Unified TS User Profile

[Bel]

I am currently running several Win2000 Servers, Server
SP4, with Radmin for remote access. I would like to
convert this over to TS.

The connecting clients are all Win2000 or WinXP systems
using TSC or RDC software. The users need to be able to
access the same desktop and be able to manipulate the same
programs running in a 'main' terminal session. The users
do not have to necessarily be able to interact with one
another.

The easiest way would be to create a profile and give
everyone the account information. Instead, I was hoping to
find a way to use the NTFS or other user accounts to
access the system but once authenticated and connected
have the same access; really the same profile and terminal
settings. This would make locking out a specific user alot
easier then informing everyone of a password change.

Is this possible with Win2000 TS or with Win2003 RD? If
not, is there another program somebody can recommend that
will have the least amount of lag possible with low
resource usage?

 

[Guest]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean. If you just want everyone to see the same desktop settings this can be accomplished via Group Policy or Mandatory Profiles. If you literally want everyone seeing the same user profile then they must logon with the same account, as Windows Profiles map directly to a specific user's SID.

If I'm misunderstanding you please be more clear about your requirements.

Patrick Rouse
Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server

 

[Bel]

Yeah, that is what I meant. All users need to be able to
view the same desktop, not just the same settings, but the
same running programs, etc. I did not think it was
possible without some major tweaking or setting changes if
at all.

Giving everyone access to the same profile presents a set
of problems. If each person had their own login to the
same profile... that is what I am looking for.

 

[Matthew Harris [MVP]]

You should be able to force each user's profile to use one
single desktop that is then shared. You can set this up
through group policies through redirected desktop folders.

This way each user would have their own logon, but
everyone would share the same desktop, which you could
then lock down or do other things with it.

-M

 

[Bel]

This is exactly what I would like to accomplish. I looked
around the only reference I could find to making these
changes referred to changing the settings in Folder
Redirection in the GPO on the domain controller. The
individual servers that I am working with are not
connected and are not domain controllers so this option is
not present in the group policy (at least where I was
looking in UsrCfg->Settings).

Is there anything that I am overlooking or another option
that I could explore?

Thanks much!