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Computer name change - showing wrong unit number

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:46 am
by russellhltn
Working on the stake computer, I discovered that something, somewhere, has renamed the computer to reflect one of the wards and not the stake.

I'm not sure where they got this unit number. I do know the prior stake clerk liked to keep copies of the ward's data in MLS. Perhaps a script became confused due to all the unit numbers in the mls data directory.

But at any rate, I'd recommend that when you get a chance, that you check the computer name and see that it corresponds to the correct unit number.

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:25 am
by russellhltn
I forgot the best part: Taking the obvious route, I deleted the old MLS data files (note: if any of the files are for discontinued units, you may need to keep them), and renamed the computer and rebooted. After the reboot, all was well. I went off to my meeting and when I came back in a little over an hour's time - the computer renamed itself back to the wrong unit number.

Argh.

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:22 pm
by lajackson
We had a computer that renamed itself to the unit with the lowest unit number based on the data files located within the MLS data structure. And when we moved a unit from one computer to another, it had the lowest unit number on the new computer, and that computer renamed itself to the newly added unit.

Something seems to be happening behind the scenes that is doing this.

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:26 pm
by aebrown
Remember back at the beginning of this year there was an initiative for HQ Correcting MLS Computer Names. It wasn't clear to me then (and still isn't) whether this was a one-time script that was run, or if we all had something installed on our computers that is supposed to insure that each administrative computer has the correct name. If it's the latter, then some malfunction in that software could be the source of this problem.

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:37 pm
by russellhltn
In my case the unit number selected is not the lowest nor the highest - regardless of if you're looking at it numerically or "alphabetically".

Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:20 am
by russellhltn
Shortly after starting this thread, I contacted LUS. The person I talked to was completely unaware that they were changing the computer name. They promised to pass it along and get back to me. I've heard nothing back, but when I was at the stake computer today, I noticed the name had been corrected.

I have no idea if it was due to my call or if an automated process noticed that I had removed the old units and renamed the computer. So that closes the issue for me, but I'd still advise that everyone check their computer name. Especially if you have multiple unit files in MLS.

Computer name change - showing wrong unit number

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:40 am
by DemersDD
In the past, we have found many areas/regions create a master MLS machine and clone it to others in their areas, which would cause at time hundreds of machines to be named the same.

The process of renaming the MLS computers was put in place late last year (2011), and was based on the MLS unit ID found in the C:\MLS\LDS Church\Recover folder. Since some wards or stake computers had multiple folders with Unit IDs in this location, it made it hard to know exactly which one to use during the rename process.

The correct computer name should have the ID of "LU-" followed by the MLS Unit ID. Since last week, MLS is now writing the exact Unit ID to a file on the computer. In turn, the computer rename script will read this file and use its content to rename the computer properly.

If the computer is already named properly, it will then exit the script. Also, if the computer is shared across multiple wards, it will only run once and exit out. Which ever ward ran the script first will have the computer named to their ward ID.

Thanks

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 1:42 pm
by lajackson
demersdd wrote:If the computer is already named properly, it will then exit the script. Also, if the computer is shared across multiple wards, it will only run once and exit out. Which ever ward ran the script first will have the computer named to their ward ID.

As we move wards around from computer to computer*, is there anything we should do, or will the rename process come along again sometime and change things for us? It is conceivable that a computer could wind up named for a ward that no longer runs on it.

*YSA wards at universities that switch meeting times each fall.
The language branch that moves back and forth between clerks offices each year.
Unit divisions or moves.
Unit location reassignments at completion of building projects.
etc.

Computer name change - showing wrong unit number

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:50 pm
by DemersDD
If you have computers that no longer match the current ward unit ID, then you can either manually rename the computer to LU- with the current ward unit ID.

Or you can go to the Windows folder (usually C:\Windows) and remove the file named lu-unit.txt, this will allow the script to run once again and rename it to the last ward unit ID that was used on the machine

Thanks