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Reddit’s r_k12sysadmin Credits: @r_channels @reddit2telegram
Autodesk Education Renewal Hell
When I attempt to renew our Autodesk Educational access, the website never provides me the opportunity to upload documents. Click on submit, fail, click on retry which should take me to a location to upload documents proving who I am, it never does. In the past I could then submit a ticket to SheerID and they'd ask me to send the information; but now it looks like they are just auto-rejecting all requests where the documentation hasn't been submitted through the website. So now I'm stuck on waiting for Autodesk to respond.
I know this happens to other districts, although I have no idea how widespread, and I am getting tired of fighting Autodesk every renewal. I am just wondering if anyone has figured out why or workaround.
https://redd.it/1nnu9q0
@r_k12sysadmin
Emergency comms for staff
Hi all - small private school here. We're in a weird situation where we have a school AND other non-profit orgs on the campus. If the school goes into lockdown or has an incident, the larger campus doesn't have a way to receive those notices (i.e. no campus-wide PA, mass comms, etc.). We've started looking at platforms like Informacast (highly recommended here it seems) for text/SMS but they're telling us the minimum seat count is 250 and we've got 100 on the high side. Anyone have recommendations for alternate products and/or a way to bypass their min seats?
https://redd.it/1nnpjga
@r_k12sysadmin
Dell Latitude 3440 Battery Issues
Anyone else having issues with the batteries in the 3440? In the past 2 months, about 30-40% of our staff with that model have received messages where they won't charge and are giving the battery health replacement message at boot. Usually, I would blame it on the user for misuse or neglect, but not at this volume. Of course, the warranty we had just went out in May.
https://redd.it/1nnmkjg
@r_k12sysadmin
Does anyone know about Youtube and edlaw2D
If I go into google workspace and disable YouTube so no one can sign in with their accounts, but they go onto YouTube and they aren't signed in, does that still break edlaw2d compliance?
There wouldn't be any PII if no one is logging in right?
https://redd.it/1nn70gs
@r_k12sysadmin
Carehawk PA - setting the time
Would anyone have experience with a Carehawk CH1000 system or similar? We have one that is a couple minutes out which affects the bell times. I have access to VNC into the system which is Windows CE but there does not appear to be any "internet time" tab and when I set the time manually it reverts back to 2 mins out after a short time. I found a manual online and it references logging into the master clock to set it but does not give any details on how to do this. If all else fails we will have to call the vendor but I was hoping to figure this out as we have a few of these systems.
https://redd.it/1nl5d4h
@r_k12sysadmin
Suspicious Login - Google Workspace
Anyone else getting several of these over the past week or two? Oddly, they are mostly for student accounts, and the IP addresses listed are either our own WAN IP for the district's student VLAN or a local ISP. It seems like Google may have adjusted the threshold for triggering these alerts as they do not seem legitimate given the source IP addresses.
https://redd.it/1nl1t6n
@r_k12sysadmin
Migrating to Gmail this year...
Well I think we are finally going to migrate away from Groupwise to gmail for our staff (we have been using gmail for students for awhile). We currently use Barracuda for our ESG for Groupwise but not for students. Are any of you using an ESG with gmail or are you just leverage Googles controls? Any other bits of advice?
Thanks in advance.
Edit: We are waiting for our Google Workspace Plus licenses to hit our account and with 28k chrome books we are not moving away anytime soon.
https://redd.it/1nkjrhy
@r_k12sysadmin
Lease printers or purchase our own
For the past decade+, our private school has leased printers. Currently, we have 9 printers. 3 larger units, and the rest smaller units.
The benefits of our lease:
* Leasing company provides consumable replacements (toner, waste bins, etc.) at their cost.
* Company troubleshoots printer issues at their cost
* They track toner levels and deliver when it gets so, so it's ready when we need it
* A few others, but those typically cover what we've experienced
Downsides
* We pay for every color $0.045
* Our elementary and preschool teachers print a lot of color, so the monthly print bill is somewhat high for us
* Our lease is 60 months, so by the time our lease ends, total spent is higher than buying printers and managing them in house.
I'm looking to see what your experience has been with in house printer solutions vs working with a lease company.
For context, we have three buildings on campus, around 300 students enrolled, about 70 staff members, and a handful of church volunteers who also print from time to time. We are not currently utilizing papercut either. So this may be something to put into consideration should we move to an in-house solution.
