Assign Mandatory Profile for Group

[Ryan Tremblay]

I work at a college and starting fall quarter all students will have their
own logon accounts. We want all of the students to share one Mandatory
Profile that sits on the server so they can't store things in My Documents
and fill up the favorites, and everyone's computer will be the same so it
would be easier for the instructors and us to fix something if there was a
problem. I know you have to go into the user account and assign the profile
but for over 1,000 students (we are a small college) that would take
forever. Is there anyway to assign the group the profile in any way? I
know that the group that the students are in you can allow to use the
profile. Has anyone done this or have any suggestions?

Thanks
Ryan Tremblay
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Herb Martin]

I work at a college and starting fall quarter all students will have their
own logon accounts. We want all of the students to share one Mandatory
Profile that sits on the server so they can't store things in My Documents
and fill up the favorites, and everyone's computer will be the same so it
would be easier for the instructors and us to fix something if there was a
problem.

This is certainly possible but the "modern" way to handle most
of this (more easily too) is with Group Policy rather than with
mandatory profiles.

I know you have to go into the user account and assign the profile
but for over 1,000 students (we are a small college) that would take
forever.

You can multiply select in Win2003 but not in Win2000 -- you might
try the "newer" AD Users and Computers (from AdminPak.msi on
a 2003 server or the MS site) on an XP management console and see
if this will let you do it.

Is there anyway to assign the group the profile in any way?

No, not even in Win2003 -- technically you are selecting all the
members and assigning the profile in bulk to EACH rather than
to the group.

This is one of the reason that GPOs are preferred over Mandatory
profiles.

Also note, that when you create a "new users" and add them to this
group it will NOT automatically work out as it would if you did this
through an OU and a GPO assigned to that OU.

You CAN however create a "template student users" and ONLY
create "new students" by copying it. This will copy the roaming
or mandatory profile location as well.

I
know that the group that the students are in you can allow to use the
profile. Has anyone done this or have any suggestions?

See above....