setup profiles on many computers

[John]

i've got a win2k3 network with all xp sp2 machines running office 2k3. i need
to have the users prompted for a profile at each machine they log into to
select their username and open outlook from their .pst file which is stored
on the server and is in their U: drive which is in their windows roaming
profile. my question is, do i have to go to EVERY machine and setup all the
outlook accounts / profiles for every user? or is there a way that all the
outlook user profiles will be seen after setting it up on just one of the
computers?

thanks,
john

 

[Andreas Roeder]

i've got a win2k3 network with all xp sp2 machines running office
2k3. i need to have the users prompted for a profile at each machine
they log into to select their username and open outlook from their
.pst file which is stored on the server and is in their U: drive
which is in their windows roaming profile. my question is, do i have
to go to EVERY machine and setup all the outlook accounts / profiles
for every user? or is there a way that all the outlook user profiles
will be seen after setting it up on just one of the computers?

thanks,
john

Hi John,
microsoft don´t support pst files on a network drive. Remember the
performance and maybe data losts.
If you want to use central email, why dont you use an email server? Its
better to administrate and also to handle

 

[John]

yeah, i know it's not a supported function. but this is at a very remote
location. and the management would rather have the hosting company deal with
all the mail issues.

another thing i'm wondering is, to make all windows users profiles on the xp
boxes be prompted for an outlook profile, do i have to login to "this
computer" and not the domain, as the local to the machine administrator, then
setup all the outlook profiles for all users of each computer to be prompted
for the outlook profiles?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You can use the Custom Maintenance Wizard to generate and deploy a .prf file with the profile settings you want to use.

 

[John]

even on pcs that already have office installed on them? i made the .prf file,
what would i need to do next? just run it from each pc?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Yes, that's what the CMW is for -- to deploy settings after Office is installed. The Office Resource Kit online at http://office.microsoft.com has details on all the different ways to deploy and invoke a .prf file -- run a .cmw file, call it with the /importprf switch, just have the user double-click it, use a registry value to invoke it when Outlook starts. etc. Search for "whitepapers." The one on .prf files is usually at the top.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

even on pcs that already have office installed on them? i made the ..prf file,
what would i need to do next? just run it from each pc?