Environmental variable, Windows XP and Windows 2000

[bkonner]

Howdy,

Is there a way using environmental variables to tell the difference between Windows 2000 and Windows XP in a login script? I want to use the utility con2prt to setup network printers on Windows 2000 professional workstations, but I don't think you can use the con2prt.exe utility on Windows XP (hopefully I am wrong).

Thanks!

bkonner

 

[hewissa]

This article may be what you are looking for to enable XP to network print...

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314486

Could you not but your 2K and XP machines in diferent OU's and have them run the coresponding script using a gpo? Hewissa

MCSE, CCNA, CIW

 

[bkonner]

Thanks for your reply, I will check it out.

I am the network administrator for a school system just south of Boston. We have 3700 users and abut 1500 computers (100 more coming soon). The network consists of both Linux servers and W2K servers. I am running three operating systems on the desktops (Windows 98, Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows XP Professional). There are computers in every classroom, from two to eight, and there are 21 computer labs. Users move about from computer to computer, so moving operating systems (comuters) into Organizational Units is not a possibility. As it is I have four Organizational Units at each school depending on the security needs of the group, so adding OU's would slow down the servers. In any given day a student will use all three types of operating systems. The school system has been very generous is making sure we are up to date with equipment, so my equipment is very good. I am moving away from Windows 98 to XP Professional, but there have been a lot of issues runnning XP in an environment like mine. Networking in a school environment is really a challenge, given that computers are different and users move around a lot; this is especially a problem with video cards and user preferences (My older computers are Pentium II 350 MHZ while my latest computers are Pentium Iv running at 2.4 gigs). Microsoft really did not think about an environment like mine when they build W2K and Windows XP. But Windows 98 is now five years old and has to go. Sorry for my complaining and going on and on, but my job is really a challenge. I really hate how Microsoft uses roaming profiles; I mean why do servers need to have your profile on it? I am more of a Unix guy then a Windows guy!

Thanks!

 

[hewissa]

I understand your plight, I'm a Consultant for a school district here in California.

I don't quite follow yor reasoning for Computers in OUs. "Users move about from computer to computer, so moving operating systems (comuters) into Organizational Units is not a possibility." What does roving users have to do with computers in OUs? Simply assign your 2K computers to an organizational unit within the Domain.

You also state "As it is I have four Organizational Units at each school depending on the security needs of the group, so adding OU's would slow down the servers." How and why would dividing up AD into workable OUs slow your servers? The 2K & XP clients are registered in AD whether they are in 4 OUs or 1 big one. There isn't any active processing done by the server that continually consumes resources. The account is registered and the server moves on. If there are changes to AD those changes are replicated, not the entire AD. Furthermore, replication can be scheduled to occur during low traffic times accross the net.

" In any given day a student will use all three types of operating systems." When a user is authenticated on a 2K or XP machine, yes their roaming profile is pushed to the local machine, but once there it is stored on the client and checked against the roaming profile for changes. Thats why the 1st time a user logs on it take 3 minutes (approx) for their account to open...after that it takes seconds. Put the roamng profiles on a robust server so that it can handle such strain....

How I have our Domain structured is this:

District - 1 domain

10 Schools - 10 sites

Sites - 2 - 4 DC's generally 1 F/P server

Sites Main OUs - DC's, Computers (with sub ous for Staff and Students), accounts (Staff and students).....

That controls the 2K/XP machines. 9x are governed by Sytem Policies and logon scripts.

So really, MS did have school structures in mind.

Is your Domain a 2K AD domain?

Why do all your students need roaming profiles? Give them home directories and control desktops by gpo or config.pol policies. Make a login script to map users home directories on the 9x machines. I find roaming profiles more trouble then what they are worth...you are not forced to use them, they are there as an option. Servers retain the profiles when asked to as a means to centralize administration. Plus it is easier to backup profiles and home directories in one spot, then across the network.

Sorry to ramble....hope that clears some of the confusion.

Hewissa

MCSE, CCNA, CIW

 

[bkonner]

Howdy,

I am not sure why you want me to put the W2K and WXP desktops in Organizational Units. What would that do for me?

Microsoft recommends that you do not use more than five Organizational Units (OU), so I could add one more, but again, I am not sure how this will help me. At each school, I have four OU's based on the security needs of the user. I have three domain controllers at the high school, one for each building. I keep printers local to the building, so printers are stored on three different f/p servers in each building (I am doing this because the high school is going to be renovated starting next month, and incase fiber gets cut (some constructions guy will screw up!), I want to protect myself so that users can still use the network, login, and print until the fiber is fixed. This is my second renovation of a school, and I learned from the last one two years ago. Like you, I use mapped drives in login scripts. And all users save their stuff on one of seven servers in the WAN. But I have had problems with printers because of XP and W2K.

I have a question for you. How do you handle printers? In the high school and middle school I have upwards of 50 network printers in each school, I also have local printers attached to some desktops (usually deskjet color printers). I restrict student's adding or deleting printers. In my network every classroom has at least three computers, usually six, and one network printer and sometimes a slaved color printer. I want every user who logs onto the local computer in the classroom to have access to all the printers available in the classroom or computer lab. Right now I am installing printers through the login script, but I don't think this is the best way to do this. In Windows 2000 their is a way to set up the local computer and then move the default user's profile on the local machine to cover all network user's who logon, but this is a pain in the butt! I have 3062 students, 600 faculty, and about 1500 desktops and 4.5 people who maintain the network (one person teaches too). I clone all computers and try to have as few images as possible, though I still have 40 Ghost images. I try to manage network resources from the servers through the login scripts. So how do I handle setting up the printers as each user moves around the network?

Thanks for your help.

bkonner