LanSchoolUK_Adam

Just an FYI that new Edge has left Beta and saw its official release yesterday. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/01/15/the-new-microsoft-edge-now-available-for-download/ This can either be downloaded and distributed manually or received via Windows Update (replacing old Edge). We will therefore be adding Edge to our supported browser list by virtue of the existing Chrome/Chromium 'Web Helper' extension as above.

Hi @MrBrow - thanks for raising this and sorry to hear about the issues you've been having since updating to v8.0.2.54. This isn't one I've come across (we've just updated all our laptops, VM's, servers and other devices to v8.0.2.82 in preparation for BETT) but if you give me 24 hours I'll try and replicate it per your detailed instructions and see what results we get. Since you mentioned it is only impacting one room and not another, can you let me know the hardware spec, OS version etc. of the affected machines? Could I ask you to PM me your school/college details so we can set up a bug report ticket anyway, in case it needs to go to dev? Cheers.

If you're looking to stay 100% cloud then it is possible to run LanSchool in a serverless / peer-to-peer mode, provided the Teacher and Student machines are both on the same subnet (i.e. both on the same WiFi network) so they can discover each other via packet broadcast. In terms of building out Classroom Management lists from your existing iSAMS lists (i.e. student Azure usernames, teacher names, class ID, room etc), then its very easy to do. We can also schedule an output-import sync between iSAMS and LanSchool so that timetable changes are reflected in our system too (i.e. cover teachers). I've PM'd you my details if you would like to have a chat - cheers!

Hi William, Both Chrome and Edge extensions are user-driven (rather than machine / HKLM) - kind of like how Chromebooks are designed to be user-focused platforms that pull down data based on the user logging in, rather than what is installed on the device itself. For that reason, you probably can't do do this via image, however it is entirely possible to do it via a user GPO. You should include Edge (downloadable from the link in my first post) in your image. The method for dsitributing Edge extensions is the same as the method for Chrome extensions (as they're both Chromium-based): 1) Install Edge Beta and load it 2) Go to Extensions and enable access to Third-Party stores 3) Now navigate to the LanSchool Web Helper extension on the Chromebook store 4) Add it/enable it (will reference the browser as Chrome, even though it's Edge) Now 5) Navigate to: C:\Users\William\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge Beta\User Data\Default\Extensions Find our extension, folder name: honjcnefekfnompampcpmcdadibmjhlk Copy that folder and all its contents and create a user-login based GPO that pushes it down into the above location. Its worth bearing in mind that LanSchool v8.0.1 and above actually includes the LanSchool Web Helper Chrome Extension during the client install for Windows and Mac. This will create the extension folder with the same ID in: C:\Users\William\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions No doubt when Edge finally goes full-release we'll include its extension in the client install process as we do for Chrome currently. Hope that helps - cheers!

Hi Terry, Can you advise if you're using P2P (peer-to-peer) or LCS (Direct IP comms between Server-Client)? If the former, it could be that broadcast traffic isn't permitted on your WiFi. If you use a tool like WireShark to track requests leaving one machine and arriving at another, the outbound ports we use are TCP/UDP 796 and 11796, and UDP 1053. We tend to recommend using the server-client model for wireless devices if possible, as wired and wireless devices on the same network tend to be different subnets which isn't supported in the P2P model (flat network only). If the latter, can you confirm if the student devices appear on the LCS client list when connected over WiFi?

Hi Renfield, We have the capabilities you mentioned in LanSchool. - Inbuilt keyword library (user editable) - Keyword alerts for keyword/keyphrase matches - Automatic screenshot-capture when this occurs. - Reports generated of all keyword alerts by students. You can see this in action and an example report . I have PM'd you my details if you'd like to take a closer look - thanks!

