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How do I configure Win8 PCs on an Essentials2012 domain server for students

Answered How do I configure Win8 PCs on an Essentials2012 domain server for students

  • Monday, February 11, 2013 9:58 PM
     
     
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    I just installed Win Server Essentials 2012 and connected 3 Win8 Stations to it using a domain.  The process was surprisingly simple.

    Now, I need to figure out how to configure it so that a couple hundred students can log in at any available station and work without leaving a footprint.

    I'm in a library/classroom environment.  We need to know who has logged in and how long they were on.

    How can I get that accomplished?

     

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  • Tuesday, February 12, 2013 3:46 AM
     
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    I don't think that Essentials is licensed for that sort of an environment.  In its description, it is designed and licensed for "for small businesses with up to 25 users ".  I think a couple hundred students goes a bit beyond that.  What you are looking for is Windows Standard with Remote Desktop Services installed.

    .:|:.:|:. tim

     
  • Tuesday, February 12, 2013 8:34 PM
     
     
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    OK... I get that.  Let me re-phrase the question:

    I need to figure out how to configure it so that any student can log in at any available station and work without leaving a footprint. I'm in a library/classroom environment.

    We won't be changing the server software, so we'll stick inside the under 25 user requirement an handle the rest via a form login screen.

     
  • Tuesday, February 12, 2013 9:52 PM
     
     
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    If you have more than 25 different students and staff accessing the system, you are not staying under the 25 user limit.  Now, if you set up a web form that has anonymous login - i.e. anyone can walk up and use the system without requiring credentials, that would not violate the 25 user limit.  Requires writing a web environment.

    Is this what do you mean by 'not leaving a footprint'?  Because each time there is a login to the system, the event is recorded.

    Maybe if you gave an explanation of what you are trying to do instead of how you are trying to accomplish it, it would be helpful.

    .:|:.:|:. tim

     
  • Thursday, February 14, 2013 5:13 PM
     
     
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    Sure Tim,  I appreciate your thoughts.

    We have a classroom in a library.  Sometimes there are transients who come in and use the computers as you would expect in a library, and sometimes we offer classes on the same computers to students who enroll in those scheduled classes.

    We will use a small database on the server to register logins via a web interface, as you suggested, solving the 25-user limit.

    No station will be exclusive to any particular user.

    We DO NOT want the station to have been altered in any way once the user logs off.  That's what I mean by not 'leaving a footprint'.

    In our current Win-XP environment, that is accomplished by the Windows 'Steady State' software that rebuilt the user on reboot.

     
  • Friday, February 15, 2013 2:50 AM
     
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    I think you should call a Microsoft licensing specialist about how you plan to use Essentials.  I'm reading its limits differently from you.  It says it is licensed for up to 25 users or 50 devices.  A user is not how many user ids you let sign on, but the number of users who access the system. 

    That's why I suggested using a web application.  The anonymous logins do not count as users.  Additionally, you can lock the system to run ONLY the browser.  Anything the user does is enclosed entirely within the browser.  When the system boots, it boots to the browser.  In this manner, nothing can be changed on the system, no matter how many people use it during the course of time.  And, the access time is immediate - person walks up and starts using the system without logging in, and all they can use is the browser.  This is the the libraries are all set up in my area for any public access terminal.

    I hate to try to suggest anything else, because I still think you would not be following the licensing, and I don't want to suggest anything that would get around that.

    .:|:.:|:. tim

     
  • Monday, March 25, 2013 2:17 PM
     
     
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    Multipoint Server would be a great solution for your library.

    More info about it is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/multipoint/

    WMS 2012 Disk Protection is based upon what Microsoft did with Steady State, and when turned on would leave the library stations back at their initial state for the next user who logged on.

    An eval of WMS 2012 is available for download here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35821