PST file location overrides OST file location?

[Jeff Vandervoort]

Setting up Office 2003 for installation via MST & GPO.

CIW has a setting for "Default location for PST files" in
Office User Settings. It also has a setting for location
of OST files for Cached Exchange Mode on Exchange
Settings page, under More Settings.

PST location is configured in CIW to point to a share on
a server.

With OST location not configured in CIW, Outlook puts OST
in PST location rather than in the "normal" location, %
USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\. We want OSTs to be in
the "normal" location.

With OST location configured for a specific location
(the "normal" location), the OST lands in the PST
location on most machines, and in the "normal" location
on the rest. I haven't been able to make sense out of
why. The "normal" folder exists and has the usual
permissions.

Is this a bug?

TIA

Jeff Vandervoort

 

[greg mansius [MSFT]]

Jeff,

If the ForcePSTPath ("Default location for PST files") reg key exists on the
client then the .ost file will be created in the folder location specified
under ForcePSTPath. This is the way Outlook was designed to work in this
configuration. Unfortunately, there is no way around this short of disabling
the ForcePSTPath reg key.

Hope this helps.

 

[Jeff Vandervoort]

Thanks for your reply, Greg. Still struggling, though!

I disabled ForcePSTPath via Group Policy for OL10 so the setting would not
be inherited by OL11 and verified that ForcePSTPath was not set in the OL11
MST.

Now when I install OL2003 via GPO, it enters %USERPROFILE%\Local
Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.ost as the OST file.
That's where I want it to go, but it does not resolve %USERPROFILE%, and
apparently neither does Outlook. In the Exchange settings, the path appears
with the environment variable, as literal text.

It does this whether I explicitly set the OST file location in the MST or
not.

--

Jeff Vandervoort
JRVsystems
http://jrvsystems.com

Jeff,

If the ForcePSTPath ("Default location for PST files") reg key exists on the
client then the .ost file will be created in the folder location specified
under ForcePSTPath. This is the way Outlook was designed to work in this
configuration. Unfortunately, there is no way around this short of disabling
the ForcePSTPath reg key.

Hope this helps.

--
Greg Mansius [MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Setting up Office 2003 for installation via MST & GPO.

CIW has a setting for "Default location for PST files" in
Office User Settings. It also has a setting for location
of OST files for Cached Exchange Mode on Exchange
Settings page, under More Settings.

PST location is configured in CIW to point to a share on
a server.

With OST location not configured in CIW, Outlook puts OST
in PST location rather than in the "normal" location, %
USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\. We want OSTs to be in
the "normal" location.

With OST location configured for a specific location
(the "normal" location), the OST lands in the PST
location on most machines, and in the "normal" location
on the rest. I haven't been able to make sense out of
why. The "normal" folder exists and has the usual
permissions.

Is this a bug?

TIA

Jeff Vandervoort

 

[Jeff Vandervoort]

I forgot to mention that when OL launches with the unresolved %USERPROFILE%
env. var. in the OST path, it posts a message that it can't open the default
e-mail folder and quits.

--

Jeff Vandervoort
JRVsystems
http://jrvsystems.com

Jeff,

If the ForcePSTPath ("Default location for PST files") reg key exists on the
client then the .ost file will be created in the folder location specified
under ForcePSTPath. This is the way Outlook was designed to work in this
configuration. Unfortunately, there is no way around this short of disabling
the ForcePSTPath reg key.

Hope this helps.

--
Greg Mansius [MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Setting up Office 2003 for installation via MST & GPO.

CIW has a setting for "Default location for PST files" in
Office User Settings. It also has a setting for location
of OST files for Cached Exchange Mode on Exchange
Settings page, under More Settings.

PST location is configured in CIW to point to a share on
a server.

With OST location not configured in CIW, Outlook puts OST
in PST location rather than in the "normal" location, %
USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\. We want OSTs to be in
the "normal" location.

With OST location configured for a specific location
(the "normal" location), the OST lands in the PST
location on most machines, and in the "normal" location
on the rest. I haven't been able to make sense out of
why. The "normal" folder exists and has the usual
permissions.

Is this a bug?