Hi William, Although you are running LanSchool at the latest build, Microsoft Edge is not an officially-supported browser for LanSchool (IE/Chrome/Firefox/Safari, as well as their variants like Chromium). When Edge first launched as part of Windows 10 in 2015, there was no extension support which is what we use to limit website and record web hits to the LanSchool Report Server. Edge extensions were added much more recently but around the same time, Microsoft announced their new Edge which is Chromium-based, which we do support with the current extension, and this can already be downloaded in open beta: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4501095/download-microsoft-edge-based-on-chromium https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lanschool-web-helper/honjcnefekfnompampcpmcdadibmjhlk?hl=en Our current 'Edge support' goes as far as the registry entry you mentioned (ALLOW_METRO_IE). By default, we block Edge and force users to use a supported browser that we can track. That registry key removes that limitation (on by default). It can also be accessed in Adminster > Preferences in the Teacher Console, and the setting also applies to InPrivate/Incognito windows. Finally, if you want to use Limit Web in Edge, we do have an unoffiical workaround; https://www.howtogeek.com/411830/how-to-install-google-chrome-extensions-in-microsoft-edge/ You can add the LanSchool Chrome extension linked above using this method; please bear in mind it is not an official or supported method :-) If you need any further assistance, you can reach out to our UK support team at [email protected] or feel free to PM me any time.

Hi Mikeyw, I'm sure we can fit the bill with what you're looking for; typical deployment into a Windows environment for us is under an hour via GPO or SCCM. Will drop you a PM with some details. Adam

I'll add my two cents here as well, regarding best practices; We operate a fairly linear hierarchy; Server/Reports at the top (sees all PC's) > Techs (sees all staff/students) > Safeguarding (sees all students) > Teachers (sees their class of students) > Students (see no-one). At each level we can choose what level of access is granted to the one above it; for example, Techs can remotely control staff machines, but they can't see their screen (thumbnails) for privacy. The Teacher gets a brief moment to deny the remote control request coming in (i.e. if they're working on something private/sensitive), and the school can decide what the 'default position' is (whether a request on an idle machine will go through or not). All of these can be tweaked and changed by the school. In some rare cases, the school can also choose to allow the Students to opt out of being monitored as well, such as in a Steiner/Montessori school environment where the children have much more personal freedom than your typical state school. The same applies for BYOD; the school can choose to give the student the option to drop their visibility temporarily (i.e. between classes). For the staff machines, there is no individual/personal choice - as per Al's message above, we will consult with the school and then create and enforce different filtering/monitoring profiles that will determine exactly what data is a) monitored b) captured/logged c) reported on. For most schools, they will want the hardware reports to complete as usual (i.e. uptime, program utilisation, login histories etc) but user-centric data such as those mentioned in the OP (i.e. website histories) are not tracked. Keyword logging & keyword-alert automatic screenshots are disabled for staff by default and 99% of schools don't ask us to change it for fear of an uprising In my experience, the school will still be monitoring staff web traffic by the web filter, just not local machine activity (i.e keystrokes) via the local client, to respect their privacy and keep the peace, while still meeting the Ofsted reqiurements for safeguarding.

The Teacher Channel is greyed out to prevent Teachers (non-admins) from changing it; I would consider installing the LanSchool Tech Console which was designed for, among other things, moving Teachers/Students into different groups and administering the LanSchool fleet as a whole. You can find the MSI installer in the LanSchool zip under the 'Tech Console' subfolder. Here's a couple of videos that might help you out; Tech Console GPO - Configuring/Using Tech Console - Changing Channels/Groupings - If you're only looking to do this on a single machine that you have local admin rights to, then the Channel registry key under HKLM (as mentioned above) can be changed manually as well.

Hi mleffler, Technically speaking, v7.x is no longer officially supported as v8.x has been out for a couple of years now, but in the interest of helping, perhaps we can bounce a couple of ideas around Are the Student clients Windows, Mac, Chromebook or a mix? Same question for the Teacher Console(s)? What's your default browser (IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome) and is the LanSchool Web Helper installed if the latter? Do you get the same error consistently on the same Students or does it move between them? Do you get the same error with two different Teacher Consoles? Do you get the same error when performing the same action from the Tech Console?

