How to create .PRF without the MST

[cbxzrx]

Howdy.
After some reading downloaded the Office 2003 resource kit so I could
try to create a .PRF file so I could have users configure their
Outlook 2003 w/our exchange server and cache.
Unfortunately, I do not have the .MST file that is, I believe, the
second step in the .PRF creation process.
Reason for not having the .MST or is it the .MSI file is that the MS
Office professional or even standard version application is "pushed"
to the desktop by our support provided.

Thus, for each new user I have to manually set up the Outlook program
with users name, the address to our exchange server and also create
the .OST for use with cached mail.

Is there a way by which I can create the .PRF file without using the
resource kit? BTW, copied the custom11.prf file I found and changed it
but have not yet tried using it.

Thanks for any suggestions/comments you may have,

Rey

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You need the .msi file. An .mst file is what the CIW creates. For purposes of generating a .prf, you should be able to use the .msi found in a subfolder under the MSOCache\All Users folder. It should be the largest one. Editing the custom11.prf file should also work, as long as you know what you're doing.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

if it's a very simple profile, there may be a sample with Exchange in the
profile at
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/prf.htm

 

[cbxzrx]

Howdy all.
Thanks for replies/information.

I modified the custom11.prf file to use our exchange server and have
tried it twice and it works.
Now I'm looking for information on how I may use the user's name
variable, e.g. %username%, that I used to create the .OST file as the
profile
name. When I used it (%username%), the profile name was just that not
JDoe or John Doe which is what I would really like. I read the
Outlook
Deployment Options: Customizing a PRF File but it did not address how
to create a profile name on the fly via the .PRF.

Below is the profile section that I'm using.

Thanks,
Rey

; **************************************************************
; Section 1 - Profile Defaults
; **************************************************************

[General]
Custom=1
;ProfileName=%UserName% <-- want to use this vice manually entering
John Doe
DefaultProfile=Yes
OverwriteProfile=Append
ModifyDefaultProfileIfPresent=TRUE

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You cannot set the profile name with an environment variable, nor should you need to, given that each user in your scenario would have their own Windows login.

 

[cbxzrx]

Hopefully this post will show up as the previous post - same info
hasn't, yet.


Howdy all.
Thanks for replies/information.

I modified the custom11.prf file to use our exchange server and have
tried it twice and it works.
Now I'm looking for information on how I may use the user's name
variable, e.g. %username%, that I used to create the .OST file as the
profile name. When I used it (%username%), the profile name was just
that not JDoe or John Doe which is what I would really like. I read
the Outlook Deployment Options: Customizing a PRF File but it did not
address how to create a profile name on the fly via the .PRF.

Below is the profile section that I'm using.

Thanks,
Rey

; **************************************************************
; Section 1 - Profile Defaults
; **************************************************************

[General]
Custom=1
;ProfileName=%UserName% <-- wnat to use this vice manually entering
John Doe
DefaultProfile=Yes
OverwriteProfile=Append
ModifyDefaultProfileIfPresent=TRUE

 

[cbxzrx]

You cannot set the profile name with an environment variable, nor should you need to, given that each user in your scenario would have their own Windows login.

Thanks for the info, Sue.

Was trying to keep it simple not only for myself but when I'm absent
or moved on to another job...

Thanks again,
Rey

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

I would say that using the same profile name for every user throughout the company *is* keeping it simple.