Tara

Hi Ryan I would be eternally grateful if you have a copy of Server 2003 Standard (not R2, not Enterprise) please? We have the licence, and a working server, but I need to rebuild so need a physical disc. The ISO is like gold dust!

We had 24 Fizzbooks with Windows 7 (drivers are available) but they are without a doubt too slow to handle it. The problem isn't the software - the hardware is just too underpowered. Startup was an average to 2-4 minutes, and the wireless network card drivers are dodgy - frequently drop out. I created a second partition on the hard drive, and installed Zorin, a windows-like OS, beside Windows 7. Works perfectly out of the box (installed from USB stick), no driver issues, and can integrate with AD (via Samba). Be aware the login is not checked with AD (so we use a common login) - you only have to enter your AD username and password when accessing a network share. Startup times are now 15 seconds from cold, compared to 2-3 minutes on Windows 7, and primary school children are using (and loving) it, with zero training. Zorin OS - Home - comes with an education ready version, with preloaded packages....all free!! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions - my advice is to stay with XP or go with Zorin.

Very odd issue while setting up folder redirection via group policy, with home folders mapped to n: via AD, on Server 2012. I've created two folders on the server, one for staff data, one for student data. Student users correctly see their My Documents redirected to their server folder, and can see their homefolder mapping to n, once logged in. Students can do the following via their "My Documents": - create folders directly within my documents - create files directly within my documents - create folders via an application, e.g. Microsoft Word But CANNOT: create a file via an application, e.g. Microsoft Word A popup box appears telling them the drive may be write protected or full. A further oddity: If I save to the n share (homefolder), there are no problems making the save!! So in short, if I try save a file via Word to "My Documents" I get a permissions error, whereas if I save the same file to the homefolder mapped N drive, there is no problem. My Documents (set up via folder redirection group policy) and N drive (via homefolder in AD) both go to the same place on the server. It's so bizarre! I've recreated the share twice, and set a second folder up for staff users which works perfectly. This is a brand new setup, so there are no security differences between staff and student users - right now they differ only in name, and the folder their data redirects to (same physical drive). I've set up student users with the following special permissions, as per Deploy Folder Redirection with Offline Files List folder / read data - this folder only Create folders / append data - this folder only Would really appreciate some help with this, as I'm out of ideas, and if I can't resolve this, I can't move away from RM!

I've found the issue - if "encrypt data access" is checked on the settings tab (File and Storage Services, Shares) you will be unable to reach the share, even if the user has full NTFS permissions.

I've followed this article exactly to create folder redirection: Deploy Folder Redirection with Offline Files However, I cannot access the share mentioned in Step 2 from any PC other than the domain controller. I have even tried logging on to other PCs as the domain administrator, but no joy. However, if I create a folder inside that share, go to Advanced Sharing and set up a share manually (via Windows Explorer) I can get in to that share from any PC, no issues! I am completely baffled! Even if it was a permissions issue, then the domain administrator should still be able to reach it over the network? Can anybody give any advice please? I'm moving us off RM, and onto Windows Server 2012 R2.

RMMC does not work from the server, and I get the error before being asked to continue, enter password etc. Here is the text of the error: Launching on the localhost Cannot find ProxyOverride key in the Registry - no need to set the proxy Checking status of Internet Services Waiting for response... Error: IIS is not responding or has returned an invalid response Trying to find another server Getting Establishment List 1 establishment(s) returned Opening Establishment SHC Error getting local establishments, widening search to current domain Getting Establishment List No establishments found, widening search to current domain Error: No more establishments available (6001) We don't use a proxy so I have discounted the first error. I then checked that IIS is running (it is).

Launching the RM Management Console (RMMC) with the Web Launch component results in the error message: 'Error: No more establishments available (6001)', and does not open the console. Does anyone have any information on this error or how to fix it? CC3 is running on Windows Server 2003. many thanks

The problem is caused by a corrupted ntuser file on a roaming profile. The steps to clear it are: 1) rename the existing .V2 folder on the server, create a new one with the original username and ensure the user has modify permissions to it 2) log in from a DIFFERENT PC - one the user has never used. The roaming profile will repopulate with a new ntuser. If you use a machine the user has previously accessed, Windows will use the cached copy of the corrupt profile rather than load afresh from the server. 3) Now return to any PC the user previously used - you will be able to log in with no problems, as the server's newer roaming profile will overwrite the local cached copies.

Why do you feel 2012 is better Rick? I'm about to start that CC3 to Vanilla server learning curve, and settled on 2008 R2 as there seemed to be little difference between the two. We don't plan on using VM. Is there something I'm missing?

