Drive Mapping

[bazzert]

I've a piece of software in use at the school that requires a mapped drive with full control for the users (for licensing). Problem is the pupils are messing about and creating files in the directory.

Is there any way to map a drive but not have it shown in My Computer. I've tried hiding the drive but the software doesn't function anymore.

 

[Saugilsr]

I don't have a solution for you. But I wanted to let you know Im have the *EXACT* same problem. I have to go into that directory at least once a week to clean out all the gunk the students drop. And I've tried every number of combinations for NTFS and share permissions. But most of the time the software fails.

What I have thought of is trying to keep the problem to a minimum by putting the software on a drive and giving the students like a minute size quota. That way they can write jsut enough to make the software happy and not be able to fill the drive with useless data.. (If I find one more nintendo emulator ill go nutz!). I havn't tested this yet but in theory it should work.

Let me know if you try it or come up with another solution.

 

[basst]

You can hide drives by downloading and installing the free Microsoft Powertoys utility. Once installed, click Start | Programs | Powertoys for XP | Tweak UI. Under My Computer | Drives remove the tick from the drives you want to hide. If you are not running Windows XP then download the Powertoy utility for your operating system. TweakUI is located in control panel for older systems but the location to hide drives is in the same place. Aternatively, you can edit the registry as follows:
Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Name: NoDrives
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Value: varies - see below

To calculate the value to use, add up the following codes for the drives that you want to hide:
A=1
B=2
C=4
D=8
E=16
F=32

For instance to hide the E and F drives, the value would be 48.

As always, use caution and frequent backups when editing the Registry

 

[bazzert]

Thanks for your feedback the disk quota idea might just work and is worth investigating.

Don't know why I didn't think about tweakui I'd seen the option before. I'll just have to check and see if it works now.

 

[bazzert]

Saugilsr how are the students getting it onto the server. I don't allow students access to USB, CD or floppy drives. I use Ranger and do a title check for 'download' this stops them from downloading anything from the web.

If they really need anything off the web then they have to see our technician who has to vet the download. Files to be copied from disk can be done by members of staff though they needed to be informed about ZIP/EXE files and large files where the extension had been changed to mask real content.

There are apps that enable you to block files from running, so even if they install something you can block the file from from executing, this really annoys students.

No doubt bright students will find loopholes. I use Ranger to look to see what apps are being run on the network/clients, you soon spot apps you've never seen before or are only running on one machine.

The quota idea will only work on a partition and not a mapped drive. Also Tweakui only works on machine its installed on. So it would need to be rolled out to every client and options set correctly. Should be possible but a bit messy.

 

[Saugilsr]

Right the quota Idea will only work if the data is on a drive where essentialy the students don't need to write on it at all. Which is why i havn't been able to test it because I don't have a free parition somewhere to move it.

I control the students with GPO so that can't install anything. Which they hate with a pasion.. but they are alot of movies and games that don't need to be installed and are just downloaded that they just dump there because there quotas on their home drives won't allow it.

Is this the software you mentioned?

http://www.stonecomputers.com/store/ranger.cfm

Looks interesting.
I think there needs to be a Education Admin Forum on here. ;-)

 

[bazzert]

Yes thats it. It was already in place when I joined the school though not set up properly.

Has lots of nice features, like account manager when you create a new account with it, the network share for the user is created with all the correct share/security permissions.

The disk quota is useful as it doesn't stop you working just keeps displaying a dialog box every 10 secs (thats what I have mine set as).

You can set illegal drives, all but network share and area with course work are banned on my network.

Title check as I've described is very useful, basically you can add words that appear in the title bar in IE and if detected just closes IE. I've managed to block most online games sites with this.

Lots of other features, probably worth downloading the manual (not the best) and have a look. Things like taking away control panel, accessories my network places etc are easily set by tick boxes,. Just a bit of an easier way to navigate most of the group policy setings.

Ranger isn't cheap but is a great way to control everything. For instance I've taken away the option to right click, stops a lot of mischief.

One other piece of software I've installed is called Browse Control, this is great if you've got you machines arranged in suites as it allows you to allow/deny internet access instantly. Staff like this as they can have no access for one lesson if necessary. Internet access can be scheduled as well so if not needed for certain periods each week its easy to set up. The software also has app blocking and URL blocking, both of these act instantly.

Idea for education admin forum seems a good idea to me.