Charles wrote
I have a very small network on which all the machines are running
Windows XP SP2. Some have Home edition some have Pro. Is it possible
for me to configure the desktops and start neues of all the machines
from an admin machine. I do not want to have to individually change
each machine on the network I want to change them gloablly from one
machine.
Can I do that, and if so can I do it without upgrading everything to
Pro?
Could you rephrase your question, please? I can't understand
"...and start neues". What exactly are you trying to do?
Pegasus,
"Start Menus" is what I believe they mean.
Essentially - if I read the Multi-Posted text correctly - the OP would like
to basically be able to control the start menus and desktops of the users
for all machines on this small network - which consists of machines
including Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional Edition.
There is obviously no domain involved here (Home Edition thrown in the mix)
and if there is - then those machines will have to be upgraded to a domain
ready OS in order to take advantage of what may already be in place via the
domain controls.
Technically - what they ask is possible with scripts. They could write a
script that checks each machine and (simplest form) changes the All User's
Desktop and Start menus appropriately. More complicated versions would
parse the users on each computer and do the same to those - although that
seems like a dangerous proposition.
An easy way to start out "right" is to creat default profiles that are the
same on every machine - that way all new users start the same - at least.
And put as much as possible in the All Users area.
Of course this also assumes no one else is an administrator on the machines
and might screw up the work by something as simple as changing the password
of the "real" admin or blocking access through firewalls, etc.
Essentially - the control they want is possible even with their
configuration, but the amount of effort it would take to maintain would be
equivalent - in my mind - to running the same things with a domain of 1000's
of workstations and 10's of 1000's of users - since the domain can handle
all of the hard work. *grin*
