Michael

I suspect there's a problem with the system RAM somewhere. Depending on how its populated, you should start to power down, take out sticks and see if it'll boot. It's more than likely going to be 8GB or 16GB DIMMs, as 32GB DIMMs are still somewhat pricey, but you never know!

I haven't disabled SMB1 anywhere (for everyone's reference). Simply deploy the update, then go and check it's downloading/installing on a few. Nice and easy.

That's hilarious!

About time, however Microsoft should just release the update to all other flavours of 10, given it already includes a OneDrive client built in.

I really would approach with caution. The amount of services it breaks, it just isn't worth it in my opinion. And because SMB all share the same stack, you inadvertently disable SMB2 and SMB3 (depending on the OS in question). All very messy and much better to just prioritise the patch.

Windows XP SP3 (x86) Patch Windows 7 Patch Hope this helps!

The patch closes the vulnerability only. I would advise against disabling SMB1. Sophos, MFPs and other services will require SMB1. Microsoft may close it at a later date, just as they have with certificates using SHA1 (this month). This will affect a lot of schools in Birmingham using e-Portal, as most are still using this.

What version(s) of Windows are you using?

Where have Microsoft quoted this? (Disabling SMB1)? And as others have found, disabling SMB1 has started to break other systems. Surely it's just as quick to deploy the latest May 2017 Win10 patch!? I've done exactly this to minimise disruption at multiple sites.

Very mis-leading. Patching your Windows OS is the only 'proper' fix to this problem, rather than using any malware application to quarantine the threat. Hence this is why Microsoft took the decision to release a patch for Windows XP.

I'm not entirely sure why disabling SMB1 is better than just applying the patch Microsoft have created? If Microsoft thought this was the best way forward, surely they themselves would have taken the decision to disable SMB1 via a patch? Most schools will operate a managed firewall of some kind, so ports 445 and 139 will be blocked anyway, meaning the Ransomware cannot spread. There are also other rumours flying around such as 'Windows 10's not affected' and that a security researcher has halted the spread by registering a domain. Both are untrue, as Microsoft did release a patch for Windows 10 in March, but if you deploy the May 2017 update it'll be included also. As is typical with a lot of malware, variants always appear, so the ultimate solution is simply to patch your systems accordingly. In the context of Windows 7, you do need to apply the March 2017 Quality Update, as Windows 7 patches are not cumulative like Windows 10.

Essentially (if you think about it), STP will stop/prevent loopbacks, because as far as the switch is concerned they're two separate links. Inadvertently you are creating a loopback. To add redundancy, you simply need to trunk or team both ports. Both will then be used, but also if one goes down, the other will take over.

I've been involved in a similar project recently and the Trust went with Sage Edu. It's all cloud based and I know cost was a huge plus in its favour.

So if I've understood right the base image is Sysprepped, but seeing as you've included a VM, this part isn't. Logically running DNA on the host OS should be OK, but running DNA in the cloned VM, I can see this causing issues. That would make sense.

Running Sysprep will delete/reset Microsoft specific entries, it won't touch DNA or anything else.

You can include the client as part of the image, but there's a guide you need to follow involving deleting various files and registry entries (top of my head). This is on top of Sysprep. Personally I just Sysprep the image, deploy it and then deploy the MSI afterwards. It's only 33MB, so not any problem at all. It's the same process with AV products; you can include them as part of the image, but again you're forced to delete files/registry entries... in addition to Sysprep. DNA like many system applications allocates a unique ID to the machine it's installed on. Not entirely sure the MAC address is relevant, unless the ID is based on the MAC address? It isn't to the best of my knowledge. I suspect it's this unique ID which has been cloned on all devices which is the root of the issue, irrelevant if the image is Sysprepped, this particular ID of course won't fall under the scope of Sysprep.

Learn Pads are running on Android, so I'm guessing not (at the moment).

This is the fix.

Cheap does not mean better. I think Microsoft just don't accept that their Store is rubbish compared to Google Play or the App Store. A lot of the time developers only focus on Google/Apple and have discontinued developing Apps for Windows.

Out of curiosity, previously if I installed Java (for example) this would install a Control Panel entry. Will it install a Settings entry?

Updating the driver from Atheros's website direct does work, but you have to manually specify it within Device Manager, against Windows 10's recommended driver.

You can't install version 5 on a DC; sometimes problematic for smaller schools where they may have only one server. You need to configure your controllers with static IPs, otherwise it doesn't always come back after a power cut. I've installed on physical/virtual servers, no problems at all.

As above you'll need to add the Security Group on the Security tab. Generally speaking it's pretty rare I use 'Domain Users' as that's literally everyone in your domain.

I suppose faster deployments ultimately.

Only 'some' schools run SIMS - if you look at the bigger picture when deploying Windows, I bet installing Office is one of the first things most of us do. Even if it meant you had to pay for both to get the combined version, I think you'd be surprised a lot of Admins would deploy the combined version.