How to set up schedualed system services?

[raven]

ok, so i have a preschool project to do for my comp admin and it is due monday, and so i need ur guys help on something.

What my comp admin at school needs me to do is to schedual tasks on every computer so that at a certain time the computer will access this program called deep freeze, then type in the password to unlock it, then the computer needs to reboot. Then at the log on screen i need to somehow make windows auto update and install patches and service packs, then still at the log on screen, i need norton antivirus to live update and then scan the computer for virii, and then after that is done i need to reboot and then somehow find a way to open up deep freeze again and lock the computer down by inputing the password.

This all needs to be automatically run and unattended since we have 250+ computers to load all of this onto.

So the programs that we have currecntly are
Deep Freeze (freezes your computer from making critical changes)
Nortan anti virus

Programs that we must get in a legit fasion are probably a macro recorder which will let me record mouse movements and keyboard strokes, a schedualrer program (preferably one which will let stuff be run at the log on screen, just like a system service), a reboot program, and anything else that can help out (Maybe a program which lets me run stuff as a service during boot up?)

This mainly has to be done for machines running windows XP, but there are a few computers which i will need to set up on 98. So if anyone could give me step by step instructions or point me to programs (preferably FREEWARE) which would let me do my desired task, that would be greatly appriciated!

And if you need any more information then just ask and i will give.


Raven

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Macro recorder for keystrokes and mouse movements? You should just need to run a script at logon which should be able to take care of what you are trying to take care of.

I don't know how your network is setup there, but you might want to look at deep freeze's whitepapers as they have some pretty good information on performing maintenance with deep freeze and using SUS. That might help you get started.

You might want to try bouncing google to see if you can find some scripts which do what you want that other people have already written.

 

[raven]

So then how do i make a script run at logon? where do i have to put it or what program do i use to run it?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

This is due tomorow? You've waited too long to start...

But I can see what might work tonight. I will have to bang around google myself to explain it to you - haven't actually done this before, but I've worked with deep freeze and used systems that run scripts at logon at school.

I get the feeling you didn't look at deep freeze's site - you will need to see their documentation to do this. Not only does it help you with the deep freeze program, it also explains how best to perform updates on systems that use deep freeze.

You might want to check on that, in the mean time, I've got to pack and get a couple things ready for work and school this week. I'll check back and try to help.

Here are the deep freeze user guides:

http://www.faronics.com/html/support.asp

Here are the Whitepapers:

http://www.faronics.com/html/whitepapers.asp

The Whitepapers are TREMENDOUSLY helpful. Read them.

Bang google around for something like "windows logon scripts" to get a basic understanding of the usage and capabilities of logon scripts, to see if they apply to what you want to do.

 

[raven]

ya, i googled "windows logon scripts" and have been reading it for the past few hours and i am slowly beginning to understand this logon service stuff.

But the thing is, my school cannot afford to get deepfreeze 5, and therefore we are forced to use deepfreeze 4 standard which does not have that update feature. That is why i have to find a way to schedual all of the updates and unlocking of deepfreeze either at logon or after a user logs on. Sorry about the confusion, it was my fault for not stating what version of deepfreeze i was using from the start.

Since this is actually just a favour that my comp admin has asked of me to do, there is no penalty for me not to get it done for tomorrow. But i will be up for the next few hours fiddling around with this.

So if u still have any ideas I.M.O.G., im open to almost anything =)

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Cool, glad the heat isn't on for you... I hate when I put things off until the last minute.

The info on the version you guys are using is good, thanks.

My information will be relatively limited, as I don't know what kind of administrative software you use, or how your network is setup, but here goes:

This will take care of the first and the last step - these are details on rebooting thawed or frozen using DFC, which can be implemented by forcing a script on the PC (remotely over the network - "how" the script gets deployed will depend on how the site is setup I think, but this details the necessary commands):

http://www.faronics.com/whitepapers/usaremote_admin.html

I need to be getting to bed myself, but I will look into the solution to getting your updates further tomorow. I really don't know much about this, but it seems like the answer is probably simple - just nothing we've done before.

 

[raven]

do u think that because im running the standard version, "Deep Freeze Professional Version 4.x Command Line Control (Windows 2000/XP)" would still work?

Ya, your right, it probably is simple, but it definately isnt something ive done before.

 

[WuChild]

You need to learn how to make batch files as well and research the switches for any programs you want to launch and have 'do' things.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Right... Batch/script file... Basically interchangeable AFAIK.

The command line switches for deep freeze are listed in those links I gave... I would think they would work with his specific version, but couldn't say for sure as I didn't look up the documentation for his version (if its there for a standard version).

 

[raven]

Ok, so when i came back into school, my sys admin came to me and told me that he had jsut looked at the price of one of the programs we were goign to use to set this whole thing up, and that it would cost just as much as if we were to get Deep Freeze 5, so therefore, he has decided to go and bug the school admin to give him the money to get Deep Freeze, so therefore i no longer have to figure how to set this up. But in retrospect, i believe that i have stumbled on some interesting information on making programs work in the background. I believe that if i could learn this, i could automate most of my updating tasks, and make my computer life that much simpler.

Anyways, school is starting in a few days and i will have to see how that starts off before i begin looking into this again.
But thanks again to everyone who's helped out.


Raven