jthompson

We only make python available as part of a sandboxed VM. The VM has no network connectivity, so we install PyGame as part of the initial VM build. They can't run python on the host machines as they can't be trusted to be sensible with it.

Our Google Form is pretty minimal and not intended for the end user to be filling in. It's filled in by one of us each time we lend something out. This could be for a spare laptop whilst one is in for repairs, it could be a VGA dongle being borrowed for a lesson, or a USB DVD Drive for the next couple of weeks, etc. The expected loan duration is often a bit of an estimate and not necessarily needing to be exact. Nobody's going to want the bother of filling in an online form in order to borrow a presentation clicker for their assembly. They're just going to ask if there's one that they can borrow. The accompanying Google Sheet has an extra column that we've added to it, which is a tickbox to be ticked when the item is returned. The sheet has some scripts added to it which automatically hide rows where items have been ticked as returned (i.e. leaving only current loans being shown for ease of use) and to trigger emails to IT staff when an item has reached its expected return date but is still not marked as returned. We will then chase up the item and/or update the expected return date as required. As others have said, we often find that these types of loans are in the spur of the moment and quite informal. Sometimes it's a student who's been sent up to collect/return a piece of equipment for their teacher. For more formal or semi-permanent loans, such as teacher laptops, we'll have staff member's names against things in our inventory.

It's not as if USB type-C's successor is going to take the industry by surprise at all. No doubt if one were to emege, such legislation could/will accomodate it easily enough. Apple's cables have always seemed very thin, short and fragile in my [limited] experience, so maybe allowing Apple users to make use of less sexy but more robust charging cables will save on quite a bit of e-waste in itself. I wonder what proportion of the e-waste avoided by this measure will actually be down to the EU/UK mains plug adaptations that sometimes get shipped with every device.

I can appreciate why the official line would just be "use a personal device at home", since they don't want to get dragged down into problems stemming from schools' environments when the school is not the customer.

Okay, ta. So with Dashlane, you'd need to have a web browser open to access items? I use the auto-type function in KeePass a lot (automated alt+tab copy paste routines to populate and submit login forms in another app) and am wondering if that level of integration is still possible from a browser-based manager.

For those using more browser-focussed password managers, are you still able to use them just as easily with applications other than web browsers, such as RDP or SSH clients? Long time KeePass user here and I kinda like that it's a standalone thing with separate db files. There are decent mobile clients and working with db(s) held on cloud storage has worked well.

Yep, definitely HTTPS inspection breaking whatever encrypted connection this software needs to establish with its server(s).

I think e2-p-005 is one that installs to user profiles and runs from there (2 AppLocker publisher rules needed, one for setup exe and one for app exe). The login fails after entering a username and clicking into the next field. That seems to happen when HTTPS inspection is active. Without HTTPS inspection, it appears to progress through the login form more successfully (i.e. I can get as far as it not recognising the deatil I enter, which is the best I can manage without any real-world login details to test). Struggling to spot web requests being made by the app, though.

Okay, so this seems to come in a variety of flavours, perhaps depending on exam board or subject? My first encounters this year were the one that runs as an exe setup, downloading resources from an online repository and installing to the user profile. The installation of that one can be covered by AppLocker rules. I've just now encountered a different flavour (AQA Summer 2022 CMIPlus Marker v 8.11.0.6) which is an MSI that installs to Program Files (x86), with a second stage MSI requiring elevation. Yet to see whether this one works for a non-admin end user after installation.

So it installs and runs from user profiles, but also needs write access to a Program Files folder? If that's the case, this one's going on my list.

I think I've got another member of staff due into the office at some point wanting this on their laptop, so I'll see if I can test the login side of things in more detail.

Sounds like a DNS issue, so most likely unrelated.

I wonder if the recommendation to not use the software on school-managed devices is a combination of: not wanting to field support calls about installations being restricted; exposure of sensitive exam board data to school IT teams (i.e. no longer purely under control of the examiner).

If this is the same package that cropped up with a couple of staff here, the following AppLocker rules will suffice. Two EXE publisher rules are needed, to allow your users to install and then run the software. Name: E-Marker setup.exe publisher rule Action: Allow Publisher: O=DRS DATA SERVICES LIMITED, L=MILTON KEYNES, C=GB Product name: File name: SETUP.EXE File version: 16.0.30530.185 and above Name: E-Marker application publisher rule Action: Allow Publisher: O=DRS DATA SERVICES LIMITED, L=MILTON KEYNES, C=GB Product name: E-ASSESSMENT™ File name: DRS.PLATFORM.UI.FRAMEWORK.HOST.EXE File version: 22.6.0.0 and above The first one is obviously to allow the downloaded setup file to be run. That then downloads and installs the application to the user's own profile. The second rule allows that installed application to be run. Not aware of any issues with it once running, but that may yet come to light, I suppose.

