Ephelyon

Just in case anyone else comes up against this issue, whereby Setup won't proceed because it absolutely insists that one or more Identity Management for UNIX components are present on your existing 2012 R2 installation, even though they're not, a workaround is here: Windows Server 2016 Standard: Skipping Compatibility Check – DXSdata

Right okay, thanks for that. By the way, you can do that more simply as a batch file rather than as a VB script: reg delete HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UFH\SHC /f

@steven_layton_sl - have I missed this earlier?

Thanks, I'll now try the same thing...

It's all open to debate at the moment I think... could try it and see?

Further information in support of this: Maybe other schools affected by this could try excluding winlogon.exe, userinit.exe and explorer.exe in this way and see if that helps with the black screens in the meantime?

Okay, many thanks for this info

Very true, and many thanks for that. That is pretty significant... is that with them providing hardware as well or something? I was just going to run it on our own infrastructure. I currently have an IIS VM and a SQL VM, both with 4 cores and 16GB RAM, to run PARS Connect with adequate performance. Is that similar to what you've got, assuming it's on your own infrastructure?

We're looking into moving to Bromcom and self-hosting it at the moment. Do you know if it's significantly more expensive to do so?

May I ask how you went about logging it? I couldn't find a proper way to do so as a business customer... Also, I'm assuming you mean build 447?

@Mic_Impero I've been thinking about this issue. I know Impero has a hook DLL that it injects into certain processes. Does it inject this into any of winlogon.exe, userinit.exe or explorer.exe? I wonder whether that might be the cause...

A similar story over here I'm afraid. We only implemented e-reg in 2011 (and only because I turned round and said, "guys, you know that thing that other schools have been doing for years now... we should do that thing!") so we never bought Lesson Monitor. As a result, we went with PARS because it cost about the same and did a lot more. We were highly satisfied with it at first, but I must admit I'm coming to the same conclusion as others here - every release to fix one thing seems to break something else! Insight is very nice too, and we've had far fewer issues with that. Both PARS and Insight are currently running on a VM with 4 cores and 16GB RAM (same spec as the SIMS server VM), which is giving us adequate performance but I wish I didn't have to fling so many resources at it! We're thinking about switching to Bromcom at the moment...

Ermahgerd... o_O Then again, for a less paid-for alternative*, there was always Starfield... *yes, millennials, we used to pay for screensavers, because we were hardcore like that =]

Anyone remember the Flying Toasters?

RM probably had the money to license those modifications out from Microsoft, though, with appropriate examination, sign-off, exemption of those areas of code from future automatic updates to the GINA etc...

I suppose it's conceivable that could be linked to the Windows Insider service. There are some suggestions for resolving it here: Microsoft Feeds Synchronization - Microsoft Community

Update: Horatiu is planning a new release to get around the Stealth Mode problem...

Excellent news!!!

I didn't. I googled for that GUID, first hit took me to a Microsoft Answers discussion, first post on its second page mentions looking under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID for the GUID in question to find out what it relates to...

Ah - looks like he's removed the text from the website now

{7006698D-2974-4091-A424-85DD0B909E23} is the Windows Insider Service - could try setting that to Disabled (GPP setting)?

I'm going to ask the developer to remove that part on the website at least - perhaps a version without that "feature" could also be released...

I just wanted to post about a solution we found to the problem of screen glare - one which also led us on to support students with Irlen's Syndrome, completely free. The developer has made a few tweaks to the software to make it easier to run over RDP. I'll copy and paste the "press release / customer story" that I wrote for him here: “What began with a simple hardware purchase request has resulted in improved access to ICT facilities for learning and administration for staff and students at X School – and all without spending a penny. The Finance Department had asked the IT Department to source anti-glare filters for the monitors of around half a dozen staff who were experiencing headaches after using their computers for several hours a day. These filters would need to be in different sizes as many of these staff had different-sized monitors, potentially costing around £150-200 in total. With budgets everywhere under pressure, the IT Department responded by investigating a software solution to the problem of monitor glare and came across ColorVeil. Affected members of staff were shown ColorVeil with the filter opacity set at 60-70%; everyone responded that this resolved their problem. The Department then made the link to children with Irlen’s Syndrome, which is a condition affecting reading ability where sufferers can greatly benefit when the paper the text is printed on is of a particular colour – the exact one varies from person to person. X School – which prides itself on its highly inclusive approach to education – has a number of students with this condition, so ColorVeil was also demonstrated to these students to see whether a coloured tint across the screen helped with their reading – they reported that it did! There were some technical issues around the implementation of this software across the school network, so the IT Department worked with the software’s developer, Horatiu Aurelian – who gives his work away for free – to resolve them. In just a short while, everyone who needed ColorVeil was able to have it running automatically on logon, both in school and over remote access from home, with customised settings for each user that they can alter at will. At one stroke, X School has been able to improve its staff’s health by reducing eye strain, while also broadening access to learning opportunities for many of its students, all at zero cost to the taxpayer. We are highly satisfied with this outcome, commend Horatiu for his generous work and would very much recommend ColorVeil to other schools.” ColorVeil is MSI-deployable and can be downloaded from here: ColorVeil - Screen color filter and dimmer - Aurelitec

Thanks, and will do. What would be most helpful is to find out what the official channel is for business users to report bugs.

Cheers! There's this one that's appeared in Redstone too and I've not found a way to get through to them to report a bug as a "business" user. Tried the Feedback app but to no avail. This one is definitely reproduceable...