Hi friends, I'm really interested bye the discussion about automated install of Win95 AND smart settings of user profiles. This messages mostly talks about the second topic. I've set up netlogons and networked user profiles and right now I'd like to minimize my admin tasks whenever a new PCs is set up or a new users comes in. Here is what I tried :>From a vanilla Win95, I exported a branch of the registry into a .regfile. I had it modified using the 'root preexec' option (a little sed script) in order to set up proper values using the %u variable for instance. eg : root preexec = /bin/sh -c "sed -e 's/\"\"/\"%u\"/' %P/bidon.reg > %P/import.reg" Then I added 'regedit z:\import.reg' at the end of the login script I use. But...you guessed it...this does not work at all ! Win95 just creates a extremely reduced entry into the registry base (not even a simple copy of HKEY_USERS/.Default) and ignores any profile (Be it on the server or on the local hard drive). Enven worse, this changes the setting of the Passwd Icon of the Control Panel, unchecking the box that enables custom dektops. The only satisfaction is that the values in import.reg appear in the registry base ;) So how can I have netscape (for example) configured for any user who logs in ? Several persons said they could do this. What is the use of the /R: modifier for regedit ? (when I use it, nothing seems to happen). How to prevent Windows from writing a local user profile when it is already written on the server? How to make have Mr Gates doing understandable things ? I am ready to help working on any of this topics as far as I have enough skills and time. Thanks a lot, have a nice day. -- _ David PAQUET email : paquet@seac.pf __\ /\ System Coconut phone : +689 861214 / _\|__ fax : +689 861019 //o\\ \ | \\ Civil Aviation || TAHITI - French Polynesia ________________________________/ \
On Thu, 9 Oct 1997 paquet@seac.pf wrote:> > But...you guessed it...this does not work at all ! Win95 just creates > a extremely reduced entry into the registry base (not even a simple > copy of HKEY_USERS/.Default) and ignores any profile (Be it on the > server or on the local hard drive). Enven worse, this changes the > setting of the Passwd Icon of the Control Panel, unchecking the box > that enables custom dektops. The only satisfaction is that the values > in import.reg appear in the registry base ;)I wouldn't have expected it to work this way ;-) One thing Microsoft seemed to get kind of right when designing the Win95 registry system, was to split the user-related and machine-related sections. All Netscape etc settings are in the user-related section, so you should try only manipulating those, and quite possibly only relevant sections at that. Use regedit to export the HKEY_CURRENT_USER section only, and try only importing that later to retrieve the user-specific sections. This probably is an over-simplification, but I think it should point you in the right direction.> logs in ? Several persons said they could do this. What is the use of > the /R: modifier for regedit ? (when I use it, nothing seems toI'm not using the /R switch for this at all. In fact, I'm generally not using regedit to install each user's settings for him/her when they login at all - Win95 profiles do that for me, and Samba support this.> happen). How to prevent Windows from writing a local user profile when > it is already written on the server?I have this working, and I'm quite pleased with it. I just have the logon script add an appropriate entry in ProfileList which points to the profile in the user's home directory. See a post of mine to the Samba-list earlier this week (yesterday I think) for a bit more details.> How to make have Mr Gates doing understandable things ?I have some ideas on this, but this is a public list and children may be watching ;-) Regards ---------------------------------------------------------------|-----|-- Louis Mandelstam Tel +27 83 227-0712 Symphony /|\ /|\ Linux systems integration http://sr.co.za Research { } { } Johannesburg, South Africa mailto:louis@sr.co.za (Pty)Ltd {___} {___}
> Then I added 'regedit z:\import.reg' at the end of the login script I > use. > > But...you guessed it...this does not work at all ! Win95 just creates > a extremely reduced entry into the registry base (not even a simple > copy of HKEY_USERS/.Default) and ignores any profile (Be it on the > server or on the local hard drive). Enven worse, this changes the > setting of the Passwd Icon of the Control Panel, unchecking the box > that enables custom dektops. The only satisfaction is that the values > in import.reg appear in the registry base ;)> > So how can I have netscape (for example) configured for any user who > logs in ? Several persons said they could do this.When you get the roaming profiles working, this happens automatically.> What is the use of the /R: modifier for regedit ? (when I use it, > nothing seems to happen).Real-mode reagistry editor swicthes to specify a file for the user.dat portion of the registry.> How to prevent Windows from writing a local user profile when it is > already written on the server?These are the registry setting that seem to matter. ----------------snip---------------- REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Network\Logon] "UseHomeDirectory"=dword:00000001 "UserProfiles"=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\jdoe] "ProfileImagePath"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProfileReconciliation] "ProfileDirectory"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders] "Desktop"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\Desktop" "Programs"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\Start Menu\\Programs" "Start Menu"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\Start Menu" "Startup"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Startup" "Recent"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\Recent" "NetHood"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\NetHood" ----------------snip---------------- You can make these directories point to whereever you wish. My experience has been that it is better to set one machine to use user profiles and let Win95 create the user.dat file for you and then copy it to use as a default for that machine ( or setup ).> How to make have Mr Gates doing understandable things ? >Impossible..... ;) -- ________________________________________________________________________ Gerald ( Jerry ) Carter Engineering Network Services Auburn University jerry@eng.auburn.edu http://www.eng.auburn.edu/users/cartegw "...a hundred billion castaways looking for a home." - Sting "Message in a Bottle" ( 1979 ) ________________________________________________________________________
On Thu, 9 Oct 1997 23:29:56 +1000, you wrote: [snip]> >> How to prevent Windows from writing a local user profile when it is >> already written on the server? > >These are the registry setting that seem to matter. > >----------------snip---------------- >REGEDIT4 > >[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Network\Logon] >"UseHomeDirectory"=dword:00000001 >"UserProfiles"=dword:00000001 > >[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\jdoe] >"ProfileImagePath"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe" > >[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProfileReconciliation] >"ProfileDirectory"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe" > >[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell >Folders] >"Desktop"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\Desktop" >"Programs"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\Start Menu\\Programs" >"Start Menu"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\Start Menu" >"Startup"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Startup" >"Recent"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\Recent" >"NetHood"="C:\\WINDOWS\\Profiles\\jdoe\\NetHood" > > >----------------snip----------------You may be better off changing these to UNC names that point to the server, ie "Start Menu"="\\\\server\\homes\\Profile\\Start Menu" or "Start Menu"="\\\\server\\jdoe\\Profile\\Start Menu" This will prevent windows from taking a copy of the profile from the server, since it just compares the server copy of the profile with the server copy of the profile which, supprisingly, happens to be the same :-).
First of all, many thanks to all of you for the answers. The only ISP of Tahiti was down these days :( and this is why my questions seemed redundant. Anyway, here is what I'm currently doing : I have a login script template and a regsitry template that I edit using sed (using the root preexec directive) each time a user logs in. I now have remote-only profiles, no passord caching et al. That's GREAT !! Now I want to have the applications configured automatically. One of the main app is the Netscape Navigator. Gerald said :> When you get the roaming profiles working, this happens automatically.Not for me : I have to manually configure the user's folders, pop username ... The only idea I have is to add a value to HKLM/S/W/CV/Run that would load a set of preferences into the reg once the user has logged on. I don't find this too cute ... Any opinion ? (note that changing the Netscape entries for the .Default user entry works but it is not used when a new user comes in ) Mauruuru maitai (Tahitian thanks) -- _ David PAQUET email : paquet@seac.pf __\ /\ System Coconut phone : +689 861214 / _\|__ fax : +689 861019 //o\\ \ | \\ Civil Aviation || TAHITI - French Polynesia ________________________________/ \