XP/NT4 - Restrict use of certain PC's on a network 1

[PatBo]

I have 7 laptops with MS Windows XP Pro joining an existing network with 2 Domains.
Domain 1 - NT4 Ser.Pk 6 and Domain 2 - Server 2000
So far so good! Users can logon as originally set
I have searched for solutions to the questions below but nothing directs me totally in the right direction.

Q 1: Can I restrict a complete group of users (i.e students in the school) from using these laptops. In Domain Manager I can see where you can 'allow users to logon to all or certain workstations' but not the opposite.

Q 2: How can I give all users the same local settings on the laptop when they login, i.e internet configuration without having to set by individual.

I will post this request on the NT4 forum also.
Thanks in advance


Slán agus beannacht.
Patrick Boland

 

[ibuda]

A1: Normally you could use group policies to indicate who could log in to these computers but as NT 4 is a little lacking in that area you may need to make the changes on each laptop. Each XP laptop will have an item called "local security policy" under the administrative tools program group (or control panel). Expand the "Local Policies" tree and then expand the "user rights assignment" tree. On the right hand pane there will be an option called "deny logon locally" that you can configure to prevent anyone from say a "student" group from logging in.

A2: There may be an easier way but the way our school handles this is we take a test account, set it up exactly the way we want it, and then overwrite the local "default user" profile with our test one - be careful though as you will need to pay special attention to user specfic items such as My Documents locations etc. (create a backup of the default user profile first just in case things go wrong). With the default user now set up the way you want, all new users logging in will get this profile to start with. If you are using roaming profiles the process is similar but you may need to put the default user profile into the netlogon folder on the server.

 

[PatBo]

ibuda - many thanks Q1/A1 spot on, sorted and so simple.

Working on Q2/A2 at present.

Slán agus beannacht.
Patrick Boland