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What is the best way to reset a set of Windows 10 laptops to a default state remotely?
What's the best way to remotely admin MS ADAM?Best way to administer a website remotelywhat are the various ways to monitor servers remotelyWhat's the best way to telnet from a remote Windows PC without using RDP?What is the best way to run a remote ssh command in background but still displaying?How do I set a custom default accent color during deployment of Windows 10?What is the Print3D deviceType on Windows Print-ServerSet Windows 10 Default Start LayoutAny way to set password on BIOS remotely on Ubuntu 14.04?What Is An Easy Way to Remove Default TaskBar and Start Icons in Windows 10 Without Using the GUI?
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I have about 23 Windows 10 laptops (currently @ 1803) which are used by students for training courses that run for several weeks. I've found that students leave lots of files behind when the course completes including answers/projects/etc for work that an incoming class shouldn't see. As such, I would like to reset these machines to a relatively pristine state.
I know I could do Windows 10 recovery, but that is a bit heavy-handed and also requires a lot of manual work as we have to customize the uniquely named machines. I'd be fine with simply clearing out the Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc. folders. I'll leave recovery for "nuke from orbit" cases...
I've found a number of solutions, but they either appear to complicated (ADK), deprecated (WMIC) or seemingly not preferred by Windows given the number of hoops to jump through (PsExec).
My question is, if I'm fine with the laptop's build as-is and just want to wipe the "custom content" that a former student has created (BAT for PS1 is fine), what would be the best solution in a modern Windows 10 environment? While I know I could SneakerNet a USB drive with the script, once set up I'd rather do this remotely going forward (PsExec or Enter-PSSession would have presumably been great) but as mentioned, the hurdles are tricky and I just want to make sure I'm chasing the right solution before going too far down one path. So what is the right path?
windows-10 remote
asked Jun 6 at 19:08
bjbbjb
1112 bronze badges
add a comment |
I have about 23 Windows 10 laptops (currently @ 1803) which are used by students for training courses that run for several weeks. I've found that students leave lots of files behind when the course completes including answers/projects/etc for work that an incoming class shouldn't see. As such, I would like to reset these machines to a relatively pristine state.
I know I could do Windows 10 recovery, but that is a bit heavy-handed and also requires a lot of manual work as we have to customize the uniquely named machines. I'd be fine with simply clearing out the Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc. folders. I'll leave recovery for "nuke from orbit" cases...
I've found a number of solutions, but they either appear to complicated (ADK), deprecated (WMIC) or seemingly not preferred by Windows given the number of hoops to jump through (PsExec).
My question is, if I'm fine with the laptop's build as-is and just want to wipe the "custom content" that a former student has created (BAT for PS1 is fine), what would be the best solution in a modern Windows 10 environment? While I know I could SneakerNet a USB drive with the script, once set up I'd rather do this remotely going forward (PsExec or Enter-PSSession would have presumably been great) but as mentioned, the hurdles are tricky and I just want to make sure I'm chasing the right solution before going too far down one path. So what is the right path?
windows-10 remote
asked Jun 6 at 19:08
bjbbjb
1112 bronze badges
Perhaps something like this? That particular script deletes a profile on the local machine, but making it work on a remote machine should just be a matter of adding-ComputerNamein the appropriate places.
– Harry Johnston
Jun 6 at 22:37
add a comment |
I have about 23 Windows 10 laptops (currently @ 1803) which are used by students for training courses that run for several weeks. I've found that students leave lots of files behind when the course completes including answers/projects/etc for work that an incoming class shouldn't see. As such, I would like to reset these machines to a relatively pristine state.
I know I could do Windows 10 recovery, but that is a bit heavy-handed and also requires a lot of manual work as we have to customize the uniquely named machines. I'd be fine with simply clearing out the Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc. folders. I'll leave recovery for "nuke from orbit" cases...
I've found a number of solutions, but they either appear to complicated (ADK), deprecated (WMIC) or seemingly not preferred by Windows given the number of hoops to jump through (PsExec).
My question is, if I'm fine with the laptop's build as-is and just want to wipe the "custom content" that a former student has created (BAT for PS1 is fine), what would be the best solution in a modern Windows 10 environment? While I know I could SneakerNet a USB drive with the script, once set up I'd rather do this remotely going forward (PsExec or Enter-PSSession would have presumably been great) but as mentioned, the hurdles are tricky and I just want to make sure I'm chasing the right solution before going too far down one path. So what is the right path?
windows-10 remote
asked Jun 6 at 19:08
bjbbjb
1112 bronze badges
I have about 23 Windows 10 laptops (currently @ 1803) which are used by students for training courses that run for several weeks. I've found that students leave lots of files behind when the course completes including answers/projects/etc for work that an incoming class shouldn't see. As such, I would like to reset these machines to a relatively pristine state.