Depending on what you're looking for as desktop utilisation, LanSchool does this in the following areas; - Desktop user login history - Desktop login time/date/duration - Uitilisation (total uptime) - Program usage (by user, by PC) - Program utilisation (by time) - Application usage (by user, by PC) - Application utilisation (by time) - Hardware inventory (by PC and by network) - Software inventory (by PC and by network) - Licensing details (installed versions, installed counts etc). Would be keen to know if your requirements go further than the above as it's one of the areas we're currently developing on right now, so a perfect opportunity to flesh it out further if there is something obvious that we have missed

Great idea - have added our details in. There's plenty of other fields that could be added here, so other people can add more and we'll try to keep up filling them in Would be curious to know the general consensus on how important file access logging is to people. We have never had it raised before, and with more files being cloud hosted (Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint etc) and read/write permissions controlled by admins.

The other customer (mentioned above) was also using Surface Pro 4 devices - can you try updating the 520/540 Graphics driver and see if that helps with scaling? https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=49498 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/88355/Intel-HD-Graphics-520 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/88355/Intel-HD-Graphics-540

LanSchool can definitely take care of you here - PM'd you if you would like to arrange a demo.

We have had this problem reported by another customer; we believe it is due to the non-standard display resolution that these devices use. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3025083/windows-scaling-issues-for-high-dpi-devices https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpronew-surfdrivers/new-surface-pro-2017-application-scaling-issues-on/9cb78f91-810c-4a55-ab44-e37d9727e357 In that particular instance, it was resolved by manually updating the devices' integrated Intel Graphics driver. LanSchool is designed for 16:9 displays, capping at 1920x1080 and then scaling linearly after that, though other resolutions should still be possible, just letterboxed/pillarboxed. Which exact model of Surface Pro are you using?

Hi Nimon, Out of interest, do you use the LanSchool Tech Console or LanSchool Report Server in your deployment? Both are included with every purchase/renewal of LanSchool. Although, being completely honest, we don't hit every point you listed there, there could be a decent chunk of functionality in the network admin sphere that sounds like it could be of use to you (for free!) I've dropped you a PM with my details, let me know if we can help you get things up and running for you

Hi SWC, Edge can be disabled in one of two ways in LanSchool; either a setting within the Student client, or via an enforcement from the Tech/Teacher Consoles. Please can you try updating to v8.0.1 (latest build) for your Tech Consoles, Teacher Consoles and Student clients, with the following consideration; There's an option called 'Allow Modern Internet Explorer' which can be found in the Advanced Settings of the MSI install; You can also use the switch ALLOW_METRO_IE if you're deploying via script. The option appears in the ADMX template for GPO deployment too. https://helpdesk.lenovosoftware.com/portal/kb/articles/scripting-or-mass-deploy-switches-for-lanschool-install-22-8-2017 Also make sure that Edge isn't listed in the 'Limit Apps' section of the controlling console for that room / channel / class list. As I mentioned above, we don't have full functionality on Edge yet so we recommend using one of our supported desktop browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari). If you're still having the same problem after all of the above, feel free to PM me and I'll put you in touch with someone who can take a look remotely.

Hi sippo, It sounds like you might be running an older version (v7.x) of LanSchool where a lot of functionality and improvements (speed and efficiency, safeguarding and mobile platform support) were added in v8.0+ I'll drop you a PM with my details if you would like to have a chat about your environment and where v8 might improve things for you. A straight upgrade would probably be your cheapest option and bring you in-line with the latest compatibility and functionality. ~ Adam

Hi perculator, To make the Teacher Consoles visible in the Tech Consoles, you just need to go to Manage > Preferences > Network on the Tech Console. *If you're using no LCS (i.e. all machines are discoverable to each other, single-VLAN), then use 'Broadcast' as your communication method. or *If you're using 1 LCS (i.e. coverage of two or more VLAN's), then use 'Directed Broadcast' as your communication method: Subnet 1 should be your LCS IP Subnet 2 should be 255.255.255.255 or *If you're using 2+ LCS' (i.e. coverage of multiple physical sites or locations), , then use 'Directed Broadcast' as your communication method: Subnet 1 should be your Primary LCS IP Subnet 2 should be your Secondary LCS IP Subnet 3 should be 255.255.255.255 This means student traffic will still be routed via the LCS, but staff machines will still be discoverable over p2p broadcast. Hope that helps - PM me if you need any direct assistance; every purchase of LanSchool comes with a support contract that includes UK remote support (via TeamViewer).

