Rockpile99

VEEAM works with many cloud storage providers so licence & storage fees are separate. Like Ollidawg said, Peasoup will also sell you VEEAM licences along with the storage.

No idea how well it would with RM network (20 years or so since I was last near one); We support a couple of Primary schools that are single Hyper-V server with a few VMs. The VMs have VEEAM windows agent installed which backup to Peasoup Cloud. Very simple and relatively low cost to implement. For my main Secondary school location we've been using VEEAM Enteprise for years - it backs up to local storage and cloud (again, pretty simple to set up). Prices vary based on number of backed up VMs and backup data size ...

This is a follow on to a post I created in 2022 - https://www.edugeek.net/forums/topic/207320-capturing-windows-11-with-mdt-how-i-did-it/ I tried but putting the info in the post body but the site keept blocking me for 'security reasons', so it's attached instead - hope it's useful capturing Win11 with MDT.pdf

"Convert or die"? We have staff who's attitude is "you can take SMART notebook from my cold dead hands" (but thankfully they're in the minority)

Agree 100% with what tmoon-mint said. Been using AD activation for a few years now and it's so much easier (and reliable) than KMS. MS will provide KMS keys without any fuss - just fill out a support request via https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/supportrequestform/2afa6f15-b710-db46-909a-8346017c802f?sl=en-gb&sc=GB telling them agreement number and product etc (they were back to me within minutes last time).

We deploy the basic (free) version of SMART notebook on all our teacher laptops. Those that use SMART notebook seem to manage quite well on a mix of SMART boards, dumb TVs, and BenQ Android smart panels. The only real gripe I've had back is the watermark that appears in notebook when not conencted to actual SMART board.

I too remember the woes of using a CC3 network from early in my career, but we've been using RM broadband & Safetynet for many years now and it's been rock solid. We recently upgraded our package for higher capacity and that process went without a hitch.

VEEAM to backup all cluster VMs to a seperate building and Google drive app to copy most critical .vib files to the cloud.

So far during my testing I've managed to deploy Windows 11 to all of our PC and laptop models (many of which are over ten years old) so Microsoft's hardware requirements are really all about sales. I even got it working on a 2010 iMac just because I was bored one day. Will we be moving to Windows 11 any time soon? In all honesty I don't see the point - our LTSC version of Windows 10 will be supported for many years to come and is working well for everyone. If anyone is desperate for rounded corners and a more annoying start menu then I'll put it one their machine but otherwise I'm choosing not to complicate my life.

Just in the testing stages so only got it on my PC and a couple of loan laptops but no issues so far. When deployed via MDT it works on any of our hardware that has a TPM chip and UEFI (this includes some 2014 Dell E5430's). I've used Group Policy registry settings to put Start button back to it's proper location and set colours so haven't needed to install Win 11 admx templates etc. Given that our version of Windows 10 will be supported until the end of the decade I'm in no rush to deploy it en mass.

Thanks for the tips mobrien and slugshead Like I said, we're a long from deploying Win11 throughout the school - this was all done as research and the information shared for anyone who might find it useful. I had no problem deploying W11 through a standard TS (either captured image or from W11 ISO) - just needed to add a cleanup script for the bloatware. I know everyone has their own preferences but updating a W10 image once a year isn't that big a problem for me. I keep a Hyper-V checkpoint of the reference VM so it's a just a case of doing any Windows updates and any app changes then capturing (usually around an hour's work). Most of our apps are deployed during the TS or targetted via Group Policy but we have some apps that can't be done this way. It also cuts down the number of Windows updates a re-imaged computer has to do. Cheers

