Zoom7000

If like me you can't stand Windows Updates, the guys over at Neowin.net have released the first version of AutoPatcher for Vista. You can find some links for it over at the official support forum. What's included in the current version (February 2007)

I love Football Manager and I'm always over at The Forums. Flying high with West Ham at the moment. You can instantly tell it's a fantasy! (Flying high with West Ham!)

I'm not fussed about the images, It'll give me an excuse to create more up to date ones!

We have a problem where even in offices, the teachers love to interrupt the RIS process and attempt to login whilst SMS is installing applications, saying they didn't see the Out of Order message on the keyboard. So I put this message on the PC and selotape it like mad all over the monitor and base unit: Message from Network Support This Computer is Out of Order. Please do not attempt to use it in anyway whatsoever! Doing so will only result in the PC being out of action for a lengthier period. The estimated date for the completion of repair on this PC is Friday 9th February 2007. However, after this date, please call Network Support before removing this message and using the PC for the first time. Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience. Earlier today, I couldn't understand why the PC wouldn't repond to Remote Desktop, so my collegue called up the office and the Head of Department answered. We asked him if anyone was using the machine. He said no, there is a big note telling them not to. We were confused. So we went to see why, and the Head of Dept. had removed the network cable from the PC so he could use his laptop. He couldn't find the spare cable, that had fallen on the floor! Next time, I will put the message. PC OUT OF ORDER DO NOT USE, TOUCH OR REMOVE ANY CONNECTED CABLES! RISK OF ELECTRICUTION AND DEATH

So now that he has left, what does the future hold for ICTtechnician.com? Are you (maniac) in charge of it now? Will it keep running after it's domain lease expires. I must say I found this place by speaking to Tony there about LNM. I usually come here now though, because it's busier and you get solutions to your problems faster. Having said that though, ICTtechnician.com is still a useful site.

Thanks for that, I'll give it a try later!

The trouble is that Promethean have become so big, and are going the route that RM went... Complacency! What I don't understand is why they can't just make the Installation an msi in the first place. That way we won't have to cry out for one!

Heh! Our Headteacher would want us to come into work even if there was 6ft of snow! Let alone 6 inches! We had a huge flood in a block in our school a few months ago and she still opened the school. Just closed off that block! You're earning £100k+ a year, take a day off dammit! No day off for me!

How do I authorise it with AD?

When I right click properties on the current RIS server (Server1) I have a tab in the Window that says Remote Install, and it has the option I'm looking for. However, "Server3" doesn't have this tab. I presume once I've installed RIS on the server I'll get this tab. Or at least I hope so! Chris, I didn't understand what you meant by changing the sourcepath, using a startup script. I don't currently have any startup scripts for the server, so there must be another way to change this.

We currently have RIS setup to run from our "Server1". It had it's own partitioned space of 7Gb, which is now full! I have no bays left for more space, however, we now have a new "Server3" with plenty of space. Question is, if I install the RIS component on to "Server3", how can I make the PCs look to "Server3" as opposed to "Server1"? Do I need to uninstall RIS from "Server1"?

Like I said, it's probably not the best way, if you can create msi's it'll probably be a lot easier, but I dunno how to create msi's. Either way, I just deploy that script using SMS and I now don't have to perform manual installs on all the computers that need it! As for the network installation instructions, you still have to run the Active X installer on every machine, manually and well, I personally think that defies the point. You might as well do a standalone installation.

After months and months of thinking the exact same thing, I finally managed to get in touch with the developers at Doublestruck Ltd (Tel: 020 8374 4990) Basically, he sent me a zip file that contains all the DLL files and OCX files that you need to register for the program to run. Firstly you need to install Testbase on a standalone machine. Also, make a note to install any other Testbase related software you may have (ExamWizard and Exampro are some examples) install all the products with Licence details. You will then find a file call exampro32.ini somewhere in your Windows directory. Copy this file to your share. Copy all the shortcuts to your share. Thereafter, browse over to C:\Program Files\ and you will find a folder called Testbase32. Also copy this over to your share. (Also copy over any folders for ExamWizard or Exampro etc) I like to disable Windows File Protection so that I don't run into any problems when replacing dlls. This can be done by merging the following into the registry: To deploy to workstations, copy exampro32.ini to C:\Windows\, copy the dlls and ocx files to C:\Windows\System32\, copy the Testbase32 folder and any other folders to C:\Program Files\, and copy the necessary shortcuts to the Start Menu or Desktop. I've created a simple batch script to do this. This probably isn't the best way to do it, but it doesn't require having to repackage or create an MSI.