A good, easy starting point might just be a portable PA system. We've got a couple of these which we've used for running languages exams in rooms that aren't wired for sound. Less that £100 and no installation work involved (although that particular one is perhaps on the small side for a hall). Can run off battery power, too. At least if it turns out that they want a more involved setup, the thing will still be useful for sports days, etc.

Yeah, even if a nice management webapp for Google Classroom does come along, you'll still want a GAM or an equivalent CLI tool on hand for plenty of other little tasks for which there is no GUI option available: hiding a group, setting signatures, delegating mailboxes, subscribing users to calendars, etc.

Hi guys It appears that our executive karaoke machine has bitten the dust. It's stuck playing "I Will Survive" and there are streamers from party corporate poppers stuck all over the control panel with some smelly gunk that I can't quite identify. It's booked out for important meetings all the time, so I'm urgently seeking a replacement. What karaoke machines do you guys have at your schools that you can recommend? I initially looked at the Sing-a-Tron 5000 series, but I've read that the firmware can be flakey and the support isn't very good, so it's perhaps not all that suitable for enterprise use. I also considered the Pitchmaster X10, but looking at the product pics online it looks like it could easily get knocked over and damaged in the hustle and bustle of a regular bi-weekly planning meeting.

Automatic upgrades for Azure AD Connect have been working okay here. Running 2.1.1.0. Just noticed the advisory from MS that from next year, 2.x versions will get retired 12 months after release, so you'd probably want to have automatic upgrades working.

Creating a transform file isn't in the official documentation, it's mereley leveraging an option that they do support (i.e. the CMDLINE parameter). Just at a quick glance, check whether you need a space between CMDLINE= and /DEFAULT_INSTALL_DIR. So it might be that you actually need: msiexec /i "P:\PACKAGES\WJEC Secure Client\SecureClientInstaller.msi" CMDLINE= /DEFAULT_INSTALL_DIR="C:\Program Files\Surpass\SecureClient" /qn

Hi all We're after replenishing our stock of USB-C to VGA adapter dongles. In the past we've purchased a batch of StarTech CDP2VGAUCP but these have not proved very robust at all, with a massive failure rate over only a year or so of use. I suspect fatigue in the adapter's short length of cable. They're for teachers with laptops, so the adapters aren't fitted once and left quietly in place - users are hands-on with them lesson by lesson and teachers keep their dongles with them, rather than leaving them as part of the teaching desk setup. What USB-C to VGA dongles can people recommend as a reliable option for teachers with laptops? EDIT: we're not yet at a point where all teachers have a laptop with USB-C, so fitted adapters or docking stations on teacher desks is not yet an option for us.

Question for those using Salamander. Do you get many occasions where an account needs to remain active in some capacity after the official leaving date, and if so, how do you accomodate it? For instance, we occasionally have a situation where a member of staff has left, but their account needs to remain active for some reason (e.g. they've retired but come in every so often to help out over the next year). They'll still be bound by a data protection agreement with the school, although not a full employee on the payroll. We also keep students leavers' mailboxes active after exam results and into the new term, to accomodate appeals, resits, return of text books, etc. I'd love to have something like Salamander in place to automate account provisioning some more, but would like to retain that flexibility also.

If Scratch and other apps are saving files directly into Google Drive, then you could still use Google Classroom as a way for students to submit their files against assignments. However, I can appreciate that there will be some teachers needing to proactively go and 'get' work from not-especially-proactive students. That may just have to be done by helpdesking things to sysadmins on a case by case basis. One option to consider if they're reticent about adapting to Google Classroom in the short term might be to have them sit down and talk the pupil through sharing a base folder with the teacher, so that the teacher is less reliant on the pupil actively submitting something each time. Whatever you do, don't give out access to Google Vault. There be dragons.

If those no longer appear when a printer is powered off, then it'll be a discovery protocol active on that printer. Printer shares with the "List in directory" option enabled are still offered up by a print server if the printer itself is offline, I believe.

There'll need to be some element of migrating messages from O365 over to Gmail, even if you don't want the historical data migrated, because there'll be a period of several hours during cutover where messages may still get routed to O365 rather than Gmail. Either that or setting up dual delivery for a while so that your users have an easier time of transition. It's been quite a few years since we did our, but I remember that Exchange inboxes that had complex, deep folder structures (sometimes with literally hundreds of folders) were a bit of a nightmare to get straightened out once migrated to Gmail. Gmail did not like having hundreds of labels with deep nesting going on. Expect some issues like that where some users may need to continue using 365 for email for a while.

You'll be able to add the abc.la.sch.uk domain to Google Workspace as a user alias domain, which automatically adds @abc.la.sch.uk aliases to all the existing (and future) abcprimary.org.uk accounts that you have. When adding the domain to Goole Workspace, you'll need to add a DNS record to complete the Google domain verification, but that won't affect anything on the O365 side (domains can be used simultaneously across both platforms without issue). The mail flow for that domain won't be affected until you start updating MX records.