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I was using the VB script mentioned earlier on the first page of this thread. So that's what I did, and this is the exact code I have that generates that error: set oShell=createobject("wscript.shell") sCmd="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Age of Empires II\EMPIRES2.EXE" oShell.run,,true 'true forces it to wait for process to finish Set OpSystems = GetObject("winmgmts:{(Shutdown)}//./root/cimv2").ExecQuery("select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where Primary=true") for each OpSys in OpSystems OpSys.Win32Shutdown 0 next sCmd="shutdown /l" oShell.run sCmd

Hey guys! I haven't found anything else yet that would do a better job than what you all have suggested. Anything ideas on fixing the user shell error or the VB script, or any other ideas? I've still got 2 weeks. Thanks!

Hmm, I'd really like to use the User Shell idea, but I think VB may be what I have to go with. I set the game as the user shell and the game doesn't run, and gives the error "could not initialize graphics system. make sure that your video card and driver are compatible with directdraw". As soon as I CTRL+ALT+DEL and run Explorer, select the game from the start menu, it launches fine. Must be dependant on something in explorer...unless I'm missing something. Also, after that error, it doesn't log me back out. Maybe I have to quit the game properly to log out, but at the moment since I'm getting the error I have to CTRL+ALT+DEL and choose log out from the task manager Shut Down menu. Any suggestions? If not I'll try VB next. Thanks! ::EDIT:: Just tried with Starcraft, same thing. They both give errors related to being unable to change video settings when they're set as User Shell. As soon as you start up Explorer.exe and then launch the game, it works perfectly. Starcrafts specific error has lots of information on changing screen resolution etc. or updating DirectX, which isn't what we need of course. But it lists the specific error if that helps. The error encountered while trying to switch video modes was: Not implemented vidinimo_PC.cpp line 160 SetDisplayMode Sounds like it's calling for something required in explorer? No idea really. About to try VB. Let me know if you have any ideas for the user shell! That would be my preference if possible since it's near tamper proof for the average user. Thanks so much. ::EDIT:: VB error on line 3 char 1. Argument not optional: 'oShell.run' Code 800A01C1

Awesome. Never done that attempt before, I'll give that a shot, thanks! And ya I ended up disabling the screensaver on that account or setting the value to 1 in regedit if I want to do maintenance. So at the moment it's 1, then I'll hide it again later when the consoles actually ready. Thanks guys! I'll let you know how it goes. Next steps are to install the games, make sure the logging on and logging off work seamlessly with the game start and quit, and then test imaging.

Thank you all once again for your responses so far! Almost there! Two questions. When I change the shell of say, the Starcraft user, to starcraft.exe, how am I going to change it back since regedit will only do "current user". Starcraft won't give me access to the registry editor. In case I need to change anything I'd like to be able to edit it. Do I log in as Administrator and right click regedit.exe and Run As the Starcraft user? Second question, I've decided to hide the Administrator account so it's nice and clean and only shows the games on the welcome screen. Normally Administrator is hidden unless it's logged in in which case it's shown so you can click it to unlock your account, but Administrator shows up all the time now for some reason, not sure why. So what I decided to do was follow a tutorial to hide Administrator. That's fantastic, it worked. Double CTRL+ALT+DEL at the welcome screen to bring it up, the trouble is, if I lock that account or if I leave the screensaver on so when I shake the mouse it goes back to the welcome screen, the Administrator account is hidden still, AND CTRL+ALT+DEL doesn't work. So I have no choice but to use the Turn off computer link in the bottom left and log Administrator out and restart. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Awsome thanks! Another question, for making the game the shell, how can I make the shell different for every user on the system? Or do I need the shell to be a script that says if this user, use this shell [or game]. Anyone able to explain that quickly? Thank you so much.

These options are fantastic so far! Thanks guys! I'm thinking of the Windows Shell idea but I've got lots to play with at the moment! Thank you so much. I'm also interested in that last question, if it is the shell, will it force them to go back to welcome screen or will it just show a blank screen? ::EDIT:: Also, while I'm here, what do you think is the best way to image these? They're not on a domain and I'd need to keep the accounts in tact since each account is a different configured game, would sysprep be able to do that? I mean, I'm almost thinking since they're identical to just do a straight disk to disk copy with Ghost and then change the name once the subsequent machines are booted up on each machine. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Alright so here's the deal. I'm building 8 machines. Windows XP Professional. Games like Starcraft, Warcraft, Age Of Empires etc. will be installed, so the machines are 1.8GHz, 256MB of ram, and a 10GB HD. Yes, it's what I had lying around lol. So I'm building these as console systems, they aren't connected to a domain, and once configured they will be frozen with Deepfreeze. They're using the Windows Welcome screen for logging in, each game has it's own useraccount within a very stripped down interface. So for example, click STARCRAFT user with a Starcraft icon as the user icon, and Starcraft launches since it will be in STARCRAFT's Startup folder. Sounds simple so far! I'd like to take it a step further. When the game is quit, no matter what game it is, can I have a script [i need your help ] that will log off the user and send them back to the Welcome screen? I don't need to prevent minimizing or anything like that, these aren't super secure machines. I'd just like the process to be as smooth as possible. So here's what'll happen. •User powers up machine •Welcome screen appears •User selects game [user account] •[user account logs in] Game starts •User closes game or chooses quit [user account logs off and sends user back to welcome screen] That last bracket is what I need help with. Any ideas? Thanks so much in advance!

