School (Enterprise) Setup Question

[randy9999]

Hi,

They run Windows 7 at my school and every time I log on to a new machine I am bombarded with the Internet Explorer 8 initial setup screen questions about default search, and accelerators, and additional notifications about new versions of Java and Flash, etc...

I spoke with the administrators who say there is no way around this. I can't believe that.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to tell them to set up the machines so that IE comes already set up and Java and Flash and doesn't pop up messages about new versions that we can't install anyway because we are not administrators?

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[Shadowjk]

This all Depends on the Permissions of your User account . At my school we have Vista business and We have restricted permissions (A LOT!)

there is nothing you can do Personally but if you ask your administrator to Install the Java and Flash updates then the Notifications will Cease

However the IE Problem will always be there if you log onto a New Machine

As a student for your School you have very little rights and permissions on what you can do to the School system

Josh

 

[JDobbsy1987]

Anything 'Profile' related such as IE's first run can always present issues.

When you log onto a machine for the first time it creates a new 'Profile' in c:\users\
When you open IE you will get the first run screen asking for your preferences, once you enter these they will not normally show again.

Obviously if you log onto another machine the same thing happens so once again you will need to specify your preferences.

if you still get this when logging onto the same machine then your school may have something in place that clears down profiles (meaning the profile created when you logged on is deleted, this is used to keep computers clean as you can imagine how many profiles would be created on a PC being used by the entire school).

As Shadowjk has said, things software related such as Java or Flash just need installing by someone with Admin privileges.

Regards,
JDobbsy1987

 

[randy9999]

Is there anything I can tell the admins to do to set up the profile with some of the default choices selected? Java already installed? Etc? I understand I can't do anything with my level of security, but I'm hoping that there are some "best practices" I can point the school administrators too to make everyones life easier.

 

[JDobbsy1987]

As far as things like Java and Flash, the admins would need to ensure that when setting up a new computer that they install the latest client or update their image if they use an image to re-install windows. Obviously there are always going to be updates and if users don't have the permissions to perform the update you are always going to get this issue unless the admins created a scheduled task to perform these updates where required (this task would need to 'Run As' someone with the correct permissions).

IE preference/run once screen can be disable by entering the following registry key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"DisableFirstRunCustomize"=dword:00000001

I am sure this is the fix but unable to test and confirm 100%

This would need to be applied to each computer, as this key is a 'LOCAL_MACHINE' change it will stop the pop up for all users.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
JDobbsy1987

 

[Shadowjk]

I did this on Work Experience at a School - They use a .wim Image on a Server and Boot into it and Install

They should be able to Add that Registry key into the Image

Josh