PRF issue

[Eilish]

Hi,

I have created a custom PRF to change the location of the archive file from
the c:\ drive to a network location.
When i run the following "C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office11\Outlook.exe." /importprf c:\archive.prf - the outlook wizard
starts and asks me to configure a new profile. I don't want this as I want to
push this out to all users.

When i double click the prf, the wizard does not start and the settings are
not changed.
I have tried the registry setting
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Setup\importprf but this key does
not exist. I create it but it disappears.

I have also deleted the firstrun and first-run entries and the prf settings
are not implemented.

My questions are:
How can i stop the prf starting and creating new profiles via wizard?
How can i push this out automatically - i have looked at GPO but there is no
setting for PRF file path.
Can I oush the prf file out using sms? if i can do this without the wizard
starting that would be great.

My PRF file is

[General]
Custom=1
; -- Required. Indicates that this is a customized .prf file.
ProfileName=Outlook
DefaultProfile=Yes
OverwriteProfile=Append
DefaultStore=Service2

; ************************************************************************
; Section 2 – Services in profile.
; ************************************************************************
; The list of MAPI services that will be added to the profile.

[Service List]
Service1=Microsoft Outlook Client
Service2=Microsoft Exchange Server
;Service3=Outlook Address Book
;Service4=Personal Folders
;Service5=Internet E-mail
; If you add an Internet E-mail service, you must also add an Account in
; Section 3.

; ************************************************************************
; Section 3 – List of Internet accounts.
;*******************************************************************
; The list of accounts that will be created.

[Internet Account List]

; ************************************************************************
; Section 4 – Default values for each service.
; ************************************************************************

[Service1]
; No settings configured.

OverwriteExistingService=Yes

;----Outlook AutoArchive------
DoAutoArchive=True
AutoArchiveFileName = \\server\%username%$\archive.pst


;[Service2]
ConversionProhibited=TRUE
HomeServer=mailserver
MailboxName=%username%

All other settings after this are unchanged from the standard PRF.

Any ideas and help much appreciated.

Eilish

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have created a custom PRF to change the location of the archive
file from the c:\ drive to a network location.

Not a wise thing to do. PSTs hosted on network drives are unsupported and
subject to corruption or damage. You DON'T want the CEO's archive damaged
and you can't back up PSTs reliably (with surety they'll restore undamaged)
when Outlook is open.

 

[Eilish]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the feedback, the main reason for implementing this is to stop
the auto archive saving emails to the hard drive. Recently we had 2 hard
drive failures (one a CFO) and because the auto archive feature was enabled,
the users lost all historical emails and we had to go back through the 4
years of tape archives just to recover the lost emails. It was not a good
experience.

So would it be better to disable the auto archive feature using the GPO?
I need to implement this using as little manpower and disruption to the end
user.

The PRF seemed to be a logical solution although a tad bit complex.

Cheers
Eilish

 

[Brian Tillman]

So would it be better to disable the auto archive feature using the
GPO?
I need to implement this using as little manpower and disruption to
the end user.

I'm not familiar with GPOs enough to say if it's possible, but if it is, and
since this is your goal anyway (i.e., disabling autoarchive), it seems the
most proper method.