Haha ya I've definitely thought about that. The problem seems to be so far that I can't find the LED's anywhere. I've found similar ones but they all look very expensive. As I said in my top post usually I'll see the typical round LED's like this one but the ones on the card seem to be more like [here is the place I was going to post a picture of what it looks like, problem is, the only way I think I could do that was by snapping a photo myself. I can't find one anywhere so far. If I can I'll post a picture].

No problem! Not talking down to me at all, exactly the kinda responses I was looking for. Eyesight is fortunately a strength for me being 21 and without glasses, and I was wondering the same thing actually about the board. The superbrite's can definitely suck up more juice, I noticed that on a couple other boards I've tried in the past. I haven't had one not work yet, but I was wondering about these forsure. I don't want to do the RAID card unless I really know it's gonna work of course I just think it would look totally awsome with all the hard drives. If all else fails I may just switch out the power LED's. Also, don't mean to sound like a total noob [while sounding like a total noob] but how would I go about checking the polarity on the board? What points would I check? Thanks!

Sounds good. Basically the responses I was expecting and that confirms what I thought which is good. I had a feeling they might be hard to get off the board in the first place. Also, you're correct, about 2x1mm's, super small square guys soldered right to the surface of the board. They look hard to work with. Thanks for your responses! I'll keep looking for fun but like I say, this is LOW LOW LOW priority on building those systems haha! I might just do a power LED mod for each one and stay with that. That's what I've done with my other systems. I was thinking about instructables as well, wasn't sure what I'd search for though. I'll give that a shot!

Alright guys let me just start by saying this is not at all a serious or urgent request haha! Get to the others on here who actually have a major issue with their network they're stressing over and help them first. This is more for fun. So here's the deal. I've got 3 more servers I'm implementing at my personal server room I use for hosting and my own apps and testing. I really like lights, like, I'm a huge fan of LED's and colours etc. I've worked with rounded LED's before and soldered them in place of boring old faded green LED's, and replaced them with superbrite blue's, greens, etc. What I'd like to do is replace the small LED's you see on for example, RAID cards that send the light up the plastic tubes to the front of a hard drive tray, or the small LED's that are soldered right onto the small board with the power/reset button at the front of some servers, with status LED's etc. in some servers like the front of a Dell Poweredge 2400 or an IBM XServer 226 etc. Is it possible to switch out these LED's since they're so small, and how would I go about doing that? Anyone know the specific type of LED's I need? If it's not worth it and will be more than 20 bucks, I'm not gonna do it, but if it's super simple, I wouldn't mind. I found a website like superbriteleds.com or something similar the other day that had something that LOOKED like the small LED's on those boards, but they're WAY more expensive each, like 8 bucks per LED as opposed to 50 cents per LED. So I may not do it if they're that expensive. But the thing is I'm naming the 3 servers Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, so I'd like to switch all the LED's to Red, Blue, and Green. [comon, you KNOW that would look freakin rad when you walk into the server room with the lights off]. Thanks guys! Take care.

Another vote on Zimbra here as an open source collaboration suite. Our whole district is moving to it this May from First Class cause First Class was way too integrated and the web interface reminds me of my first days of using HTML.

Still having issues with this unfortunately. Apparently there's a team of puzzled engineers working on the case ID at Dell as well [LOL that rhymes...ah hem]. All network drivers are up to date. The wierd thing was, immediately after updating the network drivers for the card, the card worked for 2 weeks instead of 24 hours. Now it's failing every 3 days or so after adjusting some settings on the card's advanced menu in device manager recommended by dell. So instead of getting one day I'm getting three. Yay. Still not where a server should be at. Again, I have staff here connecting to the server through that exact same network interface, same port, and that connection never goes down if they're connecting from inside the building and looping out our gateway and going back into the server through it's external port. Very confused.

