Roaming Profiles in a Workgroup?

[peredo]

Hello. I volunteer at my local (small) school and help them with their
computers and network.

They recently purchased 6 new PCs running XP Pro SP2 (no server). We
want to set them up as a workgroup but with roaming profiles. Each of
the year groups shares one account (Year 1, Year 2, etc.). The idea is
that any child (say, in Year 1) can login as Year 1 and be presented
with a customized desktop and Start Menu regardless of which computer
he or she is sitting at. It also means that with only one account per
year group, a single account may be logged in on multiple machines
simultaneously.

I have managed to create the profiles by setting up a share on one of
the computers. On each of the other machines I created all of the
necessary user accounts and then directed them to save and load the
profiles to and from the share (by using Computer Management).

This works fine with respect to the desktop icons. Icons added on one
computer in profile 'Year 1' show up on another computer in that same
profile. However, I'm having problems with the Start Menu and the
desktop appearance.

The desktop appearance always shows up as the 'Windows Classic style'.
I can change it to the new 'XP style' (via Display Properties,
Appearance), but when I logout and log back in, it reverts to the
Windows Classic look. Also, changes to the desktop background do not
take effect, even temporarily.

Further, changes to the Start Menu do not propagate to the "server". I
want to present a simplified Start Menu to the students, but if I can't
accomplish this, it defeats the whole purpose of having roaming
profiles.

I am not a network guru. I have managed to do this without touching
Group Policy or setting up a domain. Can I accomplish my goal in this
fashion or must I set up a proper server with a server OS and a network
domain? Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
Jim, UK

 

[Star Fleet Admiral Q]

With "roaming" profiles in a Workgroup or the establishment of a "domain"
you loose the "WinXP" style display abilities, basically because you've
activated the "Client for Microsoft Networks". It is just the way MS wrote
it - XP Pro was designed with the business environment in mind, as keeping
the eye candy would discourage the executives into thinking XP was not a
real OS, so the old WinNT/2k classic style was chosen to remain for that
type of environment.
That said, that doesn't mean you can't get some 3rd party freeware/shareware
to allow you to bring some type of "eye" candy back, with the use of 3rd
party themes.
Some of the issues you are experiencing with the Start Menu, are
understandable, as roaming profiles was not designed to function in a
"workgroup" environment, so hence when you logoff, it doesn't know to write
this information back to where the profile was loaded from or synchronize.

--

Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your Service!

http://www.google.com
Google is your "Friend"