On Fri, 6 Nov 1998 [log in to unmask] wrote:

> How does one refresh each computer each day to wipe out all previous sites, porn
> o or no-
>
> Judith Ziegler
> Crozer-Chester Medical Center
> One Medical Cte Blvd,
> Upland, PA
> [log in to unmask]
>
To answer your question, here is a reply our systems guy, Fletch Bowling,
sent to another person a while back in answer to the same question.   This
is a LONG message because he includes a script (program) on how he did it.  So
delete now if this is not of REAL interest to you.  If anyone has any
technical questions you can email Fletch directly at
[log in to unmask]

Tom

Thomas Williams, Director                       (334) 460-6885
Biomedical Library and Media                    (334) 460-7638(fax)
   Production Services
University of South Alabama                     [log in to unmask]
College of Medicine                             http://southmed.usouthal.edu
BML 326B
Mobile, Alabama 36688-0002


Tom asked me to let you know how we refresh our workstations. At first we
did use zip disks but I found that they were too slow. If you have only a few
machines this might be ok but you will find it is much faster if you use a
file server instead. We use Novell but unix , windows nt, even win95 will
work. We store the refresh file as a compressed file
on the file server. When we need to refresh a workstation, we put in a
floppy diskette and reboot the machine. When it reboots, it runs a batch file
I wrote so it is all done automatically. This batch file loads up the network
drivers (so it can access the file server), reformats the hard drive so it is
clean, then copies the refresh file from the file server to the
workstation. It also makes much of the hard disk "read-only" so students
cannot delete icons, change settings etc. Here is a copy of my batch file from
one of the refresh diskettes. If you have several of the same types of
machines, you can use the same refresh image to save space on your file
server. That's what I do in this example. After the refresh is copied
over, I copy over a few extra files that are  specific to that one
machine, like ip address, autoexec.bat
etc.

Here is one of my batch files with comments added with a #

 set usanodeid=NEC20   #This tells the batch file which machine we are
refreshing
 @echo off
 prompt $p$g
cls
echo ****    Zipless LAB (NEC) Refresh utility ****

a:                               #These next 6 lines load the network
software so the machine can access the
file                             #server
cd a:\pclan
lsl
3c90x
ipxodi
netx

f:                                  # Next 2 lines we log into the file
server
login freshman


a:                      #These 6 lines reformat the hard disk
cd a:\

echo et tu brutu?

fdisk /mbr
format c: /x /s /q /u /v:LAB<y.rsp
erase c:\command.com

  a:                                            #  These 3 copy the
uncompression utility and get ready to copy the refresh file
 copy pkunzip.exe c:        #    to the workstation.
c:


echo ** Decompressing Zip file - Please wait (Do NOT press any keys) **



# these next  4 lines are important.  In this example we are able to
refresh 4 machines with just one
#  compressed refresh file. Because each workstation can take up 100 megs
of hard drive space
#  or more, its important to try and save space on your file server.
# These 4 lines determine which machine we are refreshing so it can copy
over the specific files
#  it needs for that machine (ie the ip address and autoexec.bat  files)
# In the very first line of the batch file, we set usanodeid=20.  Now
when it hits this first line
# below we ask a question.  In plain english the batch file translates
the question like this:

   if this is workstation NEC20 then go down to the section called nec20.


#  If we would hav set usanodeid to 23 then it would have ignored the
first 3 lines and
#  gone to the section called nec23.

if %usanodeid%==NEC20 goto nec20
if %usanodeid%==NEC21 goto nec21
if %usanodeid%==NEC22 goto nec22
if %usanodeid%==NEC23 goto nec23


# Now these are the sections for each machine. We just told it to go to
section nec20 (ie :nec20)

:nec20   # So we start here at section nec20

#Now we copy and uncompress the refresh file to the workstation in the
line below
 call pkunzip -d f:\refresh\ref\LAB2023\LAB2023.ZIP

#delete the decompression utility
erase pk*.exe

# this line below copys  the ip address config file to the workstation.
copy f:\refresh\ref\netcfg\%USANODEID%.cfg c:\novell\client32\net.cfg

# The next line copys the autoexec.bat file to the workstation. We really
don't use this
# yet but its nice to have.

copy f:\refresh\ref\accfg\%USANODEID%a.cfg c:\autoexec.bat
# Now we go to the section called settattrib to make the hard disk read
only so the students won't mess
 # up the icons etc.
goto setattrib

# this isnt settattrib so skip this ...
:nec21
call pkunzip -d f:\refresh\ref\LAB2023\LAB2023.ZIP
erase pk*.exe
copy f:\refresh\ref\netcfg\%USANODEID%.cfg c:\novell\client32\net.cfg
copy f:\refresh\ref\accfg\%USANODEID%a.cfg c:\autoexec.bat
goto setattrib

# skip this
:nec22
call pkunzip -d f:\refresh\ref\LAB2023\LAB2023.ZIP
erase pk*.exe
copy f:\refresh\ref\netcfg\%USANODEID%.cfg c:\novell\client32\net.cfg
copy f:\refresh\ref\accfg\%USANODEID%a.cfg c:\autoexec.bat
goto setattrib

#skip this
:nec23
call pkunzip -d f:\refresh\ref\LAB2023\LAB2023.ZIP
erase pk*.exe
copy f:\refresh\ref\netcfg\%USANODEID%.cfg c:\novell\client32\net.cfg
copy f:\refresh\ref\accfg\%USANODEID%a.cfg c:\autoexec.bat
goto setattrib


#here we are ... this makes *everything * read only, then undoes  a few
files that will not work
# work correctly if set this way.
:setattrib
echo **** Setting File Attributes ****
a:attrib +r c:\*.* /s
A:attrib c:\windows\hp*.* /s  -r
rem a:attrib c:\windows\progman.* -r
a:attrib c:\windows\setupexe.ini -r
a:attrib c:\windows\wpcset.bif -r
a:attrib c:\windows\deskjetc.ini -r
a:attrib c:\*.* /s
a:attrib -r c:\statref\deisl1.isu
a:attrib -r c:\statref\teton.loc
a:attrib -r c:\statref\teton.prf
a:attrib -r c:\statref\teton.acs
a:attrib -r c:\windows\teton.prf
a:attrib -r c:\statref\medicine.pch\*.*
a:attrib -r c:\statref\oncology.pch\*.*
a:attrib -r c:\windows\medicine.pch\*.*
a:attrib -r c:\windows\oncology.pch\*.*
a:attrib -r c:\nlogin\*.*

echo.
echo **** Setup Complete ****
echo.
echo * Remove the diskette and Reboot *
echo.


Thats it

One final note. We use Windows 3.1. But if you use newer software like
windows95 you
would need to replace the pkunzip with something like diskimage or ghost
for best results.
 Hope this helps,