Illinois - Gates Foundation Granted Computers

edit: 7/31 Looking for OSv2.adm file

2009-07-14T16:30:50Z

Hello! I am working for my library on onlocking these USB drives for our Gates Foundation Computers. I have followed all the steps on the Dale Jensen driveadmxp.zip guide. When I get to the Policy Template, however, I do not have a C:\WINNT\inf\os.adm. I have a C:\WINDOWS\inf\os.adm. I took them to be the same thing and deleted the file. But when I searched under C:\WINDOWS\inf, I could not find a OSv2.adm file. It also concerned me that the Windows\inf file was transparent instead of opaque like the rest of the file names when I clicked on it.

Not sure where to go from here. There's nothing that looks like another operating system file except the actual os.adm file itself. Any help would be appreciated.

EDIT (7/27): If anyone could send me a copy of the OSv2.adm file, I bet I could get this to work. If you can copy the file from the following directions and send it, that would be great:

http://www.webjunction.org/pacomputing/-/articles/content/1105502?_OCLC_ARTICLES_getContentFromWJ=true

Re: Moving Games from old Gates computers to new Windows XP computers

2005-05-08T19:39:59Z

The easiest is to have both computers on the same network.
Share out the data drive on the GLC that has all the software folders.
From the XP computer, browse to the GLC and copy the folders for all the games to the XP (best practice is to use a seperate data drive or partition, but not necessary).
Once copied, install the games from the folders. Depending on what state you are in, there are several to many of the games that need specific, non-standard installations to run on XP. You can find those instructions in the document here:

Message was edited by: DaleM

Gates will not keep changes made in exec

2009-05-21T18:55:17Z

I have a gates computer that run xp-sp2 and every time I try and change something on the exec side, ie add access to usb drives or add a printer when I restart the computer the changes are no longer present on any profile. What am I doing wrong? I have unlocked the centurion guard program before changing anything.

Gateway e-Series computer

2009-03-02T21:08:04Z

This computer does not work on the Internet and I think it is the Ethernet card. The computers works find otherwise. Does anyone know where and how to get this computer fix or even know about the part and how much the part might cost or if it is worth fixing. The computer was made in January 3, 2003.
Thanks,
Tom

How do you update your public computers?

2009-02-27T22:13:56Z

We have a hundred or so public use computers that are all locked down with the Shared Computer Toolkit or SteadyState. Updates are cumbersome. Has anyone been able to use Windows Server Update Services (WUS)? Any other method of auto updates that you use? I'm not sure if the Windows auto updates work on these. I know they were a problem with the earlier version of the Shared Computer Toolkit, but how about on SteadyState 2.5?
Thank you!
Eric @ Spokane Public Library

Missing Passwords

2008-12-27T18:07:36Z

Our librarian passed away recently and didn't keep up-to-date records. The only profile we can access is the All profile. I believe I have the original Exec password but that's all. I have all the documentation so I do have the Bios password.
I plan to reimage the hard-drive using the software upgrade disks. My question is will I need the original passwords or will the computer be reset where I will set my own?

Welcome to the new PAComputing Home

2008-08-04T19:05:50Z

Welcome!

On the new WebJunction, this is now the place to both discuss issues with the now old Gates Library Computers, and also to find articles and publications about them.

Dale Musselman
WebJunciton

Re: Public Access Computer Configuration Tool checkboxes disabled

2008-07-25T20:02:36Z

And so what - your patrons think they need more than 10 minutes? Just think of it as free time management functionality!

But they do continue to improve it, and the Gates Tool does get further out of date with every new patch - and especially browser version.

But if it's working for you for now...

Re: Public Access Computer Configuration Tool checkboxes disabled

2008-07-18T20:25:00Z

Thanks Dale,

It is /not/ an actual Gates PC. Not having any better ideas, I ended up using the restore partition to return the PC to its original configuration and start from scratch. I installed the PAC Security Tools using a different copy, and I'm not sure which step (or both) made the difference, but we're back up and running.

