Roaming profiles

[Guest]

I am trying to set up roaming profiles for some of my users, primarily so
they can receive and send their emails from any computer.
However, it seems that Outlook does not allow .PST files and the like to be
available on a network share.
Is there any (preferably simple) way of getting this to work?
We do not use Exchange.

 

[Guest]

In fact, it's very difficult to achieve this wth Outlook, mainly because it
stores the maildata in one place (Local Settings) and the user's
account-settings in another (the registry)

It can be done but it's certainly not a trivial matter.

Firstly you need either an Exchange server, or else PST's placed in a 'home
folder' on a fileserver (whereby the folder contents change per user-logon)
Then, you either need roaming profiles, or else a profgen script to inject
the correct Outlook user-settings into the registry at logon.

(I'm talking Outlook 98/XP/2003 here of course, NOT Outlook Express)

The alternative is to look at other email options. Provided you have a
server with 'home folders' setup, it's a doddle to get this kind of
arrangement working with Thunderbird or Pegasus Mail, since both store the
user's entire mailcollection in one place, and all you need do is point the
mailclient at a mailstore whose contents depend on the logon.

Other option is a webmail system. Squirrrelmail or Horde come very close to
Outllook in functionality, and run entirely from a Linux server. MDaemon's
webmail is even bettter, though costly to licence. Some ISP's already provide
this fuctionality in which case it's a zero-hassle solution.

 

[andre]

Maybe I'm missing something - but, I'm using the following process:
- Move the PST to its new home in the shared folder - I use a different
folder for each user
- "Map the Network Share" under each user's ID - I also Map My Documents to
a share
- Under each user ID - open Outlook (I'm using 2003 at home) and let it
create a PST with some 'don't care info'
- Use the File Menu's -> Open -> Open Outlook Data file (item name may be
different - I'm at work with OL2007)
--- to select the desired PST on the drive share
- Close OL and Log off to save the profile
- That's it for me (using Windows 2003 server with AD; but I don't think
that's involved - could be wrong, of course)

Some of these action will require the user to have local admin permissions;
at least while setting it up, on each client machine - share drive letters
must be the same.

HTH - Andre
No warranty implied or etc, etc...

 

[Og]

Maybe I'm missing something -

Maybe you are.
#1. Imagine following your process for hundreds of users
(medium-sized business)
or thousands of users (corporation) .
How many (months/years) will this process take?
#2. Any Systems Administrator who gives hundreds or thousands
of users "local admin permissions...while setting it up"
is a soon-to-be unemployed S.A.
Steve

 

[andre]

My environment is the home user - enterprise network admins WOULD know
better, I hope.

Andre