XP, Roaming Profiles & All Users Desktop objects

[Hackwood]

Hi there.
I had always thought that the contents of the local machines folders in docs
& settings, named All Users\Desktop were available to anyone who logged in at
that PC.
I've got a couple of accounts who either do not see any of the contents of
this folder or when checking the properties of where the shortcut is - it's
not coming from the All Users folder.

Now of course these could be 2 differing problems. What has triggered my
investigation into this is that a user was saying they couldn't see certain
programs. So I checked the install on the PC through Control Panel & these
programs are installed. There are also shortcuts for them on the PC so I
don't know why these would not be showing when the user logs on.

I could of course copy these shortcusts to their own profiles but then that
rather doesn't address what might be wrong.

TIA

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Hi there.
I had always thought that the contents of the local machines folders
in docs & settings, named All Users\Desktop were available to anyone
who logged in at that PC.

Yes, that's correct.

I've got a couple of accounts who either do not see any of the
contents of this folder or when checking the properties of where the
shortcut is - it's not coming from the All Users folder.

Are they using the classic desktop? Do they have anything on their desktops
at all?

Now of course these could be 2 differing problems. What has triggered
my investigation into this is that a user was saying they couldn't
see certain programs. So I checked the install on the PC through
Control Panel & these programs are installed. There are also
shortcuts for them on the PC so I don't know why these would not be
showing when the user logs on.

I could of course copy these shortcusts to their own profiles but
then that rather doesn't address what might be wrong.

TIA

hen you log in as an administrator on the PC what do you see in the all
users\desktop? You can always create new shortuts on the administrator's
desktop & move them to \all users\desktop.

 

[Hackwood]

Thanks for your reply.
When logged in as domain admin the shortcuts contained in docs&settings\all
users\desktop are not showing. I can see the folder & those shortcuts are
there but not displaying when the admin signs in.

Signing in as a test user shows the icons I'm interested in but not from the
all users location. In stead they show from a different location.

As you say I could create new shortcuts but I'd rather try & find out what
is causing this behaviour so as to resolve it rather than just applying a
quick fix - I hate doing that because it just comes back to bite you in the
rear later!

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Thanks for your reply.
When logged in as domain admin the shortcuts contained in
docs&settings\all users\desktop are not showing. I can see the folder
& those shortcuts are there but not displaying when the admin signs
in.

Signing in as a test user shows the icons I'm interested in but not
from the all users location. In stead they show from a different
location.

What do you mean by location - do you mean profile path? And which
'location' are they in?

As you say I could create new shortcuts but I'd rather try & find out
what is causing this behaviour so as to resolve it rather than just
applying a quick fix - I hate doing that because it just comes back
to bite you in the rear later!

Do you redirect desktop via group policy?

 

[Hackwood]

Hi
In the case of my test.user the icons that I'd expect to be showing as
residing in \all users\desktop on the local drive are in actual fact showing
in \test.user\domain\desktop which is the profile resident on the server or
profile path.

As far as redirection goes although My Documents is redirected to users home
or h: drive I don't think the desktop is - sorry to sound woolly here but the
roaming profiles was set up by a 3rd party & when I've asked for clarity I
don't think they've documented things all that well - I'll have to sit down
with gpedit & go through the policy settings.

Thanks for your help thus far - there are no other technical people here I
can bounce ideas off & so when these things crop up it takes a while to sort
out.