We've tried SteadyState on one of our new non-Gates PCs and have not been entirely happy with it...Every morning we turn it on only to get a message that the machine will shut down in 10 minutes.

Re: No Access to My Space on some of our computers

2008-07-18T16:21:31Z

First, this will depend on what they really mean by 'can't access'. If they really mean they are blocked from getting to that address, I would first think about any filtering software that might be on these computers. If you are using foltering that is installed on each pc, it could be individual settings or updates.

If it is more about not being able to see content on My Space - you might first just make sure Flash is up to date on these.

Just unlock the Centurion Guard, turn on the pc and log in as exec. Try just going to flash.com and updating flash from there. Then try going to the all account and to My Space from there. If it doesn't work, try going back to exec and to My Space from that account. If you can see content in exec but not all then:

Go to Add/Remove programs and remove the Public Access Computer Profile Restrictions. Then go back to all and update Flash from there like you did in exec. Finally return to exec and run the Public Access Computer Configuration Tool (from the start menu), and replace the Profile restrictions.

Those are just guesses. If they don't help, I would need some more info like:
What exactly happens when trying to go to My Space?
Is it only that site or are others affected?
Is it the same in all and in exec?

Dale

Re: Public Access Computer Configuration Tool checkboxes disabled

2008-07-18T16:13:32Z

Hi -

Sorry for not getting to this sooner, it's a little crazy at WJ these days.

Do you know whether this is an actual Gates PC, or just a computer that someone was using the PAC Security tools on? An actual Gates PC will be a Gateway model, that has a separate D: hard drive partition that contains folders for all the applications and also a Utilities folder. IF that is the case, the files to reinstall the security and profiles are in there. If that isn't the case, let me know.

If this turns out not to be an actual Gates PC, I highly recommend using the current version of Microsoft's SteadyState, which is a much more stable and complete tool than the old Gates tool. You can get more info on it via the link on the left side of this page, under Tools.

Dale

No Access to My Space on some of our computers

2008-07-11T21:28:30Z

We have four Public Gates Computers. Patrons are telling me that they can access MY Space on only two of them.

Why is this?

What settings do I need to change?

Where do I need to start to get them all to have access to My Space? Or for that matter, so that they all have the same access capability?

Please be specific in your instructions, as I am not totally familiar with where to locate items in settings or control panel, (tabs, etc).

Thanks.

Public Access Computer Configuration Tool checkboxes disabled

2008-07-09T19:02:18Z

I'm trying to set up restricted profiles on an XP machine that has either never had the Gates profiles set up or had them set up improperly (I'm not sure which). I uninstalled all the PAC tools listed in Add/Remove Programs and reinstalled the Public Access Computer Configuration Tool files. Now when I run the tool the program comes up but all the choices (System Restrictions, Profiles, and Profile Restrictions) are disabled, so I can check any box, and I can't install anything.

Does anyone know what's going on here?

Thanks,

Owen

Re: Removing profile restrictions has no effect

2008-06-28T20:35:52Z

Having tried the "easiest fix" already, I tried your suggestion to remove the Profile Restrictions and the Profiles themselves. Following that procedure did the trick. After the profiles were restored, I was able to unlock the all profile as expected.

Thank you!

Re: Removing profile restrictions has no effect

2008-06-27T23:39:04Z

Sounds like maybe the Policy didn't get removed.

Check and see if the C:\Policy folder is still there. It is normally deleted when you remove profile restrictions.

The easiest fix to try is to replace and then removing profile restrictions again. Again check to see if the Policy folder is now gone.

The next step is to remove first Profile Restrictions, then the Profiles themselves. [Doing this will mean losing any custom settings you've added to the public profile.]

After removing Profiles, make sure both C:\Policy and C:\Profiles folders are gone. If not, delete them manually.

Then run the Configuration tool and replace the Profiles only. This should give you a new, refreshed set of unlocked profiles, minus any changes you have made to them.