Additional information: We currently have Konica Minolta Bizhub machines. The smaller machines are the C3320i, and the larger machines is the C368
https://redd.it/1nkaajn
@r_k12sysadmin
Google Outage? Can't sign in
Our users are getting a 502 error from Google when they attempt to sign into Chrome or a Chromebook. Anyone else having this issue?
::EDIT:: It appears to be global. Good luck, all you help desk answerers out there!
https://redd.it/1nkadeu
@r_k12sysadmin
AristotleK12 Performance Issues After Client Update
For anyone using AristotleK12, have you experienced performance issues on Chromebooks this week? Looks like they had a client update recently and reports of laggy chromebooks have been trickling in since. Seems to be mostly older chromebooks.
We're still in the troubleshooting phase, so I don't have any other info. We just contacted their support.
https://redd.it/1nk7l3h
@r_k12sysadmin
Ask Google About this Page Contextual AI Overlay
Google rolled out an AI overlay in Chrome 140 that allows students to click on the URL bar and "Ask Google About this Page" to generate AI summaries without leaving the tab. All bets are off on personal accounts, but here is how to turn it off on school devices: https://chromeenterprise.google/policies/#LensOverlaySettings
Just a heads up that someone will likely notice it soon so you have a solution handy. The AI tide is whack a mole but it's good to know about.
The release notes are here: https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7679408?hl=en
And more info about Contextual Overlay
Contextual search suggestions in Chrome address bar
With this feature, you can ask anything about the page you’re on, directly in context. Building on the existing Search habit of the address bar, users can ask a question with Google Lens by selecting anything on screen or asking with words. A Google Lens action in the address bar and contextual suggestions guide people to the feature when it’s most helpful. Admins can control this feature with the existing LensOverlaySettings policy.
https://redd.it/1nk6znu
@r_k12sysadmin
What is the best AI video surveillance solution — anyone actually using one?
Hey all need a quick suggestion here
I am the sysadmin for a mid size k12 and our cameras feel useless lately. We are talking to some AI solutions out there but have little to no experience with this.
We had 3 hallway fights this year, all we got was grainy video next day when someone finally pulled it. Problem is now school board wants an AI video surveillance system or cameras that can get real alerts instantly.
looking at these new ai camera systems that can:
* ping us when theres weird stuff going on (after hours motion, big group gathering, fight alert- IDK)
* let us pull clips fast or even let principal do it without ticket hell
* remote view from phon/laptop e so i dont have to run to server room.
If you or anyone has used a similar system let us know. Big win if it can detect faces and ID them.
https://redd.it/1njo5ku
@r_k12sysadmin
ChromeOS Kiosk Mode as Digital Signage, is there a way to auto-login to a Google account?
Hi all,
We recently swapped our displays around the school to use ChromeOS Flex in Kiosk mode, which would then flip through a Google Slides presentation using the 'publish to web' feature. Very recently the trust has disabled external sharing across their schools, which has made these displays useless and display a Login to Google prompt. I completely understand their point of view of privacy and safeguarding reasons.
Is there a way for me to make these auto-login to a Google account without needing to remote in? Or is there a different approach you would do for this? Let me know if you'd like me to elaborate or clarify on anything.
Thanks all,
https://redd.it/1njmm6v
@r_k12sysadmin
Securly - creating a secondary policy
We’ve implemented Securly this fall and it’s been fairly smooth! I’m looking for a possible solution to the following case: let’s say I have a group of students where we want to allow a certain block of websites that we would define on a policy. Is it possible to apply a base student policy, as well as a secondary policy that would allow additional websites to appear?
https://redd.it/1nivq5q
@r_k12sysadmin
Discord/Slack?
I saw a post where this subreddit had a slack site, but when I tried to get invite it was it was deleted? I think a discord or slack would be good, especially during testing times we could collaborate and see if something is down?
https://redd.it/1nhot9k
@r_k12sysadmin
Securly Blocking "Youtube" when student searches google. Preload is mandated to off in google admin.
Having an issue where a student does a google search, results load, and then (as if google was preloading the pages) securly picks up a youtube result and displays a block message.
We solved this once before by disabling the performance setting “Preload pages” (in chrome) which can also be found under google admin at Device > Settings > Users & Browsers > Network prediction.
Now it’s either not respecting the setting, or they introduced something new I’m unaware of that causes the same thing.