Is it possible to make a computer run RIS from a central location? E.g. At the moment, to rebuild a machine using RIS, you need to boot up the machine, invoke the network boot option, press F12 to boot in to the OSChooser, enter admin credentials, pick the image and press Enter twice. Is there any way to automate this so that you can rebuild computers from a centrally managed location rather than having to physically visit each machine? Zoom7000

Well, I specifically specified an MSI version, however, please do let us know.

Also, Technet licences in theory, allow you unlimited evaluations of software. Obviously there is no way MS can ever check how long you are only evaluating, but you are supposed to purchase the proper version once you have finished the evaluation process. Not that anyone ever does! It's kinda like a MS "self created" loophole. Also, for operating systems you get 10 activations, after you exhaust these 10, I'm not sure that you can activate anymore. However, a phone call to Technet Subscriber Services and some persuation may get you another 10

Yes, I would like to know too. I don't understand why they can't just offer the Install as an .msi in the first place! Anyway, that information was given by someone at the Technical Support hotline. I wouldn't be surprised if someone else at Promethean turned around and said it's a load of rubbish!

Excellent! Thank you very much! That worked superbly! Albeit you get the message that they don't have the permissions, USBDLM still installs the USB device anyway!

Unfortunately it's not a TRUE msi. They have used a custom dialog in the installer for the Product Key. The true msi is for sale at a cost of £100 when I called Promethean support! I'll create one myself thank you very much! However, a work around the problem is as follows: Before you install AS3. Install the AS2 using the msi installer. Once you have started ActivStudio and put in your Licence Details, browse to "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ACTIV Software\ACTIVstudio 2" and copy the as2pe.dat file. Thereafter install AS3. I created a script to install AS3: xcopy "\\Server\Share\as2pe.dat" "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ACTIV Software\ACTIVstudio 2" /y "\\Server\Share\ACTIVstudio Professional Edition.msi" /qb "\\Server\Share\ActivstudioPE3_v3.0.56_setup.exe" /s /v/qb If you are running the script on a fresh machine, you will need to add the following line to the top of your script: mkdir "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ACTIV Software\ACTIVstudio 2" I dunno much about .MST Transforms, however I think creating an .MST Transforms may also work to get around the problem.

I seem to be getting this problem with the majority of USB keys. Is there anyway to get round the driver signing issue? I have set Group Policy to ignore driver signing, but obviously it isn't.

That used to work quie nicely, however, even that stopped working for some reason!

I voted Vista, simply because I am a Windows expert, know very little about Linux and because the majority of working environments use Windows. Having said that, I am an avid fan of Open Source and hope that someday Linux can become just as popular as Windows.

Yes, sorry, I forgot, all are XP SP2 Clients, fully updated, and I think it was definately one of the patches that caused it. It's been ages though, so I don't have the slightest clue which update it could be.

We have an issue where when the teachers or pupils plug in a USB Flash Drive, Windows is telling them they need to be a member of the Administrators group. So in theory, we need to go round every PC with every type of USB Flash Drive ever created and type in the admin password! The exact problem is when the drive is inserted, Windows first tried to install drivers for the device, then for "USB Mass Storage Device", "Disk Drive" and "Generic Volume". Admin credentials are requested at every stage of the "install". Is there any known workaround for this so that Students and Teachers can use USB Flash Drives without any request for admin credentials? I know RM have released a patch for this, but we are using a Vanilla Windows Server 2003 network.

Perhaps you're right, the coding may be simple with some nice flash. As for the criteria for the webpage, whatever floats your boat really, looks, good coding, nice flash, just interested really!