Dale

Removing profile restrictions has no effect

2008-06-25T13:23:53Z

I'm trying to remove profile restrictions in order to change which installed printer is the default. When I uninstall "Public Access omputer Profile Restrictions and log in to the all profile, it doesn't seem as if the restrictions have been removed. I still can't access the full start menu. I've just done the same process on 5 other computers, so I'm pretty sure I'm following the right procedure.

What could be going wrong?

Re: Drive image

2008-06-06T13:31:18Z

Acronis and Ghost are two very popular drive imaging utilities. Both should work well regardless of the environment.

You may first want to create a reference (base image) PC with generic settings for any options you know will require changing post image (primarily Computer Name and DHCP Addressing). Turn off any type of Disk protection. Configure all your software and user profiles. Then backup your base image to DVD or use that PC to build any additional PCs.

You can then make your post images changes which still beats rebuiding manually from scratch.

John

Re: Remove profile restrictions also removes profiles!

2008-05-09T21:40:17Z

Interesting - so it's not really removing the profiles, just losing their location. It is correct for Profiles folder to be in place and Policy folder to be gone when restrictions are removed.

A few things you might try:
- First, and easy one. Go into C:\Documents and Settings\ and delete any copies of the all profile (but not All Users). And then go to User Management and look at the Properties of All, and make sure the Profile path is specified as C:\Profiles.

If that didn't help then:

- Look in D:\Utilities\ to make sure you can find a copy of the PAC configuration tool - it may be buried a bit, I can't remember the exact path. If you find it, go ahead and remove all restrictions and profiles, run that 8338 tool, and remove the remaining PAC applications from Add/Remove.
- Then run a checkdisk, or other drive scanning ;just to make sure you don't have any corruption in the place where the Profiles are being stored. And double-check that C:\Profiles is gone, and that the user accounts are gone.
- Run the installation to install the Configuration tool. then run the tool to install the profiles clean.

Alternately, if you have another of these close by, you could delete C:\Profiles completely and copy over the same folder from another Gates computer (this only works because the machines are exact clones). This is quicker but probably less likely to help.

About the printer - probably too late for your current situation, but if you are printing to a network enabled printer via a TCP/IP port, you can also just add it as a local printer under exec, and it should show up in the public accounts. The tricky part can be if there is a second printer, you sometimes still need to unlock the profiles if you need to change the default.

Re: Remove profile restrictions also removes profiles!

2008-05-09T15:30:20Z

Thanks for your reply, Dale.

Yes, before I remove profile restrictions, all 5 elements are present in add/remove programs. But after removing profile restrictions, both restrictions and profiles are gone from list. The C:\Profiles folder is still there, and My computer | Manage | Users shows that all's profile is in C:\Profiles, but when all logs in, the "...can't find your roaming profile..." messages appear.

I ran the 8338.exe tool and reinstalled, but still get the same result.

The C:\Policy folder is gone.

I am trying to add a network printer, and we've done this successfully in three other branches by removing profile restrictions, adding the printer to each profile and restoring the restrictions.

Do you know if the 8338.exe tool _completely_ removes all changes made by the Gates software, such that a reinstall of it should leave the machine in a state that wouldn't require a complete reinstall of XP and all apps before rebuilding profiles?

Re: Remove profile restrictions also removes profiles!

2008-05-08T21:39:44Z

It would help to get a little more detail on exactly what you are seeing when you do this. If you go to Add/Remove Programs in exec, you should see 5 entries relevant to the profiles and restrictions:
- Public Access Computer Build Profile
- Public Access Computer Installer
- Public Access Computer Profile Restrictions
- Public Access Computer Profiles
- Public Access Computer System Restrictions

So verify that you are seeing all of those. If not which are you missing?
And then you are removing only Public Access Computer Profile Restrictions? And when you do, the profiles no longer there, but Public Access Computer Profiles is still showing in the list?
If that is all true, could you check one other thing? Take a look at your C: drive, and tell me if you see Profiles and Policy folders.

BTW - depending on the particular kind of printer you are adding, you may not even need to remove the restrictions. Normally you only need to if you are adding a network printer, where you are printing through another computer that is acting as a print server. Otherwise you can usually just add the printer under exec.

Dale