Configuring Outlook 2003 profiles with a new installation of Exchange 2003

[Steve Mckay]

Hi,

I have approximately 75 PC's running Windows XP with Office 2003
installed locally onto each PC connecting to a Windows 2003 Server.
Recently a Microsoft Exchange 2003 server was installed on the network
where there was no server before. The mailboxes were created with no
problem and I am able to send and receive e-mail. However, whenever a
user starts Outlook 2003, the configuration wizard begins requiring the
user to enter the exchange server. I would rather have a solution
where some sort of default profile is loaded and the user does not have
to enter this information.

I've looked at using the Custom Migration Wizard with the PC's but
since Office 2003 was already installed onto each PC not using an
installation server I'm not sure if I am able to use the tool to do the
deployment. I was wondering if there is something that can be done
with Active Directory/GPO or the exchange server to get this setup
properly.

I am extremely new to windows server administration and this problem
has been thrust upon me so there is much I need to learn.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You can deploy a .prf file with that information directly with a login
script. Details are in the ORK.

 

[CST112]

Can this be done for Outlook 2000?
I have the ORK for Office 2000 but I may not be looking in the right place.

Kevin

 

[Steve Mckay]

Sue,

Thanks for the help. I was able to setup a login script to start
outlook with the /importprf option. Is there anyway to start outlook
and have it read the profile without actually having to startup every
time?

Thanks,
steve

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Use the ImportPRF registry value, which is also documented in the ORK. If
you set that to the path to the .prf file, Outlook will process the .prf the
next time it starts.