I know I could do Windows 10 recovery, but that is a bit heavy-handed and also requires a lot of manual work as we have to customize the uniquely named machines. I'd be fine with simply clearing out the Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc. folders. I'll leave recovery for "nuke from orbit" cases...
I've found a number of solutions, but they either appear to complicated (ADK), deprecated (WMIC) or seemingly not preferred by Windows given the number of hoops to jump through (PsExec).
My question is, if I'm fine with the laptop's build as-is and just want to wipe the "custom content" that a former student has created (BAT for PS1 is fine), what would be the best solution in a modern Windows 10 environment? While I know I could SneakerNet a USB drive with the script, once set up I'd rather do this remotely going forward (PsExec or Enter-PSSession would have presumably been great) but as mentioned, the hurdles are tricky and I just want to make sure I'm chasing the right solution before going too far down one path. So what is the right path?
windows-10 remote
windows-10 remote
asked Jun 6 at 19:08
bjbbjb
1112 bronze badges
asked Jun 6 at 19:08
bjbbjb
1112 bronze badges
asked Jun 6 at 19:08
bjbbjb
1112 bronze badges
asked Jun 6 at 19:08
bjbbjb
1112 bronze badges
asked Jun 6 at 19:08
bjbbjb
1112 bronze badges
1112 bronze badges
Perhaps something like this? That particular script deletes a profile on the local machine, but making it work on a remote machine should just be a matter of adding-ComputerNamein the appropriate places.
– Harry Johnston
Jun 6 at 22:37
add a comment |
Perhaps something like this? That particular script deletes a profile on the local machine, but making it work on a remote machine should just be a matter of adding-ComputerNamein the appropriate places.
– Harry Johnston
Jun 6 at 22:37
Perhaps something like this? That particular script deletes a profile on the local machine, but making it work on a remote machine should just be a matter of adding
-ComputerName in the appropriate places.– Harry Johnston
Jun 6 at 22:37
Perhaps something like this? That particular script deletes a profile on the local machine, but making it work on a remote machine should just be a matter of adding
-ComputerName in the appropriate places.– Harry Johnston
Jun 6 at 22:37
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
If the students aren't supposed to be installing stuff, etc. then I'd simply lock the drive down with DeepFreeze. This is what we do for our IT course machines. Students have full admin access, etc. and can in fact install stuff but a simple reboot returns it back to default state. It is also possible to boot the machines on a schedule or via WOL and unlock ("thaw") and push updates out from a master controller machine.
All work has to be kept on an external device, though in the case of a laptop that a student will use continuously for a while you could be nice and set up a second partition of say 15gb (so it can be copied to a 16gb flash drive) that is r/w and persists between boots.
Use policy to block updates, etc. unless a specific admin user is logged in (who can also unlock the drive) or simply re-image the machine with security updates/patches/program updates/etc between sessions.
Note that booting with a Linux distro on USB, etc. totally bypasses DeepFreeze ... but it works well enough in the labs we use it in (~300 machines, including 20 laptops for student use) and it is a definite "must have" for allowing students to actually DO things to/with a machine (like compile code and run it without an admin whitelisting it, etc or running a port scanner or packet sniffer) and have it usable for the next class period.
answered Jun 6 at 19:41
ivanivanivanivan
1,0223 silver badges6 bronze badges
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
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If the students aren't supposed to be installing stuff, etc. then I'd simply lock the drive down with DeepFreeze. This is what we do for our IT course machines. Students have full admin access, etc. and can in fact install stuff but a simple reboot returns it back to default state. It is also possible to boot the machines on a schedule or via WOL and unlock ("thaw") and push updates out from a master controller machine.
All work has to be kept on an external device, though in the case of a laptop that a student will use continuously for a while you could be nice and set up a second partition of say 15gb (so it can be copied to a 16gb flash drive) that is r/w and persists between boots.
Use policy to block updates, etc. unless a specific admin user is logged in (who can also unlock the drive) or simply re-image the machine with security updates/patches/program updates/etc between sessions.
