Psymon

Where are the benefits in this? We are all "Educational IT Professionals", we all deal with the same problems, the only difference being the BSF and RM Software in most cases.

Working a peach with the first-run deployment. Did a removal from Group Policy with the "Allow users to continue using, but prevent further installation" to keep the ones that were working alive, then added a Start /w "\\Server-Name\Share\Office12\setup.exe" With the XML in the root of Office12 it picks it up fine, installs everything i have asked of it etc... and will even use the Updates folder as its a launched install. Just need to wipe the staff laptops that have the problem and its happy days. Hope the next version of office is a bit more feasable to deploy with GP, then it can uninstall 07 and deploy properly. Si

We had this problem earlier last year. We could VPN into our network fine from an XP client, with identical settings and a vista client it wouldnt work. Even tested it from work to make sure (RDP to home, VPN back in ) Was a no-go for some reason. Didnt have time to sit and solve as we had a xp lappy that was feasable for the job.

Been using them since the start of this academic year, we build the start menu, delete shortcuts on desktops from programs like Encarta / Adobe and even map the drives and install printers with them. Seems pretty smooth so far. As for the problem you are facing, we deploy all shortcuts on a per-user basis. I guess the computer way would work providing you are putting the shortcut in the local all users-desktop folder?

I dont think tou will be able to map drives using the Group Policy extensions unless you are running vista then (which i am, and the GP's work). This also applies to the registry, shortcuts etc... options under preferences. edit - it sais XP Professional, im not sure now :S Edi2 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E60B5C8F-D7DC-4B27-A261-247CE3F6C4F8&displaylang=en Make sure you have that installed. Should map drives, shortcuts etc..

Im the first vista then Vista all through with Office 2007, 2 Server 2008's running, one as a DC.

For the "Drive Maps" in GP you have Group Policy Client Side Extensions installed?

165 HP PC's, 6 HP Servers, 3 HP Blade Servers in a HPC300 Bladesystem, 15 HP Procurve Switches, 24 HP Laser Printers. All our laptops are Acer tho HP is the way. Our most recent PC's were 21 DC5800's bundled with a 22" Widescreen (Intel Core2Duo 3Ghz, 4Gb RAM, Gigabit Ethernet) and we got £3,150 cashback on them.

Yea, it is a wierd one as it has deployed perfectly on 95% of PC's, and now its going funny. Tempted to remove from GP with the "Dont remove from exsisting computers" option, and re-deploy via first-run script. Might even be able to use the OCT and SP1 update in the updates folder as well then, and manage the settings with GP. Ill let you know how it goes.

Ok, during the summer we deployed Vista Business (32 and 64) and Office 2007. 95% worked fine, then the final few laptops and PC's went a bit wierd. Made a config.xml which works a peach when doing an install from setup.exe or EnterpriseWW.msi when run manually.

Under the new schools agreement MS have remodeled there home-use policy. You cant give the disc out any more, to anyone, and instead they have provided a "Home Use Program" which you register to your schools email domain, and provide them with an access code. They can then get a copy of MS Office Enterprise edition for £17.30 (or there abouts). Directly from the Microsoft Shop, with there own CD-Key. Si

What i would suggest also. Ideally you would have 4 wireless stations creating 2 bridges. A Wireless to B on Channel x B wired to C C Wireless to D on Channel y Si

We currently use iSAMS. Installed last year but didnt go live due to an issue with the Agents module, Then went live this year and its a pretty good system. iSAMS i think. Si

Hi, Well my GF's Acer Aspire 5720 doesn’t always connect to the router at home, so I guessed it was the wireless drivers, as my iPhone and sisters laptop always connect fine. After an update, which didn’t solve the problem, I thought I would try a BIOS update, V1.17 to V1.42 - quite an upgrade. Well the winFlash file opened, erased the bios, then failed on "VALIDATE FAILED" error AFTER ERASING THE BIOS FFS! Press the power button, hard drive cycles continuously, screen doesn’t turn on, it was a brick. After some reading I found something quite fantastic, if your laptop has a PHOENIX BIOS, you can do the following to revive it from being a brick. 1. Download the BIOS from the manufacturer’s site, preferably the version that worked originally. 2. Burn ONLY the .FD file to the CD. 3. Remove the Battery and Power Cable from the laptop. 4. Open the CD Drive with a Pin (Push a pin into the hole on the drive to force an eject) 5. Put the CD with the original .FD BIOS file into the drive. 6. Hold the FN and ESCAPE keys down. 7. Plug the MAINS LEAD ONLY into the laptop. 8. Press the power button whilst still holding the keys. a. This will FORCE the computer to load the .FN file from the CD and write it to the BIOS of the machine. 9. The laptop will power up, you can release the keys; leave the laptop for 20-30 minutes if needed. 10. The computer will turn itself off once complete. 11. Re-insert the battery, power on the laptop. 12. It works a. In my case – Happy GF. I tried the version that failed the update on my laptop first, and it did not install, I downloaded the 1.19 version (closest I could find for my BIOS to 1.17 [original]) and it worked. Hope this works for anyone that experiences this problem, thought it was a pretty awesome fix, and worth people knowing. Read also that you can do this with desktop PC’s if you hold CTRL and Escape when pressing the power button, but don’t want to create the problem just to fix it. Regards, Psy

Personally i dont go with anything other than Samsung, they are superbly made and look awesome as well. Samsung 24" - Samsung SM245B+ 24" TFT Monitor Widescreen 1920x1200 3000:1 400cd/m2 5ms H/Adjust VGA/DVI-D Black 3 Years Onsite Warranty Award Winning Monitor - Ebuyer @ £253.26 42 Reviews and 5 Star rating. Personally i have 2 Samsung 22" Pebbles (2232BW) they are superb. Psy.