We're a long way from deploying Win 11 where I work but I had some time whilst recovering from Covid ... Lots of problems with capturing Win 11 and various instructions/fixes on the internet but not in one place. Here's what worked for me in case anyone finds it useful; Updated MDT server with latest ADK and the ‘boot loop’ hotfix. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/topic/windows-10-deployments-fail-with-microsoft-deployment-toolkit-on-computers-with-bios-type-firmware-70557b0b-6be3-81d2-556f-b313e29e2cb7 Updated deployment share and fully regenerated boot images Added Windows 11 Enterprise Operating system to MDT (Note MDT operating system description still shows as Windows 10 but you can rename) Created ‘Capture’ Task Sequence using the Windows 11 operating system. Edited the Capture TS to include the following two ‘run command line’ steps between ‘Add Mass storage drivers’ and ‘Execute Sysprep’; cmd /c reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Appx" /v "AllowDeploymentInSpecialProfiles" /t "REG_DWORD" /d "1" /f cmd.exe /c powershell.exe -executionpolicy bypass -file "%SCRIPTROOT%\fixsysprep.ps1" Where ‘fixsysprep.ps1’ is the script provided by Microsoft to get around OneDrive breaking Sysprep. See the comment by JonathanConway77 on 2/3/2022 in https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/596112/windows-111-mdt-sysprep-failure-onedrive.html?page=2&pageSize=10&sort=oldest for an explanation. Get your reference machine ready (in my case it was a VM on Hyper-V) and don’t forget to run Windows Update until no updates are found. I launch the capture TS by opening \\MDT-Server\deploymentshare$\scripts and running the BDD_Autorun.wsf script and choosing the relevant capture TS via the wizard. After the ‘Execute Sysprep’ step of the TS, my VM rebooted, opened the ‘choose TS wizard’, and failed to proceed to the ‘Create WIM’ step. To fix this I did the following; Cancelled the TS until I was back in command prompt (with drive letter X) and did the following in diskpart list disk select disk 0 select part 3 assign letter=c exit Then ran “startnet.cmd” from the command line (as per ) After that the capture worked (with just two warnings about creating WebService class) I imported captured WIM to MDT and then deployed with standard TS

I don't just want the video feed... The website is a replacement for the current OneLan digital signage, so it shows date & time, image sliders, and announcements etc. The feed would be embedded into the page and form an additional (but not essential) component ....

Hello. This isn't urgent (and probably not possible) but I'm curious if anyone has succeeded; I'm trying to show the feed from our Exterity IPTV gateway via a Wordpress website (at the moment we display via OneLan digital signage system but that's on its last legs and will shortly be replaced by Raspberry Pi's running in Kiosk mode to show the Wordpress site). I've searched all over the net, but other than uploading the feed to a third party service like YouTube and using the 'VideoWhisper' or similar plugin nobody seems to have an answer (the feed I want to show is BBC news so using third party isn't really a viable solution). The output from Exterity is in UDP/RTP format, which apps like VLC will play but most Wordpress plugins I've found won't recognise, so I've used 'UDPXY' on a Linux server to rebroadcast as http. Any help/hints gratefully received.

2015 LTSB has been 'rock solid' for us without any of the problems people on CB seem to be having.

All our Desktops (roaming and local) are redirected and locked down (though different for staff and students). Documents folder is also redirected to Home drive for all users. Makes it safe to purge all roaming profiles (usually once a term) to keep things moving along nicely (our bottle neck is elderly student computers rather than network/servers).

I never know about 'supposed' when it comes to SIMS but if it helps, our SQLBAK file in Menubat contains information from 2004 so probably not for us (though we back up the whole virtual machine using VEEAM)

@leegcvcc - it's not just you with the shozzle. I also have to look after CCTV, electronic doors, ID badges, boards & projectors, lift access, cashless catering, website, ad-hoc support for two primary schools, and do the technician's job in school holidays (there used to be an additional FT techie but the HT wouldn't fill the post after he left). @everyone else - thanks for sharing and your fast responses, it's appreciated.

Well I certainly live in Dursley but couldn't possibly comment on where I work

Hopefully this is the right place to ask... Our school governors have asked for a comparison between our IT Support department and other secondary schools (I get the impression they're trying to push out-sourcing). In particular they're looking at my experience and skill set. Would any network managers mind responding with just a very general breakdown of their departments and schools? By way of information I work in LA controlled secondary school with around 1200 pupils. I have one Technician with basic AD/OS deployment skills to do the 'day to day' user support and I handle everything else. We use G Suite for Education on around 800 mixed Windows,Chrome, and OSX devices, Hyper-V for our server environment (mainly 2012 R2 and 2016 with a couple of Linux VMs), Cisco for our networking (including wireless), and I've been doing this for nearly 20 years across industry, local government, and education. I understand that this is a big ask but any help will be gratefully received. Thank you.