Optiplex 580 Setup Procedure

[lajackson]

I don't know as broadband will make it's way to every corner of the US, . . .

Our FM group has instructions to make it happen.

. . . much less the entire world.

That could be a bit more tricky, although everything I read says the rest of the world in ahead of the US in the matter of bandwidth.

[johnshaw]

To add to the question about installing the security and management components, we renewed 13 computers this year, and used an imaging program (GHOST) in our case. We installed one computer the way we wanted, installed all the additional software, etc.... we DID install MLS (but did not click the icon after running the setup). Then ran that same image on EVERY computer. Everything is still working great.

One note to remember..... MLS has a new version coming out, make sure you don't restore a backup of a newer MLS version onto an older install. My suggestion is to make sure everyone is on the most recent MLS, then do backups, then change out the computer.

[russellhltn]

GHOSTing computers after installing LANDesk can confuse the system. I'd also take care in making sure each machine has a different name.

While things seem to be running OK at the present, it's hard to know when these things can come back to bite (byte?) later.

[marmat]

The latest computers I received from FM Group are OptiPlex 580s and have Windows 7 Professional.

One thing discovered when moving the data directory over is that the new location can be "generated" by once launching MLS 3.3.0 after installing for first time and then doing a quick search on the C: drive for LDS Church - it finds a folder in another folder like Program Data. Drop the copied data folder in there and it works OK.

I did get an RTPatch or something popping up like 4-5 times when launching MLS so I shut off User Account Control completely and don't get the message anymore.

[natet]

When setting up new computers, do you usually manually run windows update? When does landesk push out updates? I wanted to set the IE home page to lds.org, but the computer is running xp, and comes with IE 6, which is incompatible with the new lds.org. The optiplex 580's I have just received from our FM group are still running xp, which kind of surprised me.

[crislapi]

When setting up new computers, do you usually manually run windows update? When does landesk push out updates? I wanted to set the IE home page to lds.org, but the computer is running xp, and comes with IE 6, which is incompatible with the new lds.org. The optiplex 580's I have just received from our FM group are still running xp, which kind of surprised me.

My experience is that LANdesk does not push out updates ever. I have therefore turned on automatic updates on all the computers in the stake and have them update as soon as windows releases updates. It may not have been a big deal when we were on dial up, but now all our computers are on broadband and have access to the internet. I'd prefer to have the most recent patches and updates on them in that case.

I know when I first turned it on (2 years ago), the computers were still running XP sp 1. They were far behind in their updates. I'd bet there hadn't been a single one since we installed the computers. So while in theory LANdesk is a nice idea, I don't see any evidence it is currently being used. Don't rely on it.

[craiggsmith]

I agree; the computers are typically way behind in their Windows updates (at least with XP), and I recommend immediately updating Windows. The computer I did today required about 100 updates (including IE 8) in several stages.

[rdkent]

I just received my replacement computers for my Stake and am following the set-up instructions for the 740 (as suggested in this thread).
I have two questions:

1) All of my old machines had Desktop 5.5 on them (now obsolete), and therefore had an OS and a Data partition on them (C: and D: drives). The new machines only have one partition on the hard drive. Is it still recommended to have a separate data partition (should I re-partition these to create a data 'drive' and support them like I did with the old ones)?

2) When I go to install MLS, the only released version I can find is MLS 3.3.0 (on mls.lds.org), other that a 3.3.1b7 beta test (also on mls.lds.org). My Stake has NOT been on the beta program. But when I looked at the version of MLS on my old machines, they have all been 'pushed' an update to MLS 3.3.1.
There are explicit cautions to NOT restore a MLS backup from a newer (later) version of MLS onto an older version. Any suggestions?

Your wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Incidentally, I received Dell Optiplex 580 computers with Windows 7 stickers on them, but Windows XXP installed and NO OS media (either version) whatsoever.

Thanks!

[russellhltn]

All of my old machines had Desktop 5.5 on them (now obsolete), and therefore had an OS and a Data partition on them (C: and D: drives). The new machines only have one partition on the hard drive. Is it still recommended to have a separate data partition (should I re-partition these to create a data 'drive' and support them like I did with the old ones)?

I haven't seen any recommendation, but that's your call. Note that Desktop 5.5 had a imaging backup and restore. The "My Documents' pointed to the D drive. So a Image restore would not wipe out the "My Documents". Without the imaging backup, I'm not sure as the D drive for data makes as much sense is it did before.

When I go to install MLS, the only released version I can find is MLS 3.3.0 (on mls.lds.org), other that a 3.3.1b7 beta test (also on mls.lds.org). My Stake has NOT been on the beta program. But when I looked at the version of MLS on my old machines, they have all been 'pushed' an update to MLS 3.3.1.
There are explicit cautions to NOT restore a MLS backup from a newer (later) version of MLS onto an older version. Any suggestions?

If you read the page carefully, it's still beta for outside of the US. Inside the US it's "normal". So, for this particular version and situation, download and install the "beta".

[natet]

I have replaced several computers in the stake (a few more to go), but one of the units emailed me and mentioned that they were unable to print out any financial statements from December. The information is listed, but they can't bring up any statements. Alan mentioned in another thread that saved forms and financial statements aren't included in the regular MLS backup, and that the data directory should be copied over to the new computer. Should I have done this before I restored the backup? Will copying it over now cause problems? If so, how can I get this data on the new computer so they can print out these statements. Or, is this completely unrelated to the data directory and symptomatic of another problem?

I know in my own ward, people have misplaced their tax statements and have been requesting a new copy, and I can imagine the same thing happening in the other 6 wards I have upgraded computers for. I'd like to be proactive and get this resolved before the requests start rolling in.