AD User to use local user files/settings?

[lieb39]

Hello everyone,

Right now on my desktop I have all my programs, settings, documents, everything, located on my local profile, Daniel. Since I have finally put a server (2003, running various services including AD) in my network, i need to administrator it, therefore I need to login as 'Daniel' on my Server, "Homer" (Creative, eh? hehe) , and i want to keep all my documents and settings. Is there any way of doing this?

I tried to make a seperate Group Policy for a user 'DanielDesktop', and redirect My Documents, Desktop, Application Data and Start Menu to local machine (For example, desktop would be set to Redirect everyone's folder to the same location, and made the path to "c:\Documents and Settings\Daniel\Desktop" (Since thats the path on my desktop) but I just get a blank profile when i try to do this. Any ideas?

Thanks,

lieb39

[Marsden]

Is "Daniel" a User Account in the Administrators Group?

[garethevans1986]

You can use something called "roaming profile" on your qorkstations but i wouldant reccomend it on the server/administrator settings only users, basicly when the log off their "local settings" are saved to the server and when they logon the workstation downloads the settings from the server and applys them as "local settings".

Choc

[Trajik 2600]

On the Profile tab of each users property sheet in Active Directory Users & Computers, type in a network path. The user needs to have read/write permissions on the network share and the physical folder location of that share.

[lieb39]

  Trajik 2600 said:

On the Profile tab of each users property sheet in Active Directory Users & Computers, type in a network path. The user needs to have read/write permissions on the network share and the physical folder location of that share.

Seems like the smart plan but it then it feels the need to copy the profile over.. which is nearly 5GB. Even on the local machine, its a senseless copy. Any way to avoid this copying procedure?

-lieb39

[semaja2.net]

you make folders map to the drive so liek h; is my documnets d: is destop and i belive thats tops it

[Trajik 2600]

Create another share (e.g. \\fs01\userdocs), and on that same screen (edit: the screenshot I posted) have H: map to \\fs01\userdocs\%username%

Then apply a group policy to that set of users that redirects My Documents and Desktop to \\fs01\userdocs. The username will be appended automatically, and \My Documents and \Desktop will automatically be created and used below that.

That way only the settings are synchronized with the server at logon/logoff, and Desktop and My Documents are used directly from that network share during the whole session, optimizing the process a bit. You can also exclude folders from synchronization, like Temp and Temporary Internet Files if you want, to cut down unnecessary transfers.

Post back if you have any more questions.

[lieb39]

Sorry, I've try to read that a million times but I can't get it. Tell me what ACTUAL values to fill in.. The local user I'm trying to get is 'Daniel', the Active Directory Username is 'DanLaptop', the computer name is \\DLAP, can you tell me what to share exalty, what to share it as, and what settings to put in where?

Thanks,

lieb39

[Trajik 2600]

Here's an example from my domain:

On exi-server-02, I have a share called UserDocs, which stores the My Documents and Desktop folders for each user, and a second share called UserData, which is their profile path, excluding the aforementioned folders.

The folders and shares should both have Full Access permissions to the Authenticated Users group.

Then when you make each user's properties sheet appear like the attached image, it will store all of their documents and settings in the \\server\UserData\username folder.

You want to isolate the My Documents and Desktop folders for performance and centralization purposes, so refer to my next post.

[Trajik 2600]

Next, in Active Directory Users & Computers, right click on the domain, and click properties. Click the Group Policy tab, and click the New button. Name the policy Folder Redirection (or anything meaningful to you). Then double-click it to open the GPO Editor.

Expand User Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Folder Redirection, right-click Desktop, and type in the network path to your UserDocs share (e.g. \\server\UserDocs). You will not append the username to this value. As you can see in the screenshot, Windows will append the username and folder name to that for each user. Repeat the process for My Documents. I left the default settings on the Settings tab for both redirections.

Then close the GPO editor, OK out of the domain properties box, and close Active Directory Users & Computers. This configuration should be available almost immediately.

New profiles are likely to be created in the new locations, but you can copy your documents and desktop over to the new network location, and start from there.

If you ever need to move the network location (as I recently did), simply copy the UserDocs and UserData folders to another machine, share them, and change the pointers in the group policy you created and the Profile tab of the users properties in AD U&C.

Hope this helps, post back if you need any more specifics. I'll be back in the morning :)