Customize Windows XP profile

[Liao]

Installed with Windows XP Professional SP2. Joined as a domain member.
This workstation is shared by different domain user. User using his own
domain account to login to the shared workstation. When each different
domain user login to the workstation, Windows XP will creates each indiviual
profile in the C:\Documents and Settings\ . It will have many profiles
eventually. Very messy!

I prefer the profile to be stored in local drive, C:\Documents and Settings\

I was wondering can i do the following,
- create a customize profile (name: ShareProfile) in C:\Documents and
Settings.
- any domain user login to this workstation will use the same profile,
ShareProfile. Basically, all user will be seeing
the same desktop.
- Windows XP will NOT create new profile in the C:\Documents and Settings
when new domain user login.
(That is, in C:\Documents and Settings folder, there's always have only
one profile, which is "ShareProfile".

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Installed with Windows XP Professional SP2. Joined as a domain member.
This workstation is shared by different domain user. User using his own
domain account to login to the shared workstation. When each different
domain user login to the workstation, Windows XP will creates each
indiviual profile in the C:\Documents and Settings\ . It will have many
profiles eventually. Very messy!

I prefer the profile to be stored in local drive, C:\Documents and
Settings\

I was wondering can i do the following,
- create a customize profile (name: ShareProfile) in C:\Documents and
Settings.
- any domain user login to this workstation will use the same profile,
ShareProfile. Basically, all user will be seeing
the same desktop.
- Windows XP will NOT create new profile in the C:\Documents and Settings
when new domain user login.
(That is, in C:\Documents and Settings folder, there's always have only
one profile, which is "ShareProfile".

You need to do a little research on "Mandatory Profiles" and "Roaming
Profiles".

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Installed with Windows XP Professional SP2. Joined as a domain member.
This workstation is shared by different domain user. User using his
own domain account to login to the shared workstation. When each
different domain user login to the workstation, Windows XP will
creates each indiviual profile in the C:\Documents and Settings\ . It
will have many profiles eventually. Very messy!

That's the way Windows works in a domain. It isn't messy at all if you know
how to manage it. The user profiles should be small to begin with - you
should be using folder redirection for My Documents, Desktop, and
Application Data to your file server, via group policy.
The profiles should be miniscule - I also use roaming profiles so that users
get the same profile wherever they log in.

You can set up group policy to delete the cached copies of roaming profiles
at logoff - or use a scheduled task or startup/shutdown to run delprof on
the workstations. There's a lot you can do if you like.

I prefer the profile to be stored in local drive, C:\Documents and
Settings\

Yes, that's where it is by default.

I was wondering can i do the following,
- create a customize profile (name: ShareProfile) in C:\Documents and
Settings.
- any domain user login to this workstation will use the same profile,
ShareProfile. Basically, all user will be seeing
the same desktop.
- Windows XP will NOT create new profile in the C:\Documents and
Settings when new domain user login.
(That is, in C:\Documents and Settings folder, there's always have
only one profile, which is "ShareProfile".

Nope, not in any simple manner - and you'd really be defeating the purpose
anyway.

You could set up a mandatory profile that all users share and set them all
up to use roaming profiles that specify that, but that also defeats many
valid purposes for a domain. It's sounding to me as though perhaps you
aren't very familiar with how domains work, and you may want to do some
reading up before proceeding. You will likely find that your desired
workarounds are not necessary at all (and are not better than the way things
work by default).

Note - if this is to be a special "kiosk" PC you have additional options,
such as Windows Steady State., etc.