TIA

Jeff Vandervoort

 

[Jeff Vandervoort]

Greg

More experimentation shows that if I use the ForcePSTPath policy *at all*,
even when Enabling it but setting the path to the default setting, it breaks
Cached Exchange Mode because of the environment variable in the path. The
only thing that will allow Cached Exchange Mode to work is to set the
ForcePSTPath policy to "Disabled".

Still having a hard time figuring out why this isn't a bug...of what use
could this behavior possibly be?? If it isn't a bug, it sure is
counterintuitive, and needs to be documented in the CIW UI, its Online Help
and the MSKB. Probably cost my client $1000 for me to puzzle it out.

--

Jeff Vandervoort
JRVsystems
http://jrvsystems.com

Jeff,

If the ForcePSTPath ("Default location for PST files") reg key exists on the
client then the .ost file will be created in the folder location specified
under ForcePSTPath. This is the way Outlook was designed to work in this
configuration. Unfortunately, there is no way around this short of disabling
the ForcePSTPath reg key.

Hope this helps.

--
Greg Mansius [MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Setting up Office 2003 for installation via MST & GPO.

CIW has a setting for "Default location for PST files" in
Office User Settings. It also has a setting for location
of OST files for Cached Exchange Mode on Exchange
Settings page, under More Settings.

PST location is configured in CIW to point to a share on
a server.

With OST location not configured in CIW, Outlook puts OST
in PST location rather than in the "normal" location, %
USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\. We want OSTs to be in
the "normal" location.

With OST location configured for a specific location
(the "normal" location), the OST lands in the PST
location on most machines, and in the "normal" location
on the rest. I haven't been able to make sense out of
why. The "normal" folder exists and has the usual
permissions.

Is this a bug?

TIA

Jeff Vandervoort

 

[Jeff Vandervoort]

And the saga continues. Hope someone has the answer because I sure don't.

I have created GPOs for Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2003 disabling the PST path
setting, linked to the domain.

I have set Group Policy to be applied synchronously with logon to avoid
timing issues getting in the way.

I have verified with Group Policy Modeling in the Group Policy Management
console that the policies are being applied correctly.

And yet, it seems that most (not all) OST files are landing in the
non-default location specified in the MST file that was used to set up
Office XP.

I have verified, after Office XP is installed, with Group Policy Results in
the Group Policy Management console that the policies are being applied
correctly.

In other words, the Group Policy console says the PST file location is now
disabled, but the files are going in the wrong place anyway.

Going to each computer while its user is logged on to relocate the OST file
is going to be expensive. How can I get rid of this PST location setting
before it affects more users??

Pending a resolution, this word to the wise: Do not enable Cached Exchange
Mode for Outlook 2003 if you have set the default PST path in an Outlook
2002 .MST file, unless you want the .OST file to go in the same place!!

--

Jeff Vandervoort
JRVsystems
http://jrvsystems.com

Greg

More experimentation shows that if I use the ForcePSTPath policy *at all*,
even when Enabling it but setting the path to the default setting, it breaks
Cached Exchange Mode because of the environment variable in the path. The
only thing that will allow Cached Exchange Mode to work is to set the
ForcePSTPath policy to "Disabled".

Still having a hard time figuring out why this isn't a bug...of what use
could this behavior possibly be?? If it isn't a bug, it sure is
counterintuitive, and needs to be documented in the CIW UI, its Online Help
and the MSKB. Probably cost my client $1000 for me to puzzle it out.

--

Jeff Vandervoort
JRVsystems
http://jrvsystems.com

Jeff,

If the ForcePSTPath ("Default location for PST files") reg key exists on the
client then the .ost file will be created in the folder location specified
under ForcePSTPath. This is the way Outlook was designed to work in this
configuration. Unfortunately, there is no way around this short of disabling
the ForcePSTPath reg key.

Hope this helps.

--
Greg Mansius [MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Setting up Office 2003 for installation via MST & GPO.

CIW has a setting for "Default location for PST files" in
Office User Settings. It also has a setting for location
of OST files for Cached Exchange Mode on Exchange
Settings page, under More Settings.

PST location is configured in CIW to point to a share on
a server.

With OST location not configured in CIW, Outlook puts OST
in PST location rather than in the "normal" location, %
USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\. We want OSTs to be in
the "normal" location.

