Activation Required Prompts and Microsoft Software

Posted on March 7, 2014 by ihelp • Posted in Microsoft 365 Software, Windows Devices • Tagged Activation, excel, licensing, microsoft, office, Office 2013, Office 2016, windows, word •

iSchool owned Windows computers are set up to periodically check-in with a license server on campus to verify the activation of Windows (the operating system itself).

If your computer has been off campus for quite some time and your computer has not connected to the Husky OnNet VPN for quite some time (at least once every 180 days), you can expect to see a prompt or message telling you that you are required to activate Microsoft Windows or your license will expire soon.

If you see a message about needing to activate Windows, connect to the Husky OnNet VPN, then wait. You may continue working. Your computer will automatically “check in” with the on-campus license server, activate Microsoft Windows, the “activation required” message will disappear, and you can disconnect or exit the Husky OnNet VPN application.

More about how activating Microsoft products works at the UW, can be found on UW-IT’s website:

https://itconnect.uw.edu/wares/msinf/software/activating-microsoft-products/

All about iSchool backup (what, who, when, where, how, why)

Posted on June 6, 2012 by ihelp • Posted in Apple Devices, Windows Devices • Tagged backups, Chrome, crashplan, documents, firefox •

The goal of backups performed by iSchool IT is to allow you to recover from a hardware disaster or transfer to a different computer easily and not to provide archival backups. We currently only backup iSchool-issued computers.

HOW

Files are backed up using an application named Code42/CrashPlan.

WHAT

All the default Windows and macOS user folders are backed up. This means:

on Windows, every file and folder under:

C:\Users\your UW NetID

and on Mac, every file and folder under:

/Users/your UW NetID

is getting backed up.

Sidenote – Although Code42/CrashPlan does backup Firefox and Chrome bookmarks modern web browsers provide a way to backup/synchronize bookmarks across different devices/computers . If you use Firefox or Chrome, we recommend you sign into the browser itself, using your UW email address and use the browser’s built-in sync feature to save all your bookmarks to the cloud:

set up Firefox sync
set up Chrome sync

WHO

All permanent iSchool faculty, staff, and PhD students that have been issued an iSchool computer will have said computer backed up via Code42/CrashPlan.

It is standard operating procedure to backup one computer per person.

If you are not a permanent employee and/or you are using a checkout or loaner computer your machine will not be backed up via Code42/CrashPlan. Please take appropriate actions to safeguard your data.

WHEN

The Code42/CrashPlan application will check for changes and make backups every fifteen (15) minutes.

For the Code42/CrashPlan application to work, your computer needs to be:

a) powered on (not in Sleep Mode)
b) connected to the Internet

WHERE

The Code42/CrashPlan application works whether your computer is on or off campus.

All files are copied/uploaded to a server accessible only by the iSchool IT team.

All files are stored on disk and none are copied to tape.

WHY

The goal of backups performed by iSchool IT via the Code42/CrashPlan application is to allow you to recover from a hardware disaster or transfer to a different computer easily.

Code42/CrashPlan does support some file versioning history by default.

RESTORE / RECOVER FILES

Basic instructions for recovering files from Code42/CrashPlan can be found here. Contact the iSchool IT Help Desk with questions.

UW-IT DOCUMENTATION

UW-IT Code42/CrashPlan documentation

Apple macOS device enrollment

Posted on April 6, 2022 by ndempsey • Posted in Apple Devices •

All iSchool-purchased Apple devices (faculty, staff, computer-classroom computers, iPads, Apple TVs) are “enrolled” in The iSchool’s Apple Mobile Device Management (MDM) tool, “Jamf Pro”. It is possible, infrequently, that you may be prompted to renew or update your device’s enrollment. Follow the steps below.

1) Click the “Device Enrollment” notification if it appears.

2) An “Update Device Enrollment” message in System Preferences -> Profiles should open. Click “Update.”

3) Enter your UW NetID credentials, click “Connect”.

4) After a few seconds you should see wording about the device being “…supervised and managed by University Of Washington.” This is expected and the desired result. You may quit out of System Preferences.

BitLocker

Posted on July 11, 2017 by ihelp • Posted in Windows Devices • Tagged BitLocker, encryption, Security, windows •

The iSchool has BitLocker configured on all faculty, staff, and PhD student Windows computers. BitLocker is a Microsoft disk encryption technology. Once BitLocker is turned on, your UW NetID credentials will continue to allow you to sign into the computer; you should see no noticeable change in behavior.

If you are ever prompted for a BitLocker Recovery Key, please contact the iSchool IT Help Desk.

