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Exclude My Documents from profile


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Guest ketil.hage@gmail.com
Posted

Is it possible to exclude the folder My Documents from the profile, i

don't want this folder to be copied to the server. I'm using profiles

and now the server disk is almost full..

 

I'm also using GPO's and have 300 users, so if it could be possible to

exclude My Documets folder from the server side through GPO's or

something it would be great...

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Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]
Posted

Re: Exclude My Documents from profile

 

ketil.hage@gmail.com wrote:

> Is it possible to exclude the folder My Documents from the profile, i

> don't want this folder to be copied to the server. I'm using profiles

> and now the server disk is almost full.

 

You mean roaming profiles, then - otherwise there would be no server

component.

>

> I'm also using GPO's and have 300 users, so if it could be possible to

> exclude My Documets folder from the server side through GPO's or

> something it would be great...

 

While you can exclude certain folders via GPO, I'm not sure about the My

Documents special folder - and since My Documents is where your users' data

is stored by default, why would you not want this data on your servers? Use

folder redirection instead of leaving it as part of the profile....a large

profile is a recipe for disaster. You're likely to need additional disk

space on your server if you're running out of space now, regardless....

 

Try posting in m.p.windows.group_policy, but I'm posting my own boilerplate

on roaming profiles below. I've been doing it this way for years and it

works pretty well.

 

----

General tips:

 

1. Set up a share on the server. For example - d:\profiles, shared as

profiles$ to make it hidden from browsing. Make sure this share is *not* set

to allow offline files/caching! (that's on by default - disable it)

 

2. Make sure the share permissions on profiles$ indicate everyone=full

control. Set the NTFS security to administrators, system, and users=full

control.

 

3. In the users' ADUC properties, specify \\server\profiles$\%username% in

the profiles field

 

4. Have each user log into the domain once from their usual workstation

(where their existing profile lives) and log out. The profile is now

roaming.

 

5. If you want the administrators group to automatically have permissions to

the profiles folders, you'll need to make the appropriate change in group

policy. Look in computer configuration/administrative templates/system/user

profiles - there's an option to add administrators group to the roaming

profiles permissions.

 

Notes:

 

* Make sure users understand that they should not log into multiple

computers at the same time when they have roaming profiles (unless you make

the profiles mandatory by renaming ntuser.dat to ntuser.man so they can't

change them). Explain that the

last one out wins,

when it comes to uploading the final, changed copy of the profile.

 

* Keep your profiles TINY. Via group policy, redirect My Documents at the

very least - to a subfolder of the user's home directory or user folder.

Also consider redirecting Desktop & Application Data similarly..... so the

user will have:

 

\\server\home$\%username%\My Documents,

\\server\home$\%username%\Desktop,

\\server\home$\%username%\Application Data.

 

Alternatively, just manually re-target My Documents to

\\server\home$\%username% (this is not optimal, however!)

 

If you aren't going to also redirect the desktop using policies, tell users

that

they are not to store any files on the desktop or you will beat them with a

stick. Big profile=slow login/logout, and possible profile corruption.

 

* Note that user profiles are not compatible between different OS versions,

even between W2k/XP. Keep all your computers. Keep your workstations as

identical as possible - meaning, OS version is the same, SP level is the

same, app load is (as much as possible) the same.

 

* Do not let people store any data locally - all data belongs on the server.

 

* The User Profile Hive Cleanup Utility should be running on all your

computers. You can download it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1B286E6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en

Guest ketil.hage@gmail.com
Posted

Re: Exclude My Documents from profile

 

Thanx for an informative answer, we are moving from a Novell server to

a win2003 server so users are used to save in network folders... how

can i easiest remove use of roaming profile from the server without

getting errors afterwards?

Guest Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]
Posted

Re: Exclude My Documents from profile

 

ketil.hage@gmail.com wrote:

> Thanx for an informative answer, we are moving from a Novell server to

> a win2003 server so users are used to save in network folders...

 

They will still do so. Since you're moving to AD, just use folder

redirection to enforce it....each user should have his/her own private

directory, and I like to use My Document redirection there (not a shared

folder), whether they use it or not. If everyone were diligently saving

things to mapped network drives, your users' My Documents folders would be

empty, and wouldn't be taking up any space....but redirect them anyway.

> how

> can i easiest remove use of roaming profile from the server without

> getting errors afterwards?

 

Now you want to remove the entire roaming *profile* ? Why?


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