Roaming Computing System (Windows Edition) 3.3 - Release Notes
Contents
- Known Issues
- Software Applications
- Deployment
- Server
- Miscellaneous
- Upgrading from Version 3.3 to 3.3 Update 2
- Upgrading from Version 3.3 to 3.3 Update 1
- Upgrading from Version 3.2 to 3.3
- WPKG
- Workstations
- Windows User Profiles
- Server
Known Issues
Software Applications
- Thunderbird asks users if they want it to be the default mail program. Manually set it as default in Control Panel → Internet Options → Programs. If set this as administrator (or Power User?) it sets it per-machine; if set it as non-administrator (or non-Power User?) it sets it per-user. Fixed in RCS (Windows Edition) 3.4 and TWEAK 0.9.4.
- Internet Explorer (IE) can become the default web browser (after installing IE7?) It may be worth setting, as administrator, that IE doesn't check if it's the default. You can set Firefox as default web browser in Control Panel → Internet Options → Programs. If set this as administrator (or Power User?) it sets it per-machine; if set it as non-administrator (or non-Power User?) it sets it per-user. Fixed in RCS (Windows Edition) 3.4 and TWEAK 0.9.4..
- Is it OK that Internet Explorer says "Your security setting level puts your computer at risk"?
- Notepad++ is very slow to startup
Deployment
Install
- Inkscape complains if a previous user installed it than is installing the update i.e. SYSTEM and Administrator - fixed in RCS (Windows Edition) 3.4 by adding an acceptable error level of 2
Upgrade
- Pidgin OTR - not silent - "pidgin-otr was already found on your system and will first be uninstalled - OK - Are you sure you want to completely remove pidgin-otr 3.1.0-1 and all of its components? - YES/NO - pidgin-otr 3.1.0-1 was successfully removed from your computer"
- UltraVNC - doesn't pull in the settings file on upgrade so we can't deploy changed settings
- Notepad++ - not silent - waits for you to answer a prompt: "functionlist.dll - due to a problem of compatibility with this version functionlist.dll is about to be deleted...". This came about since Notepad++ 5.0.0.
Removal
- Ogg Codecs - isn't quiet, requiring you to answer prompts, so isn't compatible with automated removal
- Kompozer - file not found - %PROGRAMFILES%\kompozer\unins000.exe
- Ghostscript - can't find uninstgs.exe
- F-Prot - removal - error 1619 (could Add/Remove Programs' 'F-Prot Antivirus Updater Fix' pose problems?)
Server
- With UPS software installed, get "cannot execute /etc/init.d/powerfail" - there's no such thing as /etc/init.d/powerfail - see man upsd
- Though we install the Goldfish mail auto responder, we don't yet understand how to use it
Miscellaneous
- WINS not working for VPN clients - may now be fixed with pfSense settings update, needs testing
- Scribus installs over a previous version, leaving mention of the previous version in Windows' Add/Remove Programs. If you use Add/Remove Programs to uninstall, it points to the latest version of Scribus now not the previous.
Upgrading from Version 3.3 Update 1 to 3.3 Update 2
WPKG
- Update Firefox to 3.0.4
Use either WinSCP or FileZilla or similar to copy Firefox Setup 3.0.4.exe to /usr/windows-admin/wpkg/packages/firefox/. Or login to Windows as winadmin and copy Firefox Setup 3.0.4.exe to \\server\windows-admin\wpkg\packages\firefox\ - Update Thunderbird to 2.0.0.18
Use either WinSCP or FileZilla or similar to copy Thunderbird Setup 2.0.0.18.exe to /usr/windows-admin/wpkg/packages/thunderbird/. Or login to Windows as winadmin and copy Firefox Setup 3.0.4.exe to \\server\windows-admin\wpkg\packages\thunderbird\ - Update packages.xml to 1.4.4:
Use either WinSCP or FileZilla or similar to copy packages.xml to /usr/windows-admin/wpkg/. Or login to Windows as winadmin and copy packages.xml to \\server\windows-admin\wpkg\
Upgrading from Version 3.3 to 3.3 Update 1
WPKG
- Update to packages.xml 1.4.3
- Update Firefox to 3.0.3
- Update Thunderbird to 2.0.0.17
Windows User Profiles
- Disable Picasa's media detector loading on login - TWEAK: B → 2 → P
Workstations
- Update TWEAK to 0.9.3
- Disable Adobe Speed Launcher - TWEAK: B → A → L
Upgrading From Version 3.2 to 3.3
If you're upgrading from an even earlier version you should follow the upgrade advice for each version.
WPKG
Copy the updated WPKG directory to the server. This includes packages.xml, profiles.xml, hosts.xml and all the application installers. Use either scp, WinSCP or FileZilla. If you copy it via Windows / Samba as winadmin then permissions should be OK. If you copy it as root then you'll need to set permissions: chmod u+rwx,g+rwsx,o+rx /usr/windows-admin/wpkg/* -R
Workstations
Use this when upgrading existing workstations rather than setting them up from scratch.
- Get TWEAK 0.9.3 from http://thegoldenear.org/tweak/
- The recommended size for C: has increased from 7GB to 10GB (because MS Office 2007, which could plausibly be installed, requires 3GB)for a standard workstation and from 10GB to 15GB for graphics / layout workstations with Adobe CS (to cope with Adobe CS3). This is recommended but not essential.
