VBS Scripters

[Jim]

I've fairly inexperience with scripting & have only done a few basic ones in my career.

Looking at the LoginScript.VBS my new company uses, I got an interest in tweaking it.

Other than mapping printers & network shares, what else are you guys using VBS scripts through Group Policy for?

I just built a new print server, so my initial plan is mapping printers though OU and network shares through Group Membership.

[Paul_E_D]

The only other vbs script I have pushes out a little process that allows the filter to grant privileges by OU/group membership.

Otherwise, I do exactly what you are planning.

[Jim]

i have also have a function to remove all the legacy print server connections, but it's currently commented out.

we also have a function to rename the My Computer to the PC name. it makes things easier for us when we're bouncing around servers & workstations.

and yes i do use BGinfo on my servers, if anyone was going to suggest that.

[Jim]

Paul, do you use FQDN on your mappings? It wasn't on there, but I have updated all the connections to use full DNS name.

[Paul_E_D]

no, Ha! I just grab simple scripts of the web or have legacy scripts. I haven't really bothered tweaking them. I'm not a script guy either...

Right now, I only map group shares via script. Home drives were set up in AD under the profile tab. I have occasional mapping failures though. Especially on laptops. I have the policy to always wait for the network at logon enforced, but often the drive maps to the share level, not the user folder... Annoying.

So anyway, I want to try mapping home drives via vbs script. I'm also wondering if it can tell programs like office to default to the home drive. One issue stopping me is that I have some user folder names that don't match their usernames and I have been too lazy to change them all. These problems all stem from roaming profiles gone bad before I got here.

[TheIglu]

Paul, you guys use Gmail Apps for a lot right?

If I were you, I'd apply to get into the ChromeOS pilot program....

http://www.google.com/chromeos/pilot-program.html

From what I heard, the more you already are integrated into Google Apps, the more likely they will get you into the program.

[Paul_E_D]

Iglu, interesting, but I'm trying to REDUCE headaches. Lol!

We just migrated to apps, but I can't see getting away from windows/AD. teachers have a lot of stuff on this server...

[TheIglu]

Great for students though. I applied to get a few notebooks in here so we can test going "into the cloud" on a limited basis.

I can really see the benefit if you are a school-provided 1-1 laptop school. Teachers continue using their Windows based machines, students are provided a ChromeOS notebook.

[TheIglu]

To keep this on topic:

I looked into using scripting to map printers through Group Policy, but the arguments required are kind of a bitch. We used to use a little executable called "con2prt.exe". Just load it into a network accessable location (in the scripts folder on the AD server works well) and toss a couple arguments at it and it'll map the printers for you. Simple batch file compared to the "proper" way.

I have the executable if anyone wants it. It's old, but works well.

[Jim]

I looked into using scripting to map printers through Group Policy, but the arguments required are kind of a bitch. We used to use a little executable called "con2prt.exe". Just load it into a network accessable location (in the scripts folder on the AD server works well) and toss a couple arguments at it and it'll map the printers for you. Simple batch file compared to the "proper" way.

I have the executable if anyone wants it. It's old, but works well.

if you're using and 2003 A/D, then you can deploy printers through GPO. That's how I had it set up wit my new print server here, but it was much easier to just use a single VBS to assign printers through OU in the A/D. if I wanted to use Print Management to deploy through GPO, I would have to create a GPO for every OU...no thanks.

[Paul_E_D]

Great for students though. I applied to get a few notebooks in here so we can test going "into the cloud" on a limited basis.

I can really see the benefit if you are a school-provided 1-1 laptop school. Teachers continue using their Windows based machines, students are provided a ChromeOS notebook.

That would be awesome. I might try to move students over to google docs for file creation/storage and just drop office all together. might be a simple way to head for the cloud.

[TheIglu]

Nevermind the 9 second bootup times.....

Completely interchangeable computers with no locally stored data....great for students who like to toss their computers off the top bunk.