Active Directory Rollout

[jeffers]

Morning all,

We are just taking the plinge and going to rollout version 4 using AD. The only issue is that you cannot use the command line switches to set the passwords. Having not used v4 yet is this something that can be done after rollout or does someone have a MST file that can be used to set this option?

Regards,

Paul

[meastaugh1]

Yep, you can use a transform file (.mst) to set the PASSWORD and PASSWORD2 properties to set your connection password.

[jeffers]

ok, being really dense here do we just have a single line saying:

PASSWORD=

Then save it with a .mst extension?

Regards,

Paul

[meastaugh1]

Not quite that simple I'm afraid. You'll need an MSI editor capable of creating MSTs. Orca is a nice simple one to start with. It's Microsoft's table editor. It's part of the Windows Installer SDK, but I'm sure you can download it by itself if you google for it.

Open the MSI in Orca, then select New Transform from the Transform menu. Select the Property table in the left hand pane, then right click and create a new row in the right hand pane. Label the property PASSWORD and the value will be your connection password. Repeat for the property PASSWORD2.

Select Generate Transform from the Transform menu and give it a name.

As you're probably aware, you'll need to specify the transform under the modifications tab of the package entry in the GPO.

Something to watch out for is the permissions you set on your transform. You should ensure that it can only be read by the computers that are installing it, and not available to be read by users. If a malicious user got hold of the transform, they could install ABTC to a machine with your connection password, then shutdown/reboot/logoff all your workstations etc.

[jeffers]

Thanks for that.

I found ORCA at:

http://astebner.sts.winisp.net/Tools/Orca.zip

If anyone else wants a standalone dfownload of.

Regards,

Paul

[Malecky]

Hi,

I still have a problem rolling out tutor via LNM (learning network manager).

After tutor is installed when I go to control panel/system/display devices there is an unknown device which is a part of AB tutor. (ABC mirror driver).

How can I fix th msi so this will not happen?

Thank you for your help

Grega

[meastaugh1]

I assume the driver isn't installed because it's not WHQL'd and the account installing ABTC does not have permission to install drivers that aren't signed?

As I understand it the mirror driver isn't essential to operation and is there to improve performance. I had the same problem, so set the INSTALL_MIRROR_DRIVER property to 0 in the MSI which prevents the installer from attempting to install the mirror driver.

[Malecky]

Ok, I will disable the mirror, but how noticable is it? I have 2 classrooms with over 20 units to cover.

But as for the permissions... LNM installs the MSI prior to launch of the account itself so it sure has all the rights possible.

Or Microsoft really wants to keep it WHQL-ized.

Thank you for your help

[meastaugh1]

I've only ever really noticed poor performance on remote control of a client, demo and watch are fine. And even then, it's not that bad, provided that network bandwidth isn't already near saturation.

If performance isn't up to scratch, you could try changing the driver signing policy on a client to Ignore, to see whether that allows successful installation. However doing this will likely mean your workstations are vulnerable to users loading any old unsigned driver.

[VRBones]

Kudos for the link to orca. The proxy server upstream kept a corrupt version of the web install of the SDK, so I couldn't get it that way :/

We had new machines placed onto the network for this new year that accepted the install over AD without a hitch, however older machines that already had ABTutor on them complained about the mirror driver. V.wierd