UK Linux and Windows ASP.net Hosting on UK servers from Tsohost There pro package is fantastic. 10Gb storage, 125Gb traffic, 6 domains, 100 subdomains, £50/year with free registration. Up to 100 sql databases. We use it for our site, though it only has 2 sql's Dover College They have only ever had 1 downtime in the last 5 years, and it was because they took a direct lightning strike (all data was safe ) Psy

Official MS documentation sais to do a UPK first, then IPK followed by ATO. Do a -dli to check that it hasnt installed 2.

Hi, Spent the last working week setting up KMS and getting a WDS image that will work with it. Continuing from this thread, here is all the information that should be needed when setting up KMS, including most common problems people are getting regarding unnatended installs, wrong keys etc... The old thread is here http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-vista/21577-vista-licencing.html#post221848 The document i have written is attatched. *Edit - This is really a one or two day job, and took us a week with troubleshooting. Hope this doc helps. Feel free to make any comments, and good luck installing and using KMS. Simon. Installing VISTA with WDS and Key Management Server.doc

The KMS takes the GUID of the machine, and uses the base key on the disk as soon as it gets network connectivity, so you can wipe / re-image this machine as many times as you like, and you only use a single activation on the KMS. If you are testing you have nothing to worry about if you are planning on using that PC on the live network, and the first 24 activations will fail with the message along the lines of "not enoiugh activations to reach threshhold" or something. So if you activate 24 machines, they wont get activated until the 25th goes onto the network / KMS. *edit - im writing a word doc on the whole thing, i will post it as a seperate post once finished, will be very useful. **edit2 - Thread with Word Doc - http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-server-2008/22736-vista-wds-key-management-service-kms.html#post221924

Another thing, we are using an unattended XML install via WDS. We spent a whole day trying the KMS key and MAK keys to auth via KMS and NEITHER WORK. You simply need to download the latest "Full" (not Upgrade disk) image, and use that on your WDS server, and by default you have a KMS_CLIENT key installed on them CD's from MVLS without doing anything. the KMS keys in your licence agreement are purely for a KMS host, and MAK keys are only used for manual activations for people that dont connect to the corporate network more than twice a year. So install with no product key in your unattended install xml.

Turns out you need to install the Itanium / Datacentre KMS on your Server 2008 Enterprise server. The keys are activated in levels, and Datacentre / Itanium is a tier4, tier3 is web / enterprise etc.. tier2 is small business and tier1 is vista. We installed the Enterprise KMS and it wouldnt work properly, removed it and entered the datacentre kms (we dont have datacentre / itanium licence, however we have the single KMS key, which we were informed was for the KMS Server) and it can auth server2008 enterprise and vista fine after it publishes the _SRV records in _TCP Si

Server 08 has it built in, you simply need to activate it with the Server 08 KMS key. You need 5 servers to use KMS, and 25 Vista Clients minimum. The first 4 servers / 24 clients will fail, due to lack of enough to reach the requirements, once the 25th is activated, all become registered as you have met the threshhold, there is a KMS event log to show the attempted registrations. IT also publishes a DNS record under _TCP that the machine will look for when registering, to register locally, rather than on the internet with M$. Off Campus : Run KMS on Server 2008, and which keys to use when activating Server 2008 All info here. We set ours up this morning. Si

Think we might have cracked it partly. Configure Config.xml to contain Product key, user, company etc... Deploy complete suite via GPSI use MSIEXEC.exe to install an MSP - AppDeploy > FAQs > How Do I Deploy A MSI Patch (MSP)? Can use 2 instances one for 07 SP1, the other to install the MSP Customisation file Anyone tried this? Were about to give it a go in the next week on a test network.

We authenticate with Machine certs, and log in with user credentials via radius. Radius then assigns staff to a certain VLAN, and we do user credentials via radius for students, and put them in a VLAN that is controlled by a ACL allowing communication to the firewall only, and ports 80/443.

PSU is actually quite reasonable, most people overlook that a PSU is one of the most important things in the rig, and the more expensive ones have more rails, stable voltages etc... I spent £155 on an Antec TRUEPower Quattro 850W earlier last year, modular, 4x12V rails. Looks like a solid rig. Mine is Intel C2D E6850 @ 3.00Ghz OCZ 4Gb 1066Mhz SLI Ram EVGA nForce 680i SLI WD Raptors 150Gb @ 10krpm in Raid 0 Antec TRUEPower Quattro 850W Antec NineHundred Case EVGA 8800GTX 768Mb nVidia Card 2 x Samsung Dual Layer RW drives (SATA) X-Fi Fatal1ty Gamers Sound Card Logitech Z4 2.1 Creative Fatal1ty Headset 2 x 22" Samsung Pebble 2232BW Monitors