Quick question, if I change our wireless routers here [about 10, all with the same SSID and passphrase so people can roam] from TKIP encryption, to AES encryption, and change nothing else, will clients who have the passphrase in their system need to re-enter it? Or will the change be seamless and their systems will still be able to connect the next morning using the same password? Also, is the change from TKIP to AES something you would recommend? I'm hearing more and more that that's the way to go. Thanks!

Here's an odd issue for you guys. I've got a server here that has an internal connection to our network through one interface, and the second interface is connected to a real world IP address as it's hosting a website there and FTP service through IIS. I'm just using a software firewall to protect it. Here's the deal. The system works great and hosts the website really well...for about 30 hours. Then you can't access it. I can access it if I'm inside the school. But if I disable the external network card on the server, I can't access it inside the school anymore, so I know my computer in my office isn't just cheating and connecting locally. So I've found a fix, but no idea why it fixes the problem. You'd think so far that it would have to be a switch up stream or a router or something if my computer inside could access the internet services on the server by going out our gateway, and back in through the external port on the server through an outside perimeter switch, but it turns out, that the fix is to disable the network adapter, and then re-enable it. Voila, everythings running again. I really don't want the fix to be a batch script that kills the network adapter and re-enables it every 30 hours, any ideas of what this could be? Brand new Dell PowerEdge 2900 running Server 2003. Everything else works great.

Might be hard in our setup, but I see exactly what you're saying. Thanks!

I think my mac just browsed the network and found some printers, and added it. I'm starting to wonder if there even IS a way to block direct connections to the printers. I can't seem to do that with the web based configuration panels on this printer [a Dell 1700n for example].

Hey everyone. I've got a question about printer security permissions. I have printers configured on my Windows Server 2003 print server to allow Administrators [All 3 options], Authenticated [Print], Creator Owner [All 3 options], Print Operators and Server Operators with their default of all 3 options, and students to deny all 3 options [this if for a staff printer obviously]. The question I have is, will this successfully be enough to block a non domain user from printing to a printer? I'm using Authenticated Users instead of everyone. Here's the deal. I took out my MacBook Pro, connected over the wireless network [it's not a member of the domain, just my laptop from home], and tried to add a printer via Windows Network. I added the staff printer listed there, and successfully fired a test page to it no problem. Should I have been able to do this? Never once did I have to enter a password. Is it connecting via some other protocol I don't know about? Maybe Bonjour or something? Just want to make sure ONLY our systems can print and not a misc system. I just can picture a student plugging in their laptop, adding a staff printer, and firing off print jobs. I thought I had it locked down. It works within our domain, a student can't add a staff printer. But I want to make sure that an anonymous system can't access them either. My mac just made it look way too easy. Haven't tried yet with a Windows laptop. Thanks!

I'm working with a laptop at the moment that needs to connect to a SQL server at our school. Basically, our school has a domain and is a high school [duh], but we also have another part of the school, the International Student Program office, not really a part of the school, but part of the district as a whole, they just happen to have their offices at the school I'm running the network for. So I also purchased and built them their own server [currently not their own domain, they still are a member of our schools domain to make things easier for them to use our services etc.] So at the moment, they have MS SQL Express installed on there, and because our firewall is covering our network, but that one needs to run external services and have it's own IP address, it's just behind our external switch. One network interface in the server is connected to the switch, getting a real world IP address, and one network interface is connected to the internal high school network. The external interface is protected via a software firewall installed on the server. So the connection they need [if you're following me so far ] is a connection between their MS Access frontend on their laptops they use in the office [and now take home, which is where the problem is], and the servers. So at the moment, they use integrated authentication with Windows, so they only have to log into Windows, boot up the program, and it works and allows them into the main login screen for the program. SQL connection made in the background. Even when they're inside, I have their ODBC driver for SQL Server 2005 pointing to EXTERNAL.IP.ADDRESS\SQLEXPRESS,PORT. So in theory, their connection goes outside the high school network, U-Turning at the switch, and going into the external port on the server. Makes sense? Good, because it works. When they're in the building. When they LEAVE the building, it also works, using cached credentials. Or at least....it did. Up until last week. Nothing on the server has changed, except for the recent Windows Security updates applied, otherwise the settings are the exact same. I'm actually at home right now, with one of the receptionists laptops from the international student program, since I manage their IT too, and I have the laptop here, and I logged in as OUR_SCHOOL_DOMAIN\Her Account, and logging into Windows worked of course, because of cached credentials, but when I go to test the ODBC connection in ODBC Data Source Administrator, I can't connect using Integrated Authentication. But I CAN log in if I change the authentication to SQL, and enter a temp SQL account I've made for testing, tests complete successfully and I can view the databases. So that's not an issue. When I try to use Integrated Windows Authentication though, here's what I get: SQL Network Interfaces: The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted. Cannot Generate SSPI Context. These are apparently very common, and I've googled around and found a lot of information on them, including one from Microsoft saying I shouldn't use cached credentials. But why did it work before? I had it working for a good 4 months, and it suddenly stopped. She was able to go home, do her work, log in via cached credentials, connect to the SQL server, with no problems. Any ideas of what may have changed or gone wrong? I can't think of anything else besides maybe an update securing something with credentials. Not sure. Also, we don't have a VPN so we can't route the laptop through that. It's just using a port forward right now. Again, it's always worked before now. Thanks for any suggestions! :: EDIT :: I ended up making her a SQL account, it works inside, we'll see if it works from home without prompting her for extra passwords, it shouldn't since it's built into her DSN file now.