- The recommended size for D: has increased from 5GB to 10GB for a standard workstation and from 10GB to 15GB for graphics / layout workstations with Adobe CS (making there's room to write a dual layer DVD rather than only a single layer DVD).
- Windows Configuration - an option has been added to TWEAK to respond to ping requests [TWEAK: K → A]
- UltraVNC - an option has been added to TWEAK to allow traffic to the VNC Server [TWEAK: K → B]
- FileZilla - an option has been added to TWEAK to prevent FileZilla prompting users with update notifications [TWEAK: B → FZ → A]
- IrfanView - TWEAK's config pointed to wrong GIMP binary [TWEAK: B → I → A]
- Firefox - global prefs specifically for Firefox 3 rather than Firefox 2 [TWEAK: B → F → A2]
- Programs that were installed will add shortcuts that you should remove [TWEAK: D → A]
- Windows XP SP3 - you possibly have to login again after SP3, as an administrator, for some of the installation to finish
Windows User Profiles
Use this when upgrading existing Windows user profiles rather than setting them up from scratch.
- Refresh shortcuts (shortcuts removed: Adobe Reader, Dia, GTK+; shortcuts fixed: GIMP) [TWEAK: D → F; E]
- IrfanView - TWEAK's config pointed to wrong GIMP binary [TWEAK: B → I → G]
- OpenOffice - if its launcher is present in Start → Programs → Startup then it will auto load when log in, in which case it will prompt to upgrade the OpenOffice profile. A new launcher for the new version of OpenOffice will be added abd the old one left, you should delete the old one. If there is no launcher in startup you should run OpenOffice manually to initiate the upgrade.
- Adblock Plus - run Firefox and when prompted choose 'EasyList (USA)' → Subscribe
- Picasa - Picasa Media Detector is now started per-user rather than per-machine. Consequently you should turn it off for existing users using TWEAK: B → 2 → P
Server
Use this when upgrading an existing server rather than setting one up from scratch.
From Samba server guide 0.9.1 - 23 Sept 2008
- Windows Administration Area's 'chmod g+ws,o-x /usr/windows-admin' didn't allow WPKG's winuser account access to packages for auto installation so changed to 'chmod g+ws /usr/windows-admin'. To make this change now:
chmod o+x /usr/windows-admin
From Samba server guide 0.9.0 - 17 June 2008
- Changed location of restricted sub-group from /home/<ORGANISATION>/<sub-group> to /home/<ORGANISATION>/restricted/<sub-group>. Added (commented out) corresponding [restricted] share. This scales better, when you have a number of groups, instead of a drive letter for each we now have R: for them all.
mkdir /home/<organisation>/restricted
chmod 0770 /home/<organisation>/restricted
mkdir /home/<organisation>/restricted/<sub-group>(do this for each sub-group you have)
chgrp <sub group> /home/<organisation>/restricted/<sub group>(do this for each sub-group you have)
chmod 2770 /home/<organisation>/restricted/<sub group>(do this for each sub-group you have)
Move files from any existing sub-group directories to the new ones respectively:mv -r /home/<ORGANISATION>/<sub-group>/* /home/<ORGANISATION>/restricted/<sub-group> - Make a directory for cloning and backing up workstations to at /usr/windows-admin/images. To make this change now:
mkdir /usr/windows-admin/images
chmod g+w /usr/windows-admin/images - Added creation of winuser account for testing purposes. To make this change now:
net rpc user add winuser -U root
net rpc user password winuser "<password>" -U root
smbpasswd -e winuser
mkdir /home/samba/profiles/winuser
chown winuser /home/samba/profiles/winuser
adduser winuser <organisation>-staff - In conjunction with the smb.conf [programs] change, in Unix set 2774 on /usr/windows-programs rather than 2775. To make this change now:
chmod 2774 /usr/windows-programs - NETLOGON.BAT version 1.0.0. Get the new version from http://thegoldenear.org/toolbox/unices/samba-3-pdc-print-server-debian-etch.html#windows-logon-script
- 1.0.0: Added (commented out) R: for \\SERVER\restricted
- 0.9.1: Fix for Windows XP creating desktop.ini files, especially the startup one
- 0.9.0:
- Commented out P: as it's useful but we don't currently use it
- Removed creation of D:\winnt which was long ago deprecated
- Remove creation of D:\mozilla as we nowadays use Firefox
- Replaced creation of D:\nero with D:\infrarecorder
- smb.conf version 0.7.0. Get the new version from http://thegoldenear.org/toolbox/unices/samba-3-pdc-print-server-debian-etch.html#smb.conf. Change <ORGANISATION> to your organisation name
- Changed location of restricted sub-group from /home/<ORGANISATION>/<sub-group> to /home/<ORGANISATION>/restricted/<sub-group>. Added (commented out) corresponding [restricted] share. This scales better, when you have a number of groups, instead of a drive letter for each we now have R: for them all.
- Commented out [programs] because we don't use it; added 'force create mode = 0664' and 'force directory mode = 2774'
- Removed commented out linpopup example
- Added 'write list = @<ORGANISATION>-staff' to [shared] (same as Unix permissions)
- Removed [netlogon] 'writable = yes'. It was redundant because the default is 'read only = yes' and we override it for some people with 'write list = @samba-domain-admins'
- Swapped [homes] 'writable = yes' for 'read only = no' which means the same thing
- 'Windows Administration Area' / [windows-admin] smb.conf add-on - 'force directory mode = 0660' changed to 'force directory mode = 2770'