boen_robot Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Hi.I need a program that can control the different rights of a user that is on a computer with Windows XP.And (here's the real deal), that program needs to work remotely, from a server. That is, I need a program, that could contact a special server machine (on the local network) and fetch the rights for the user from there. The rights itself must only be adjustable from the server.By "rights" I mean things like being able to force a certain wallpaper, lock the start menu and disable unlocking, disable installation of programs, etc. and ideally (but not necessarily), being able to "blacklist" certain PCs, so that the user can't do anything on them until further notice.I've tried to use "Best Network Security", but... um... let's say I need to manage 12 PCs, and I can't afford 12 licences, so I'm looking for any alternative.Please name any other program for the task, regardless of it's price. Ideally, I'd want a free one, but that's not a must.Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justsomeguy Posted August 16, 2007 Share Posted August 16, 2007 Hmm, I believe that when most people want to use a remote server to control access rights for Windows, first they identify a hole in IE that they can exploit, then they write some malware to take advantage of the vulnerability, put that on a server and voila, someone visits your server and you have admin rights on their machine.Windows has stuff for all of this built-in though, I'm not sure why you're looking for a separate program, other then the license fees for Microsoft to license the server and the workstations. If you use something like Windows Server 2003 or Small Business Server and set up the server as a domain controller for the domain that the workstations are a part of then you can use the policy editor to set whatever policies you want, including things like the start menu, desktop backgrounds, etc. Pretty much everything you can do in Windows you can create a policy for in the group policy editor on the server. The domain controller will also have accounts for both users and computers, so you can deny certain users access to certain computers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boen_robot Posted August 16, 2007 Author Share Posted August 16, 2007 Hmm, I believe that when most people want to use a remote server to control access rights for Windows, first they identify a hole in IE that they can exploit, then they write some malware to take advantage of the vulnerability, put that on a server and voila, someone visits your server and you have admin rights on their machine.Sounds funny when you put it like that .Thanks for the Win2003 idea. I'll try to play with it when I have the chance.How are those policies created btw? Where is that policy editor? (I've tried Windows 2003 once, but something like that never caught my eye). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justsomeguy Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 Yeah there are a ton of admin tools and utilities buried all over the place. The direct link to the group policy editor is Start->Run->gpedit.msc. By way of a menu, I believe under the Administrative Tools you would go to Domain Security Policy or possibly Manage Your Server. Maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aspnetguy Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 I believe it is also possible to setup active directory to control permissions on all workstations on a network. We have been trying to make that work for a while at work but haven't got it right yet. I have 3 different accounts on 3 different servers and have to have the same password for all 3 so my network maps will work without having to enter a usename and password everytime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justsomeguy Posted August 17, 2007 Share Posted August 17, 2007 Yeah, we have an active directory domain controller setup to do all of that, all of the user and computer accounts are stored on the primary domain controller, and we have a backup domain controller in case the primary goes down. The primary domain controller is also the web server and database server, then we have an email server that isn't part of the domain or the local network, and a couple a Linux-based network attached storage devices that are the main file server and a backup file server. All of the accounts, even the Linux computer accounts, are stored in the active directory and the Linux boxes use the active directory as well to get on the domain. So once people sign onto their workstation they get authenticated with the domain controller and their credentials get passed to the servers they access, so they don't need to re-enter their password if they access the web server or file server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boen_robot Posted September 2, 2007 Author Share Posted September 2, 2007 The time for deploying is near and I just miserably failed to try out Windows Server 2003 as a VPC image. According to the error message I got when starting it, it seems the "hardware standart Virtual Server 2005" was not recognized. It seems the image runs smoothly only on that special VPC edition.I just remembered one dirturbing detail while doing that failed test btw. The "server" has 128MB RAM as well as all clients. The clients MAY be updated to 256MB RAM, but the situation with the server is even less clear (hopefully it will update to 256MB RAM too). So the problem is, will Windows Server 2003 run on such a low hardware and if not, what are the alternatives? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justsomeguy Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 Here are the system requirements:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows...r/bb430827.aspx128 is supposed to work, but I've got it running on a IBM server with a 2.4GHz cpu and I think 1GB of ram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noan Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 trying to run windows server 2003 on 123mb ram is like trying to get a hamster in wheel to power the whole western world althouh sayin that i run my entire web empire from free hosting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boen_robot Posted September 4, 2007 Author Share Posted September 4, 2007 trying to run windows server 2003 on 123mb ram is like trying to get a hamster in wheel to power the whole western world althouh sayin that i run my entire web empire from free hosting Yeah. I know. But it's for my school. They have Windows 2003 Server for free from the ministry of education, but they can't afford to spend more money then they must. I barely convinced them to upgrade the clients (students' machines) to 256MB RAM, and today, it turned out they'll be able to only in October (even though the money has been requested since June). And about the server, it's in warranty, so it can only be upgraded if they go to the IT shop they bought it from and give the money at that time.A new problem has arisen btw. It's more in me this time. I have successfully installed Windows 2003 Server on the school's server machine, but it turns out to be A LOT more complex then I had thought. Are there any easy guides as to how to setup such restrictions and connect the PCs up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justsomeguy Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Yeah, server or network admin is a pretty big job. There might be some guides online.http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&...-8&oe=utf-8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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