Observed today on these ChromeOS versions:
140.0.7339.201
139.0.7258.164
139.0.7258.172
Verified that the setting in question was indeed mandated off (client) or “Do not predict network actions” (admin)
Anyone else seeing this or have a solution?
https://redd.it/1nnpu60
@r_k12sysadmin
Ticketing System for K12 school (Email based)
We are a smaller school (1300 students, 255 staff; 4 in tech dept) and we currently use One to One Plus as our ticketing system. Prior to that, we used Spiceworks (when they had on prem). I am looking for a solution that fits us a little better. Our staff send emails to open tickets, and our comments and workflow updates come back to them as replies. It's been that way for two decades, and it works for them. I do not want to change that. So, ideally, our solution will streamline with that easily.
One to One is okay, I guess... but there are just enough little workflow issues that nobody in our department likes it all that much. I'm hesitant to go back to Spiceworks Cloud because of the ads and I often see "get away from Spiceworks" types of posts in this group. I've seen several other threads with dozens of different options mentioned, but I wanted to get some advice with the lens of "we don't use a portal, we just use emails" type of environment.
(We can't afford Incident IQ, by the way. lol)
https://redd.it/1nno0mg
@r_k12sysadmin
Lenovo Chromebooks issues (a classic?)
Hello everyone,
I'm writing to find out if you've encountered (and solved) two problems we're having with Lenovo Chromebooks:
\- The Wi-Fi card shuts off, and the only thing that fixes it is disassembling it, removing it, and putting it back in. We've found that leaving the Wi-Fi card slightly higher (1 or 2 mm) sometimes helps them last longer without the problem recurring, but I don't trust it.
\- Chromebooks start very slowly. When you turn it on, it takes perhaps 3 or more minutes to reach the login screen, and it loads the user profile equally slowly. Resetting the Chromebook doesn't fix it.
Anyway, I'll leave these two issues to see what you say!
https://redd.it/1nni0qp
@r_k12sysadmin
Personal User Emails
We are a K12 district, we have iPads for PK-5 and Chromebooks for 6-12.
We have our network locked down so for google you can only login with our district provided accounts which only have access to login to the chromebook. No additional services enabled.
We are a Microsoft Office 365 district and we are getting requests for above to unblock personal emails for the district. They are saying kids need access to their personal email for fafsa and college board.
I'm worried about all the repercussions of what is going to happen when we not only give students, but staff access to their personal email addresses now. I know tons of teachers that will create google classrooms and make all their kids create gmail accounts and now work outside of our restrictions. Staff will then start using personal for work, making FOIL a nightmare. Cyberbullying, and access to google additional services like google voice etc on a personal account we have no way of restricting or tracking down who is sending what. We have had issued with bomb threats in the past through personal emails, plus the students and staff using personal accounts was an issue and thats why we blocked it.
How do you all handle personal email, is it allowed?
https://redd.it/1nn31bs
@r_k12sysadmin
Dell 3120 Chromebooks spontaneously opening RCS chats help center page
We have a really weird problem with the new Dell 3120 chromebooks. Sometimes when a student logs into the chromebook, Chrome will spontaneously open a tab or three of the "RCS chats with businesses" help center page. It doesn't happen all the time, but my observation is it happens the first time that student logs in to that chromebook. We have several other models, and this is only happening on the 3120s. Has anyone else seen this? Any ideas what could be causing it so I can make it stop?
Pictured: The same student logged in to two chromebooks. 3120 on the left, and 3100 on the right.
3120 on the left, 3100 on the right
https://redd.it/1nl47rv
@r_k12sysadmin
Papercut Mobility Print stability?
Anyone seen Mobility Print stability (what a mouthful) issues since the update to 1.0.3776 on Monday/Tuesday. We had reports starting Tuesday AM that print service was offline but didn’t connect it to the update (timing-wise) until this evening. MP app logs show the service restarting from time to time since the update. We’ve engaged our copier company who partners with Papercut, our MSP, and have a ticket to Papercut in as well. Just curious if anyone is seeing similar.
VMware environment,
Server 2019,
Still rocking 24.x on Papercut MF (update to 25.x now on the to-do list I’m guessing)
https://redd.it/1nkrrie
@r_k12sysadmin
Disable Chromecast on Chromebooks in Google Admin?
Is there a way to disable Chromecast so that students cannot connect to other devices? A recent update on our flat panels removed that restriction. We now have to touch each panel.
In Google Admin, is there a way to disable Chromecast as an option for students as a short-term solution? I see in admin that I can disable casting tabs, but that doesn't disable the device from casting.
https://redd.it/1nkf7rv
@r_k12sysadmin
The Atlantic offering Free Digital Subscriptions for All US Public High Schools
I am curious if anyone has heard of this yet? I had a teacher send me a link to a google form to sign up. In requires supplying the Schools external IP address, which I am assuming is used to say "any traffic from this address is not paywalled".