Hey guys! It's been a little while, things have been crazy but almost completely rebuilt and running fantastically at the schools:) I've got a question here about one of my 8 port KVM's at home. I recently bought a KVM switch off eBay, Cybex AV-8 Autoview Commander. Anyways, I've got it here now, and I couldnt make anything display on the monitor. I plugged in my 5 DB25 KVM cables which I had and which was what prompted me to purchase this switch for such a great deal. The cables are male, but since the KVM switch is also male I ended up ordering 8 female to female gender changers. I plugged those in between and they fit perfectly. I tried booting up a computer, and I couldn't get anything on the screen. I noticed that the computer just seemed to be restarting endlessly. The light went back and forth between the HD Activity light, and the CD-ROM light, which looked to me like it was restarting endlessly. So I tried to look up a manual, and managed to find one generic manual for legacy Cybex KVM products. Luckily for me, the manual helped me get to the control panel by tapping CTRL twice, luckily, it worked. The control panel popped up on the monitor I had connected. But I can't get any further then that. My question to you guys, is do you think it has something to do with the gender changers I used? I can't figure out why I can't get the computers to talk to the KVM switch. But the switch appears to be working. Any suggestions? If you need more information please let me know. Thanks so much!

Ya I've done the exact same thing. I either use one, setting the machine as static, and not setting a reservation, or setting the reservation for the MAC address of the computer you wish to set a specific IP address to within the router and leaving the computer on DHCP, since it will always collect the same IP from the server. But I never set both. Some systems seem ok with it, but some just see an IP conflict and end up with either a valid address but no connectivity, or an APIPA 169.254.x.x address. Glad you figured it out and it was something simple! I hate those...lol. The kind of things that make you go "no way, I just spent HOW long on that?". Kind of like FTP. I'm still trying to master that protocol. I'm a network engineer and I still can't make FTP work properly all the time for everyone. I'm at the point where it works "well enough", but it's still a pain. Freakin passive mode and passive ports *sigh*

Alright guys, I found a solution. It's not software. I took apart the keyboard, and I had a look and noticed there was 4 layers inside the keyboard. The first layer at the top was the rubber buttons that make contact with the lower layers. Then the next layer was some type of contact sheet with points on it for each key, then below that was a plastic shield that kept it having JUST enough space between the contact sheet right below it. So I thought oh ok I get it, so if the two sheets make contact, they make a keystroke. So knowing that, I took small circular stickers and put them above the contact at the bottom for each key I wanted to block, so that when a key was pressed, the top wouldn't make contact with the bottom, and nothing happens. Here's the results : http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa188/link4scott/keyboardkeydisable.jpg

What can I say? There's definitely a need for this place. I still remember googling a situation and came across this site in the top few sites on google that had an answer, I clicked the link, had a look at the article, and it described perfectly what I needed to do and someone else had already brought it up on here. I noticed "the educational IT professionals' life line" at the top, and thought I was in heaven, having just landed the Network Administrator position for one of the district high schools. To this day, this place provides the most helpful support I've EVER seen for educational related software, system setups, etc. Thanks guys!

Thanks everyone for your replies! This is great information. Not yet, I tried the keyboard layout creator tool and didn't get too far. Apparently I can't outright disable the alt or ctrl keys, which I guess is ok so that kids can copy paste between forms if needed on the search site. I like that thought. I actually got the registry hack off a website. This is the registry edit here: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] "NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:00000091 "NoWinKeys"=dword:00000001 Anyone know how I'd be able to do that for other keys to fully disable them? The issue with the registry edit is it doesn't fully disable the Windows Key, it just disables the Windows + [key] shortcuts. Which is basically all I need so that's good. So I can tap the windows key and the start menu still pops up and goes down on another tap. But if I use Windows Key+M or Windows Key+D etc. for "hiding" windows, that doesn't work. So that's good. Anyone know how to do this with other key combos?