Hi I'm buying a server with an SAS HBA external controller (mini SAS connectors). I have a Quantum DLT VS160 External SCSI drive, Ultra 160, that I need to connect to this server. Can anyone advise what type of cable I could use? Is there such a thing as a mini SAS to SCSI U160 cable? many thanks,

We can log in to ICT Alive - we just can't select the Coordinator or Education Support buttons. We have working Internet Explorer 32 bit and 64 bit, and Google Chrome on a Windows 7 32 bit PC. RM don't offer support as they have discontinued the product (although we are licenced to 2040!), and there is nothing in the knowledgebase, other than "check your Internet connection". The problem is across the board, every computer running ICT Alive has the same problem. Anyone any ideas please? Is it something that was deliberately turned off when product support ended?

Hi Fiza No, there is no PXE server onsite, or on the site who donated the server to us (we are small budget). The server restarted perfectly into Windows without asking for the PXE server (even with the network cable unplugged), until the point at which I turned off the dhcp client and server services. In the bios there are 2 options under integrated devices - embedded nic with pxe on, with pxe off, disable embedded nic. Embedded with PXE on (which was the default) hangs with the error mentioned earlier. PXE off, and NIC disabled, both lead to no boot device available error. I have checked the raid - it is fine! My options at this point are to figure a way to skip past the Intel boot manager and boot directly from the RAID, OR restart the DHCP services OR find a way to manually set the IP configuration of the embedded NIC at boot time.

Our domain controller/fileserver died today, while I was midway through creating a backup controller. The new server is a recently acquired Poweredge 1800. I disabled dhcp server and dhcp client (as it began serving the wrong address range as soon as the PDC went down), set a fixed ip (so that it would not matter that the dhcp server was off) and restarted. My intention was to restore the dhcp and dns backup onto this new server after restart, but unfortunately I didn't get that far. Upon restart the server hung at PXE boot with the error: PXE-E51: no dhcp or proxydhcp offers were received Research indicates this happens when the RAID is dead. However I can see all the RAID drives in the bios raid manager, online and waiting to go. I have tried going into the boot sequence of the server and disabling the network card, but that just gives me "no boot device found" error. The really odd thing is that when the network cable was unplugged, and dhcp server running, I could restart the server no problems. So I realise the problem is the dhcp server - but without the ability to get into Windows I can't turn the service back on again. I can use Hirens to boot into Mini Windows, set an IP and access the Internet fine (but the IP configuration is cleared once the server restarts). Any help gratefully - and urgently appreciated. School starts in 4 days and we have no domain controller, and my best copy of the data was on the server which is now refusing to go past boot.

Yes, the settings are applied to a new user in the OU, but not to a user I moved from an existing (RM) OU.

Would @AngryTechnician, or anyone else in this thread, have a spare minute to advise please? I created a new OU (Windows Server 2003). I moved an existing PC, and user, out of the RM Establishment OUs they were previously in, to my new OU. I ticked "block inheritance" on the new OU. I created a new group policy, tied to my new OU, and changed two simple settings as a test (hide clock, hide username on startmenu). I set loopback replace on my new policy. I set "Override disabled" on the new policy to ensure no other policy could overwrite mine. I logged in as the user on the PC listed in new OU but my test settings are not being enforced!!! What am I doing wrong? Any advice appreciated.

Can anyone recommend an alternative to ICT Alive please? We teach both ICT and Computer Science so needs to have content appropriate to both, with the ability to deliver preplanned units to primary age children. We are running a mixture of Windows and Ubuntu Precise Pangolin so are open to any platform.

Parents Evening System - Online Parents Evening Software Parents Evening Booking Systems - couldn't recommend it enough, also integrates with SIMS if you need to

Hi All We use SIMS Independent for primary schools, but don't have the timetabling module. I was wondering if anyone would recommend using it, or could recommend an alternative? My brief is: - each day is divided into timed slots, up to 16 in a single day, on a 1 week rollover. We need to vary the slot structure, depending on the year group. - each subject can be taught to a year, a class, or a defined class set - each student in a class, or defined class set, is allocated set number of taught hours per week, across all subjects - each student in a class, or defined class set, is allocated set number of taught hours per week, per single subject - each student has the same teacher for all periods of a single subject - define the set subjects a teacher can teach (different per teacher) - define the set periods a teacher is available to teach (different per teacher) - define the set periods of non contact time (different per teacher) - define rooms, and allocate those rooms to a timeslot - setting of general preferences, eg. no maths for any class before lunch - ability to identify teacher free periods, to enable providing cover - the timetables will be remade every term Ideally we want something that will either sit on our SIMS, or take an extract, and then automatically timetable according to these predefined rules, with the ability to fine tune afterwards. The information doesn't have to feed back into SIMS, we just need it for printouts. Not asking for much I know! I would be very grateful for any feedback.