With OST location configured for a specific location
(the "normal" location), the OST lands in the PST
location on most machines, and in the "normal" location
on the rest. I haven't been able to make sense out of
why. The "normal" folder exists and has the usual
permissions.

Is this a bug?

TIA

Jeff Vandervoort

 

[Weston Tanton]

To all concerned,

I am also experiencing this problem and can verify Jeff's complaints.
While I am luckily not affected by the Group Policy problems Jeff was
describing, I am suffering from Outlook 2003's inability to correctly
parse an environment variable in the offline data file path. While
having the OST file forced to be in the same place as the PST is a
minor inconvenience, not being able to even OPEN Outlook because of an
unprocessed environment variable in a setting which shouldnt have
changed in the first place is certainly a bug! Hopefully the guys at
MSFT will address this soon...

And the saga continues. Hope someone has the answer because I sure don't.

I have created GPOs for Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2003 disabling the PST path
setting, linked to the domain.

I have set Group Policy to be applied synchronously with logon to avoid
timing issues getting in the way.

I have verified with Group Policy Modeling in the Group Policy Management
console that the policies are being applied correctly.

And yet, it seems that most (not all) OST files are landing in the
non-default location specified in the MST file that was used to set up
Office XP.

I have verified, after Office XP is installed, with Group Policy Results in
the Group Policy Management console that the policies are being applied
correctly.

In other words, the Group Policy console says the PST file location is now
disabled, but the files are going in the wrong place anyway.

Going to each computer while its user is logged on to relocate the OST file
is going to be expensive. How can I get rid of this PST location setting
before it affects more users??

Pending a resolution, this word to the wise: Do not enable Cached Exchange
Mode for Outlook 2003 if you have set the default PST path in an Outlook
2002 .MST file, unless you want the .OST file to go in the same place!!

--

Jeff Vandervoort
JRVsystems
http://jrvsystems.com

Greg

More experimentation shows that if I use the ForcePSTPath policy *at all*,
even when Enabling it but setting the path to the default setting, it breaks
Cached Exchange Mode because of the environment variable in the path. The
only thing that will allow Cached Exchange Mode to work is to set the
ForcePSTPath policy to "Disabled".

Still having a hard time figuring out why this isn't a bug...of what use
could this behavior possibly be?? If it isn't a bug, it sure is
counterintuitive, and needs to be documented in the CIW UI, its Online Help
and the MSKB. Probably cost my client $1000 for me to puzzle it out.

--

Jeff Vandervoort
JRVsystems
http://jrvsystems.com

Jeff,

If the ForcePSTPath ("Default location for PST files") reg key exists on the
client then the .ost file will be created in the folder location specified
under ForcePSTPath. This is the way Outlook was designed to work in this
configuration. Unfortunately, there is no way around this short of disabling
the ForcePSTPath reg key.

Hope this helps.

--
Greg Mansius [MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Setting up Office 2003 for installation via MST & GPO.

CIW has a setting for "Default location for PST files" in
Office User Settings. It also has a setting for location
of OST files for Cached Exchange Mode on Exchange
Settings page, under More Settings.

PST location is configured in CIW to point to a share on
a server.

With OST location not configured in CIW, Outlook puts OST
in PST location rather than in the "normal" location, %
USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook\. We want OSTs to be in
the "normal" location.

With OST location configured for a specific location
(the "normal" location), the OST lands in the PST
location on most machines, and in the "normal" location
on the rest. I haven't been able to make sense out of
why. The "normal" folder exists and has the usual
permissions.

Is this a bug?

TIA

Jeff Vandervoort

 

[Leigh]

Ditto. I too am experiencing the same behavior. ForcePSTPath incorrectly
overrides the OST path.

I need the PST to go to a network share whilst the OST stays in Local
Settings. Page 206 in the ORK implies this is how it should be configured
for roaming users, but it doesn't work.

I guess I will have to continue modifying the PST path in the login script
as we have done in the past.

 

[Weston Tanton]

OK, in searching for a solution to another problem I found a very easy
solution to this one...

If one simply makes the ForcePSTPath reg key a REG_EXPAND_SZ instead
of a REG_SZ it will expand the %USERPROFILE% variable correctly, and
cached exchange works fine.