Note that booting with a Linux distro on USB, etc. totally bypasses DeepFreeze ... but it works well enough in the labs we use it in (~300 machines, including 20 laptops for student use) and it is a definite "must have" for allowing students to actually DO things to/with a machine (like compile code and run it without an admin whitelisting it, etc or running a port scanner or packet sniffer) and have it usable for the next class period.
answered Jun 6 at 19:41
ivanivanivanivan
1,0223 silver badges6 bronze badges
add a comment |
If the students aren't supposed to be installing stuff, etc. then I'd simply lock the drive down with DeepFreeze. This is what we do for our IT course machines. Students have full admin access, etc. and can in fact install stuff but a simple reboot returns it back to default state. It is also possible to boot the machines on a schedule or via WOL and unlock ("thaw") and push updates out from a master controller machine.
All work has to be kept on an external device, though in the case of a laptop that a student will use continuously for a while you could be nice and set up a second partition of say 15gb (so it can be copied to a 16gb flash drive) that is r/w and persists between boots.
Use policy to block updates, etc. unless a specific admin user is logged in (who can also unlock the drive) or simply re-image the machine with security updates/patches/program updates/etc between sessions.
Note that booting with a Linux distro on USB, etc. totally bypasses DeepFreeze ... but it works well enough in the labs we use it in (~300 machines, including 20 laptops for student use) and it is a definite "must have" for allowing students to actually DO things to/with a machine (like compile code and run it without an admin whitelisting it, etc or running a port scanner or packet sniffer) and have it usable for the next class period.
answered Jun 6 at 19:41
ivanivanivanivan
1,0223 silver badges6 bronze badges
add a comment |
If the students aren't supposed to be installing stuff, etc. then I'd simply lock the drive down with DeepFreeze. This is what we do for our IT course machines. Students have full admin access, etc. and can in fact install stuff but a simple reboot returns it back to default state. It is also possible to boot the machines on a schedule or via WOL and unlock ("thaw") and push updates out from a master controller machine.
All work has to be kept on an external device, though in the case of a laptop that a student will use continuously for a while you could be nice and set up a second partition of say 15gb (so it can be copied to a 16gb flash drive) that is r/w and persists between boots.
Use policy to block updates, etc. unless a specific admin user is logged in (who can also unlock the drive) or simply re-image the machine with security updates/patches/program updates/etc between sessions.
Note that booting with a Linux distro on USB, etc. totally bypasses DeepFreeze ... but it works well enough in the labs we use it in (~300 machines, including 20 laptops for student use) and it is a definite "must have" for allowing students to actually DO things to/with a machine (like compile code and run it without an admin whitelisting it, etc or running a port scanner or packet sniffer) and have it usable for the next class period.
answered Jun 6 at 19:41
ivanivanivanivan
1,0223 silver badges6 bronze badges
If the students aren't supposed to be installing stuff, etc. then I'd simply lock the drive down with DeepFreeze. This is what we do for our IT course machines. Students have full admin access, etc. and can in fact install stuff but a simple reboot returns it back to default state. It is also possible to boot the machines on a schedule or via WOL and unlock ("thaw") and push updates out from a master controller machine.
All work has to be kept on an external device, though in the case of a laptop that a student will use continuously for a while you could be nice and set up a second partition of say 15gb (so it can be copied to a 16gb flash drive) that is r/w and persists between boots.
Use policy to block updates, etc. unless a specific admin user is logged in (who can also unlock the drive) or simply re-image the machine with security updates/patches/program updates/etc between sessions.
Note that booting with a Linux distro on USB, etc. totally bypasses DeepFreeze ... but it works well enough in the labs we use it in (~300 machines, including 20 laptops for student use) and it is a definite "must have" for allowing students to actually DO things to/with a machine (like compile code and run it without an admin whitelisting it, etc or running a port scanner or packet sniffer) and have it usable for the next class period.
answered Jun 6 at 19:41
ivanivanivanivan
1,0223 silver badges6 bronze badges
answered Jun 6 at 19:41
ivanivanivanivan
1,0223 silver badges6 bronze badges
answered Jun 6 at 19:41
ivanivanivanivan
1,0223 silver badges6 bronze badges
answered Jun 6 at 19:41
ivanivanivanivan
1,0223 silver badges6 bronze badges
1,0223 silver badges6 bronze badges
add a comment |
add a comment |
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Perhaps something like this? That particular script deletes a profile on the local machine, but making it work on a remote machine should just be a matter of adding
-ComputerNamein the appropriate places.– Harry Johnston
Jun 6 at 22:37