Default settings without roaming profiles

[Cathy]

How can I update the registry with default settings for all users (or if
that fails, at least all new users) to default to the following settings

1. To point My Documents to a network assigned letter
2. To have the default Gateway & Network settings set up properly
3. To have the default proxy settings entered in Internet Explorer
4. To have the name of the Exchange server entered in Microsoft Outlook
Settings and other associated settings

W2k with Office 2000

TIA
Cathy

 

[Oli Restorick [MVP]]

Hi Cathy

1. Most people use group policy to do that. If you have Active Directory,
that's the way to do it, using folder redirection.

If not, you need to modify the following registry value, perhaps in a login
script.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders
Personal: DWORD

Changing the setting for new users is trickier, as you have to mount the
registry hive for the default user, make a modification, and unmount the
hive.

2. Don't consider doing this using anything other than DHCP.

3. This can be set with group policy.

4. This can be done during deployment of Office, using the custom
installation wizard to make a transform and deploying Office/Outlook with
the transform. I also believe you can change this post-deployment, but I've
never tried it. In the CIW, I'd recommend you use the name "exchange" as
the Exchange server and then create a DNS address record to point the name
"exchange" to your actual Exchange server. That way, if your Exchange
server gets migrated to a machine with a new name, you just have to change
the DNS setting rather than deploying Office again. Use %username% as the
user name and you shuold find that users don't need to do anything to hook
up to their e-mail.

For the CIW tool and documentation, look at www.microsoft.com/office/ork

There are alternative methods, including an offering from www.autoprof.com

Hope this helps

Oli