Zedex for simple school networking

by Alan Zisman (c) 2006

At the elementary school where I teach, we use a free program called Zedex to give students and staff secure login to network folders. Zedex was developed by an Ontario teacher named Barry Stanley. He has a website for it at www.zedex.net.

Zedex is an add-on to the basic Windows networking. I've written a tutorial on setting up and working with Win95/98 style networking that's available online at: http://www.zisman.ca/network/

Zedex requires a few things in order to work:

•    the system acting as the Zedex server needs to have the computer name Zedex with file sharing enabled. (Note: no fancy server or server operating system is needed. Our ‘server’ is a standard Pentium II-400 MHz desktop computer running Windows 98SE)

•    There needs to be a folder named Logout on the Zedex system, shared under that name with no password. This becomes the default folder assigned to drive Z: (zed) when no one is logged in.

•    The Zedex files should be installed on each workstation... in fact, one can simply copy the files onto a workstation, and make a shortcut pointing to the exe file. (There have been several different versions of the Zedex.exe; we're currently using one named Zedex2002.exe). If you put a copy of the shortcut in the Start Menu's Startup folder, Zedex will automatically be loaded when the system boots. I also put another copy of the shortcut in the Start Menu's Maquinna folder, making it easier for kids to restart Zedex if it gets shut down.

If the network is not working (or the server is shut down or frozen) when a workstation starts up, Zedex will fail to find the Zedex server, and will complain. If you then try to shut it down, it will give an error message... you'll need to click on the error message in order to shut down Zedex or to restart that workstation.

When Zedex is running, users can use it to log into any shared folder on the Zedex server...

Type the folder name in the Login field, and the (optional) password in the Password field. Then press Enter . (Students sometimes forget to press Enter then wonder why they're not logged in). If trying to connect to a folder that doesn't have a password, enter the folder name, and press Enter twice. (You can use the Tab or Enter keys to move from the Login field to the Password field).

(I set up folders with no passwords for the primary students... trading security for ease of use. So far, that hasn't been a problem. I set the folder's share name (and hence the Zedex login) for grade 1s as just the student's first name (unless there are, for example, two Stephanies); for older grades, I use the student’s division number and first name: 04timothy. For grades 4-7, I add a student-selected password. Passwords can be up to 8 letters/numbers and are not case sensitive. User names are also not case sensitive but can be longer than 8 letters... STEPHANIEC, Stephaniec, and stephaniec are identical. Teachers typically use a first initial and last name as their user-names).

When a user successfully logs in, the Zedex window changes colour (to a blue-green shade in the Zedex2002 version) and shows the contents of the folder:

As you might expect, double-clicking a folder name in the left-hand window shows the contents of that folder on the right-hand side. Double-clicking a file-name in the right-hand window opens that file in the program that's set to run it. There are a few things to be aware of:

•    You can't delete files in the Zedex window... if you want to delete, rename, or copy files, after logging into Zedex, open My Computer... your Zedex folder is drive Z: (zed).

•    You can't always start up program files (*.exe) by double-clicking a filename in Zedex

•    If you save a file in an application to drive Z:, it won't automatically appear in the Zedex list-- the list doesn't automatically update itself as the contents of Drive Z: changes. To see the changes, click on the Refresh List button at the bottom of the Zedex window. (This can confuse students who aren't sure their file really got saved!)

•    There's a problem with Storybook Weaver Deluxe – a program that I use a lot with grades 1-3... if students open a saved *.SBW file, it loads properly in SBWD, but the file can't be edited, because the SBWD toolbars load out of sight at the top of the screen. If this happens, shut SBWD down, restart the program, and manually open the file by using the File/Open menu or clicking on the Bookshelf in the SBWD startup screen.

•    You can't modify login names or passwords from within Zedex, or at any of the workstations. To do so, go to the Zedex server at the back of the lab, locate the folder in question, right-click on it and pick Sharing from the popup menu.

•    Some software doesn’t always accurately show the currently logged on user next to the drive letter (Z: ) In some cases, it seems to show the previous log-in name. OpenOffice.org tends to always show LogOut as the name, which causes no end of confusion.

Be sure to get students to click on the Zedex Logout button when they're done using it... otherwise, the next person to sit down at that computer can access their files.

A very cool feature of Zedex (and how it got its name) is that two students can use it to collaborate on a single workstation... After the first student logs in, click the X:\ button on the bottom-left of the Zedex window. This allows a second student to log in. Though it doesn't display the second student's filelist, their folder appears in My Computer as Drive X:. Hence Zed + Ex = Zedex. That way, students can use My Computer to copy files from one person's folder to the other, or to open files from both people's folders on the same computer, useful for project work, etc.

Another nice feature of Zedex, particularly useful working with children, is that they can log in at any time—even in the middle of using an application. With the standard Windows log-in, a user would need to shut down all applications in order to log-in; with Zedex, they are much less likely to lose work or save it in the wrong location.

Most of the programs installed in my computer lab and around the school have been set to look in Drive Z: (the default Logout folder or the student's folder) by default. This is very useful-- it makes it far more likely that students will save in the right place and be able to find their files again. In most cases, this can be set by editing the properties of the Start Menu shortcut used to load the program. To do this:

•    right-click on an unused piece of the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, and pick Properties from the popup menu.

•    Click on the Start Menu tab, then the Advanced button... this will show the contents of the Start Menu in an Explorer window.

•    Locate the icon for the program you want; right-click on it and pick Properties.

•    Click on the Shortcut tab, and enter Z:\ in the Start in: field. Click OK.

Some programs don't use this information, however:

•    Microsoft Word needs you to click on the Tools menu, then on Options. Go to the File Locations tab, click on the Documents item, and click the Modify button... navigate to drive Z:

•    In Open Office, click Tools then Options. In the window that opens up, double-click the top item, labelled OpenOffice.org to display the items underneath, then click on Paths. In the left-hand window, locate the My Documents item, click on it, then on the Edit button to set it to Z:\

•    For Storybook Weaver, you need to use Explorer or My Computer to go to your Windows folder... locate the SBW95.ini file and double-click to load it into Notepad. Set the top item to read:
[DATA]
SavePath=z:\

•    I don't remember what I had to do to make MS Works default to drive Z:!

Another possibility is to use Microsoft’s free TweakUI PowerToy (separate versions for Windows XP and all previous Windows versions) to set the default My Documents location to Z:\

I have set up all the student files on the server as sub-folders within a C:\Classes folder. Since the Classes folder is shared if you log into Zedex using the login name classes and proper password, you can access all student folders. This is handy if checking student work, if you want to copy an assignment into a whole classes worth of folders, or if one student in a group is absent-- to allow the others to access work saved in the absent student's folder.

Similarly, teacher folders are all within a C:\Teachers folder, which can be accessed in the same way.

Also using that password is the Install folder on the server, with copies of program installation files. Logging into the Install folder lets you install programs quickly and easily, without having to fuss with floppy disks or CDs.

One more tip: Inside the Logout folder on my Zedex server, I've created two empty folders named:

_Don't Save Here!    and

_Log Into Zedex!

Hopefully, at least a few users notice these and are reminded to log into Zedex when they try to save their files!