Hi mavhc - not on a timer, but it's easy enough to create a list of domains or website URL's that you want to block and then reduce it to a single-click action to turn it on/off. You might find this post from the sticky useful; http://www.edugeek.net/forums/network-classroom-management/4-disabling-internet-one-room-11.html#post1629758

Hi reprised, As you have probably sussed, the alert itself comes from the Teacher Console that monitors the room, rather than from the server. The LanSchool Teacher Console pushes the keyword list to the Student Client where it is held locally in an encrypted cache (to allow for offline / off-network alerts) When a keystroke match is made, the Student will signal the Teacher(s) on duty, creating the on-screen alert. The Teacher will then recall the keyword, keystroke data and screenshot from the Student client. At this point, the result is then pushed to the Report Server as a permanent record (this is the last action in the chain). The associated timestamp is when the actual keystroke match was made, rather than when the alert appears on the sever. If no Teacher is monitoring the Student when this happens (i.e. student Chromebook taken off-site) the signals will be stored up inside the Student client and then uploaded en masse once a Teacher next connects to them. This means that nothing is ever missed; it just doesn't get logged/reported until the Teacher is brought back in to the equation (i.e. the start of the next class or next school day). For Active Monitoring in a Channel-based environment as you're describing, we would recommend assigning at least one Teacher Console to every Channel. This includes non-classroom environments like your Library. If you want 24/7 active monitoring with no Teachers present, then you can set up an always-on VM with it's own IP, install the Teacher Console on it in Channel 0 (admin channel) and it will monitor all Student's in the background, creating real-time alerts against the Students that aren't being monitored by staff (i.e. after-school use of the ICT labs). We wouldn't recommend using the Ch. 0 Teacher for anything other than this though; as active actions might interfere with the other Teacher Consoles in class. As a background process for this purpose, though, it should be fine. PM me if you would like some more info

@BistTech I've already PM'd you personally, but I would encourage anyone looking for a decent third option to get in touch regarding LanSchool. The product has come a long way in the past couple of years with regards to Network Management (control, deployment tools, inventorying, remote scripting etc), eSafety (keywords, PREVENT, auto-screenshot, keystroke audit logs etc), iPad, VDI and Chromebook support, and web-based Reporting on things like website access, login history and resource utilisation. The cloud / SaaS version (LanSchool Air) will be launching in the UK shortly soon as well, for those who are leaning more towards hosted solutions or unmanaged BYOD. Hopefully we'll be able to show it at BETT. There are video links in my signature for the curious, or feel free to drop me a message to set up a demo if you're interested in looking at alternatives - thanks

Most of the preference/customisation settings are stored in the registry in HKLM (machine-specific settings) or HKCU (user profile-specific settings) This information is stored in the REG_SZ files under HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/LanSchool AllowedApps AllowedURLs BlockedApps BlockedURLs There's nothing in the software that would wipe these keys, they should persist between logins; both one user on one machine, and several different users sharing one machine. I have just tested this now by flipping between three domain logins in the AD group 'LanSchool Teachers' - each one with different customisations/preferences and limit web/app lists. Could there be a reason from your side why this information isn't being stored/retained in HKCU? To enforce this information across all staff machines from a central point, you could set up one Teacher Console as you like, and then copy the newly-updated REG_SZ keys and use a user-based GPO on your staff group to customise and enforce these keys, or a group-based login script to the same effect. PM me if you like - always happy to take a closer look. Our UK support team can also troubleshoot this with you over TeamViewer and hopefully get to the bottom of it

If you're just looking for remote viewing, then LanSchool Lite is free-of-charge for Education and will give you thumbnail-grid view and full-screen remote screen viewing. If you specifically need remote KB/M control then TightVNC as suggested above is great - and of course, you can layer/combine both products for a 'best of both' :-)