[OPLINTECH] Patron use of Public computers

[Chad Neeper]

A variation on this thought that might work a little better:

If the workstation is Win7, you could install Windows XP Mode (Virtual 
PC). It integrates very well with the host Win7, perhaps a little better 
than VMware (although I haven't played with anything other than ESXi for 
quite a few years now, so my VMware at this lesser level is outdated). I 
haven't had much need to use XP Mode, but from what I recall, the admin 
can set up the base image, and then the non-admin user reads from the 
read-only base image and the changes, by default, are stored in a file 
stored _in the user's profile_. So, if you're using DF or even just a 
mandatory user profile, the non-admin user can have full privileges to 
install whatever they want to in the Windows XP computer, including 
rebooting the virtual XP to complete an install. The virtual XP computer 
is then automatically reset upon reboot (in the case of DF) or logout 
(in the case of mandatory profiles). This could work pretty seamlessly 
with just a little bit of planning on the admin's part.


______________________________
*Chad Neeper*
Senior Systems Engineer

*Level 9 Networks*
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

/Full LAN/WAN consulting services -- Specialized in libraries and schools/

On 7/8/2011 11:41 AM, Phil Shirley wrote:
> How could you let people install software that required admin and
> rebooting, though you had DeepFreeze and didn't want to give them admin
> rights? I guess, maybe, theoretically, you could: Do everything you're
> already doing, rebooting between patrons and using Deep Freeze. Add one
> more program that people can run: vmware. Let them open up a virtual
> Windows machine that they can do anything they want to, including reboot
> with changed saved. Then when they're done they close that virtual
> machine, log off of their actual machine and deep freeze puts the actual
> machine (including the virtual machine files) back to the way they were.
> It's a little complicated and probably not worth it, but it might be a
> solution if you really want to do it. This would even allow you to make
> various operating systems available to patrons: different versions of
> Windows (for people who had a preference or wanted to learn one) and
> different Linux distributions. Loading updates would be a bit more work,
> but of course you would do it once and copy the vmware files to all the
> computers.
>
> Phil
>
> On 7/8/2011 10:53 AM, Jim Lack wrote:
>> Does anyone allow their patrons to load software on the their public
>> computers? We are putting together a new Windows 7 profile for our
>> Public computers. The profile is a mandatory profile in a Windows server
>> 2008 environment. We will be implementing Deep Freeze as well. We have
>> done some initial testing with allowing this user to load software.
>> Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Some installs require the user
>> to have admin privileges and some installs require reboots. There is no
>> way I want to give this user admin privileges and with Deep Freeze, that
>> takes care of installs that require a reboot (it wipes them out!).
>> Looking for some input here. Please give me your thoughts and ideas on
>> this subject.
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>> Jim Lack
>>
>> Network Manager
>>
>> Rocky River Public Library
>>
>> 1600 Hampton Rd.
>>
>> Rocky River, OH 44116
>>
>>
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