I am a bit apprehensive about putting our HS IP addresses in a google form without knowing where its going and who it is shared with. How would you all deal with this?
Google form: https://accounts.theatlantic.com/products/free-hs-access/
Press Announcement: https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2025/09/atlantic-gives-free-digital-access-high-schools/684221/
https://redd.it/1nkayt1
@r_k12sysadmin
Google chromebook sign in issue
Any one else seeing some of their students not being able to sign into their chromebooks this morning? I've had reports from a couple of our elementary sites; not all students are affected, just a sporadic number. Nothing shows up on the workspace status page, either.
EDIT: we are in the midwest.
Thanks!
https://redd.it/1nka7y9
@r_k12sysadmin
Google Admin, entire OU not auto-connecting to WiFi
Our whole High School Student OU isn't automatically connecting to WiFi. I've double checked all the settings and it's very much all still set to restrict each device to a managed SSID when in range, teacher SSIDs are forbidden, and it's set to the correct SSID and password for students. Almost all devices are in the High School OU, some aren't, but that doesn't seem to be related since we've had samples from either the HS OU or the root OU.
We tried to change the HS Student SSID password this morning because somehow students found out what it was, so we changed it and reflected the changes in Google. Every connection attempt spits out a "Bad Password" error.
Has anyone encountered either of these issues or knows otherwise what I can do to fix it? Thanks.
https://redd.it/1nk6f4j
@r_k12sysadmin
Stop Motion app for Chromebook
Hello everyone,
We've been using Clap Motion at school for two years. It's a good app, but they're discontinuing it. Does anyone know of a replacement app? Paid or free?
Thanks!
Hi,
We used
https://redd.it/1nk321w
@r_k12sysadmin
Replacing a master switch in a stack
Hello everyone, I have a switch in a stack that keeps rebooting after about 10 minutes or so. The time is very sporadic. As I'm typing this, the switch has been on for probably 30 minutes. I don't know much about stacks. I do have a same make/model replacement with same firmware available. I have the config of the whole stack and when I do a sh switch command I receive the output below. The switch that is having the issue is the one with the MAC .6180, which I assume is the master based on the output. Someone said I could literally just unplug the faulty switch and connect a new switch as long as it has the same firmware. Any help on this would be appreciated. Thank you.
3-7TC1P#sh switch
Switch/Stack Mac Address : 00d6.fe4c.6180
H/W Current
Switch# Role Mac Address Priority Version State
\----------------------------------------------------------
1 Member 5008.ac4b.9f80 1 4 Ready
2 Member 2c0b.e90a.6f80 1 4 Ready
3 Member 5008.ac4c.2580 1 4 Ready
*4 Master 00d6.fe4c.6180 1 4 Ready
https://redd.it/1njmarx
@r_k12sysadmin
Server 2019 Print Server Overwriting User Set Preferences?
I'm sure I am overlooking something here, but I feel like I'm going nuts.
Running windows print server on a machine with server 2019. Printers are pushed out via active directory. All of that is fine. However, we have it set so printed documents are sent to a mailbox first before printing out. Then the user can change settings, etc, as needed at the printer. Each teacher/employee has their own mailbox, therefore they have to set it in Printer Preferences, output method, store, then set a mailbox number.
Problem is, this works for multiple days or weeks, but then the output method just gets set to Print instead of store. I don't see any evidence of the staff members making this change.
Has anyone seen this before or had this issue? All printers are Canon IR-Adv 8986/8995. This happens if I set the server defaults to store and choose mailbox 99 for instance. They can change it to their own mailbox number, but it eventually changes it back to 99.
Any thoughts or things to check would be appreciated!
https://redd.it/1njes73
@r_k12sysadmin
Happy IT Professionals Day!
Thank you all for the incredible work you do each day to keep schools connected, supported, and moving forward.…And, great timing, we found this laptop today.
https://redd.it/1niqf06
@r_k12sysadmin
GoGuardian launch issue (Windows app)
Hi All,
Any folks using GG?
Have a weird issue on a few Windows devices where the GG is installed, but the app doesn't launch automatically, and when I launch it manually, it seems to just force close. It's not all the devices, but a handful every now and then. Any one else ran into this issue?
https://redd.it/1nhl3ki
@r_k12sysadmin
