WSUS server had approved all the updates for Office 07 (which they were). So then I looked into updates for AcroPro and noticed not only the 8.1.1, but the very recent 8.1.2. I decided to create a fresh install point for Acrobat, then ran "msiexec /a acropro.msi /update 81.msp;811.msp;812.msp" It updates fine from 8.0 to 8.1 and then from 8.1 to 8.1.1, but towards the end of the 8.1.2 update, it fails with the following error: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15744192@N00/2264548111/ If anyone has seen this or any pointers at all, they would be most welcome. Thank you!