ITWombat

I think your right AJ. Windows installation is done usng the Default User profile. If you spawn any reg mods on HKCU from commandlines.txt they affect the Default User profile. Also what about the situation when the Welcome to Windows wizard on a clean install or OEM sysprep will give the option of creating new accounts. These will have admin rights. If you use such an account to modify the Default User profile, when you log in with the built-in administrator SID, it wil have those changes.

But what do you do if you already have a substanstial investment in a fat client infrastructure. Is it really worth the huge cost Citrix just for controlling liceensing. And what if the application to be controlled is unsuitabe for deployment in a thin client environment.

For completeness, I would also have to say that besides scripting you have two other options: MSI Tranforms If you have deployed office using a GPO then you can create an MST with Custom Maintanenance Wizard to place the office app shortcuts on the desktop. Manually copy shortcuts to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop As you gone to the trouble of placing the C:\Office2000 files on the Office machines why not just copy the relevant shortcuts to All Users on each machine. This would much simpler even if you were using roaming profiles. Just of interest, is there a particular reason why the script does things on a per user basis? Now, although the file copy won't take much time out of each log-on, It's still being performed each time a user logs in. You may also want to test for the Office applciation folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11 for Office 2003) rather than putting the C:\Office file on the on each computer. OK. I've gone on long enough so I'll shut up now. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Have a desire to make the world a better place one punctuation mark at a time? Visit our site at http://www.nitpickers-anonymous.org

I can see two problems This if test will fail because you have put quotes round the goto.There should only be round the file name, really only file name contains white space.. So now the script copies the Office 2003 shortcut But you forgot to put a goto to jump to the end of the script so now the script copies the Office 2000 shortcut Yes it's Friday night and I'm sober \\:D/

And there I was thinking that the donations to EduGeek were for the BETT 2007 stand Anyway, how does one back up 2TB? Will some files be declared expendable?

This phase normally happens a sort time before they ring you up to ask where they 'any' key is.

Yeah, scripts are th way to go. Only put stuff in the default profile which is unlikeyly to change.between computer rooms. There's only one NETLOGON share per domain.

Microsoft have automated tools for stress testimg exchange. I wonder if anybody here adopts a similar philosphy for testing desktop builds. When MattX mentioned AutoIt in another thread I started wondering about using scripted actions for testing builds. Overkill? I dunno. It might be better than an actual test on a Monday morning with the class from hell and a teacher with minimal behaviour management skills.

@GeeDee Yeah that thought did occur to me. Limit Logon from Microsoft has been mentioned somewhere. May be Grommit should do a forum search for it. He may find something useful.

If the BIOS s quite old then you may need to use a PS/2 keyboard just for the pre-GUI portions of boot-up

Do you mean the app folder or the network share contain the setup exe files?

Don't forget it's cousin Auto HotKey This has much of the desktop automation features of AutoIt. Infact it can process AutoIt version 2 scripts. The hotkey part of the name refers to its ability to remap key presses and mouse actions for live, as opposed to automated, user sessions. Lastly, Auto HotKey is GPL so you can get sight of the source and change it, if that's your thang.

Hang on Geoff. I thought you used CLEO PPTP ...ah I see now

I don't get it DosBox (are we allowed to use your real name now?). What's eduGeek go to do with your employers? It's done in your own time (as if teachers always use PPA for curriculum stuff) and you've never done a Indie Girl style expose (sorry can't do the accent on the e). Have they had complaints from members of NAHT,SHA or BESA? p.s. I wouldn't say Meatloaf. More Rupert Goodwin's slightly better looking brother

Em Craig your awfully carm. Surely all hell has broken loose. There is no email! How will people forward jokes and links to youTube clips?

You've obviously been through a few Ofsteds

What this lads, fisticuffs? Prize fighting to swell the coffers ?

Nice Christmas theme guys. I take it you've done all your Christmas shopping and are at loose end

Is it now possible with Vista to switch users on a domain machine? On XP Pro you could only do this off domain. Microsoft said this was because of the need to display usernames on the logon screen like XP Home. Funnilly enough there was a beta build of XP SP2 where it temporarily possible.

Occassionally you see adivce in books or artices that you can increase file system performance by stopping acces time being recorded. Maybe this is what was done on systems you have you have come into contact with.

Are you sure about that? It may not record the user who last accesed the file but it does record last access times. You can view in explorer by adding an extra couln to the details view. Alternatively, from the command line you can also do this DIR /TA Only problem is that some back-up software may reset access times while reading files to be backed up.

If you have School's Agreement, Select or any other Software Assurance based licensing scheme from Microsoft, then you can get the official Windows PE. The 2005 version, based on Windows 2003 SP1, has support for ADO, HTA, and most importanlty for our purposes, VBS and WMI. Apparently the Reatogo version of BartPE also has support for WMI. That said, the benefits of running the UUID discovery script off the network is minimal unless you plan to save the results to a USB flash drive.

Virtualisation has become quite popular as a solution for running more than one OS on the same computer. Provided that the host PC has enough RAM, disk space and CPU power, then you can create a mini network of virtual machines all in the one physical box. Handling OS builds becomes as easy as manipulating disk files. There are limitations, however. The performance hit is the most obvious one. You can never get the virtual machines running at native speeds. There is also the fact that the virtual machines have to use idealised hardware compements rather than the video card or SATA contoller you spent a lot of money on. If you don't need to run all the operating systems concurrently then mulitbooting is another solution. Install each OS on in a separate parition and then reboot to switch between them. This is the approach used by Apple's Boot Camp. An Intel Mac can run either Mac OS X or Windows XP/Vista ( Linux is also possible and has been even in the old PowerPC days). You get to run each OS at native speeds with all the hardware of the host machine at your disposal (so long as you can get all the necessary drivers for XP or Linux). What are the options for normal Windows PCs and what's in it for EduGeeks. For while I've been wondering if mulitbooting might be the answer to that old school/home laptop dilema. Have a normal domain client in one partition and a standalone build in another for home use. Perhaps have profiles in a common partition visible to both installations. The teacher gets the full admin power at home but return to a malware free build at school. The possibilities don't end there. In PC suites what about having a separate build for each class and all a reboot way. This means you don't overload any one Windows installion with too many apps. What do others think? There would be issues with licensing and deployment. RIS (at least pre-Vista RIS) would be out of the question, leaving Symantec Ghost or Acronis True Image as the only solution.

I think that's the primary purpose of the UUID to help in prestaging. If you plan to prestage machines which have already have been deployed on the network then use ajbrittons script. If you have new computers where the manufacturer hasn't been considerate enough to put the UUID in the paperwork then you can find it by setting the BIOS to a boot from the network card (PXE boot). If RIS is deativated or you've pulled out the cable then you'll have a chance to read the UUID from the screen.

Have a look at this thread