We trialled Firefly - fantastic piece of software and I think it will only get better - but the cost was prohibitive. Frog for Primary is not in the same league as Frog for Secondary. I've heard good things about the secondary version, and only bad things about the primary version. We decided to build an Intranet on Google Apps, with the same idea - to integrate Drive. There are a few things to bear in mind: - there is no user template system, so you have to know each user's username and password to do the simplest things, such as editing their calendar settings. We are a primary school so giving the children sheets of complicated instructions won't work. - folder sharing on drive (web version) doesn't really work. I wanted to have a central shared directory, where each child would have a folder, to share work with their teachers. If the user does not have full (including delete) permissions to the folder above, it became almost impossible to share the folder. If I send the user an email with the "share" link, the user can click on the link, the folder opens, but once they close Drive, the folder again disappears from their list of folders. I had to log in as nearly 450 individual people, and manually drag the folder onto "My Drive". - There is an even stranger bug where you have to open the folder from the link twice before the folder you want to share appears in the folder list. I've reported it several times, seen it mentioned in thousands of blog posts but support are adamant I "must have a slow Internet connection" (at 22mb!) or proxy errors (don't use one) - there is no way to set sharing or saving defaults for children, and the saving defaults are inconsistent. For example, if you select a folder, and click "create file", the file will be created, and shared, in that folder. If you then open that file, and select "copy file", the duplicate moves out of the shared folder, and drops itself into "My Drive" instead. Children are constantly losing track of their work. - if a child struggles to share something with you, you cannot help as administrators have no access to administer other's files (unless you know their password). - When sharing a file/folder, users need to be able to understand three potentially conflicting sets of permissions, all assigned from different menus - permissions from the containing folder, permissions on the file itself and a third permission which can override the rest "Editors will be allowed to add people and change the permissions." In short, we moved from being an evangelist for Google Apps to considering abandoning it completely within 3 months of the release. It was too complicated, and too buggy. That said, it does have it's place - it is unmatched as a collaborative tool, it is free, and as long as you keep it very simple, it does the job.

Has anyone been able to install ICT Alive on Windows 7 yet? It works (barely) on XP but cannot seem to get it running under XP mode for Windows 7. XPMode is running as a member of the domain, I have access to the relevant fileshares and I tried adjusting ICTAlive's db settings to connect using either the server name or the IP address to the Windows 2003 server hosting the ICTAlive database. I successfully used an osql command at the command line in XP Mode to access the sql database, so I know it is accessible from within XP mode, but the ICTAlive installation just cannot connect by itself. I ran the ICT Alive error checker and it suggested SOAP wasn't being initialised and the installation was getting access denied or server does not exist. I did install SOAP but can't see what else to do with it? We have the budget to replace our entire IT suite but because of ICTAlive we might be forced to stick with XP rather than Windows 7...arghhh!!

Hello Fellow Edugeekers What sturdy makes/models laptops would you recommend for primary children, in an ICT suite, please? I'm looking for something reasonably tough enough, can withstand knocks, pokes and some drops, but they won't be taken out into the yard/in rain or carried great distances. Ideally it would also have a decent battery life (at least 3 hours). Does anyone recommend getting the extra warranties? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

We have 24 Spins for the past year: Good: rugged exterior casing with carry handle Bad: heavy for little hands screen orientation when used as tablets is hit and miss - about half of ours get it wrong and turn the screen upside down webcam casing is unprotected - quick pencil and they have been quickly ruined they are very slow to start up and prepare desktop after logon - we find there is difference between certain books, even with the same software loaded but cannot track down why some take 2 minutes, others take 4 minutes to load Support is dire. We have another problem where Windows licence keys are deregistering - as the licence keys are flashed into recovery partititions there is obviously a problem with that, but support keep passing me from one person to the next, and up and down the support levels, each one repeating the same basic troubleshooting, and each one telling me eventually to restore, even though the fizzbook is unusable within days of restoring and has been for nearly a year. I tried asking for a swapout as product is not fit for purpose and was pretty much advised that they would find nothing wrong and would charge me for it so don't bother!! I would never ever recommend Fizzbooks to a school - the support and slow internal hardware just lets them down, no matter what they promise at the BETT fairs!!

Can anyone suggest an answer on the second part - is a 10gb switch required at the core, to handle 1gb throughput to periphery switches? Or is 1 gb throughout sufficient?

I want to move our existing 10/100 network to a 1gb fibre backbone - can anyone recommend a reliable, cost effective (read "not too expensive"!) solutions provider they worked with please? Ideally the solution will include: switch installations and configuration, managed wireless AP installation (for 100 g and n devices mixed), OM1 fibre pulling, line of sight bridge installation and configuration. A second question: There will be 3 periphery switches on OM1 cabling, feeding into a core switch (in server room). If my core switch is 1gb, my cabling is fibre 1gb and my periphery switches are 1gb what is the max throughput that can be achieved - 1gb? Or do I need to upgrade the core switch to 10gb for a backplane that can handle the multiple feeds/achieve 1gb throughput? All feedback gratefully appreciated!!