More about BitLocker can be found at the websites below:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/device-security/bitlocker/bitlocker-overview

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitLocker

Deep Freeze/Administrative rights on lab computers security model

Posted on June 5, 2012 by ihelp • Posted in Apple Devices, Windows Devices • Tagged administration, deep freeze, imacs, labs, reboot, restart •

In order to give students at the iSchool the greatest possible flexibility in achieving their academic work, everyone who uses an iSchool lab computer is automatically logged in to that computer as a local administrator. This allows the user to have full permission to install software and to make any number of configuration changes to the computer’s operating system.

While The iSchool believes in providing an open learning environment, it also wants to give its lab users secure, reliable machines. For this reason, it has chosen to run Deep Freeze on all lab machines.

Deep Freeze is a program that restores a computer to a “fresh state” after each system reboot. Consequently, if you install a program on an iSchool lab machine and then reboot the machine, the program will no longer be installed when the machine restarts. Deep Freeze returns the computer to its original pristine state, so if you ever experience any problems with a lab computer they can be fixed by rebooting.

Using Deep Freeze ensures that our machines stay up and running with the least amount of interruptions due to accidental configuration changes, software bugs, spyware, malware, and viruses.

Driver, BIOS, and firmware updates

Posted on January 21, 2016 by ihelp • Posted in Windows Devices • Tagged BIOS, driver, drivers, firmware •

If a specific hardware part of your computer is not working correctly, updating “drivers”, “BIOS”, or “firmware” is worth trying to attempt to fix the problem.

Before proceeding with the instructions, save whatever documents you are working on. You will likely need to restart your computer to install updates.

My computer is a:

iSchool issued Lenovo

update drivers on an iSchool issued Lenovo

1) Click the lower Windows icon to bring up the Start menu.

2) Start typing the words “system update.” Click the System Update icon to start the application.

3) Click Next, the application will search for updates applicable to your computer. If there is an update available for the Lenovo System Update application itself, follow the on-screen instructions to apply the update.

4) Once search results appear, for the “Critical updates” and “Recommended updates” sections, select only the items that have the words “Thunderbolt” or “Driver” or “BIOS” or “Firmware” in the title. Click Next.

note: The picture below is an example. The updates that appear for your specific computer will likely be different from what is pictured below. Select only the items that have the words “Thunderbolt” or “Driver” or “BIOS” or “Firmware” in the title.

5) Click Download.

6) The selected items will be downloaded and installed. Follow any specific on-screen instructions presented.

7) When the installation is finished, you may be prompted to restart the computer. Follow the specific on-screen instructions.

How to add your UW Exchange Online (UW Microsoft 365) to your mobile device

Posted on March 13, 2014 by ihelp • Posted in Mobile Devices • Tagged email, Exchange Online, Microsoft 365 •

UW-IT recommends using the Outlook mobile app for receiving and sending emails on your mobile device. The Outlook mobile app is zero cost and available for both Apple iOS and Android devices via their respective app stores.

Outlook mobile app

Lenovo laptop reset button

Posted on August 7, 2019 by ihelp • Posted in Windows Devices • Tagged battery, hardware, Lenovo, Monitor •

Lenovo laptops with non-removable batteries have a “power/battery reset” button that is useful to use when troubleshooting problems with:

– laptop not powering on
– external devices (including monitors) not being recognized by the laptop
– power adapters (battery chargers) not being recognized by the laptop
– messages about the power adapter

The actions below do not affect any software or settings.

—-

Follow these steps to use the “power/battery reset” button:

– Disconnect computer from all cables, including monitors and power adapters.
– Shutdown computer.
– Find a paperclip, toothpick, or other small pointy object.
– Turn computer upside down.
– Stick the paperclip (or other object) in the small hole on the bottom of computer. You should feel a click.

– Click the button a few times.
– Click the button and hold it down for 60 seconds.
– Turn the computer back on.
– Plug external devices and/or cables back into the computer.

Lenovo System Update

Posted on April 22, 2020 by ihelp • Posted in Windows Devices • Tagged BIOS, driver, drivers, firmware, Lenovo •

iSchool-issued Lenovo brand laptops come with an application named “Lenovo System Update” installed.

The Lenovo System Update application regularly runs in the background to install driver updates.

Every once in a while, you may be faced with a notification telling you updates that require a computer restart are available. See example message below.

If you see the message, follow the instructions to apply the updates. In general, you should apply the updates as soon as you are able. While you have the option of clicking “Cancel”, you will need to install the updates sooner or later.

While the Lenovo System Update application does run on a regular schedule, you have the option to run it on demand, to look for driver, BIOS, and firmware updates by following the instructions on this page:

Lenovo System Update driver, BIOS, and firmware updates search

iSchool Knowledge Base

University of Washington Information School

Category Archives: Devices