Change mail servers by scripting it

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Without getting into too much detail, is there a way to change users mail
servers by scripting it, using the registry, or any other method? We cannot
use exprofe.exe, can't use script logic, I can't find a single place in the
registry to update, & the option is not available in an ADM file (GPO). Can
anyone provide any help in doing this through an alternative method?
Otherwise this is going to requre stopping at 500+ users desktops to change
their mail server entry.

Thanks!
 
altered said:
Without getting into too much detail, is there a way to change users mail
servers by scripting it, using the registry, or any other method? We
cannot
use exprofe.exe, can't use script logic, I can't find a single place in
the
registry to update, & the option is not available in an ADM file (GPO).
Can
anyone provide any help in doing this through an alternative method?
Otherwise this is going to requre stopping at 500+ users desktops to
change
their mail server entry.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Outlook Profiler
 
Well that would work, but unfortunately you need as many licenses for as many
entries that are in the GAL which is 14,000+ I only need this for a little
over 500 users. They don't offer any contact information so that I can share
my concern of purchasing 14,000 licenses when I only have 500 of which I need
to update. Thanks for the reply!

Anyone else know of a way to accomplish this?
Thanks!
 
The tools that you need are in the Office Resource Kit. Depending on exactly
what you need to do and how you deployed Office or Outlook, you can use the
Custom Installation Wizard or Custom Maintenance Wizard to create or modify
an Outlook mail profile.
 
No they are not, I stated that I cannot use the ADM templates in the ORK.
You would know that the options for the custom installation wizard allow you
to edit the same information in the ADM files and that in neither place can
you specify an Exchange server. The ADM templates let you add office apps to
be controled by a GPO. Face it M$ does not have any tool available to
acomplish this. As I said I am seeking alternatives and the most likely
solution would be to script it. Unfortunately this goes beyond my ability to
script with Wscript, Cscript, & VBscript. As for the custom maintainance
wizard, it has it's pit falls as well. For one it uses the outlook profile
that it is being run under to obtain it's settings. Whether this is a clean
profile or a used one, they both present a problem. That is, it takes the
settings of the profile it ran under and will apply it to each users profile.
Yes it will change the mail server, but I don't think anyone in my
organization would be too happy if all their personalized settings resort to
the settings that were set when the Custom Migration Wizard ran on their PC
using a clean or used profile. That is not a good approach.
Thanks for the reply, but I am running the same post in the TechNet
newsgroup. I find it funny that all you MVP's say the same exact thing.
"Use the ORK"
 
Who said anything about ADM templates or the Office Profile Wizard ? I'm
talking about the CIW and CMW screens for generating Outlook mail profiles
and distributing them either with a .cmw file or a .prf file. I suggest that
you give it a try.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
Here we go again..."USE THE ORK"... I am begining to think there is an echo,
and for some reason I have to keep repeating myself. I am completly
astounded that the knowledge as an MVP isn't broader than it is. Heck I can
call myself an MVP too by reading peoples posts and referencing MS.com for
the answer and disregard any detail they place in their post.
I said something about the ADM templates, did u miss it? I can't believe I
have to explain this to you. What options are available when using the CIW
or CMW? Do you even know? Obviously by your replies you haven't a clue! I
will fill you in, the same exact options exist for the CIW and the CMW, which
are the same options available in the ADM templates (their approach is
different but the options avail. are the same). Out of the 3 available
choices to use, you suggested the 2 worst choices available. The best choice
is to use the ADM templates in a GPO. Since you don't realize why, I will
explain! Using the CIW I would have to reinstall the office suite for each
of the 500+ users (you actually believe that is a solution?) The CMW would
require me to assign a logon script to rerun the Office Suite installation to
update the users setttings (Again, very bad choice!). Now the ADM templates
which you disregarded are the best option because this doesn't require to
have 500+ users connect simultaneously to the installation share. The GPO
will just push the updated information without requiring an installation
source. The .prf file will not update a profile. It creates a new profile
all together, yes it has the correct settings of the new server. Guess what?
It breaks everything else (signatures, shortcuts, .pst mappings etc...).
Again, is this is an answer to my problem? No, it's a larger headache than I
am dealing with. Now set down for a moment. If the CIW, CMW, or ADM
Templates would work to modify an Exchange server entry, don't you think I
woud have gone down that road, especailly after you pointed it out? Well I
didn't go down that road because it is a dead end. The option does not exist
in any of those choices to modify an exchange server. Since you believe
there is, then please point it out as I have overlooked more times than I can
count. I believe the keyword in the Subject line of my post is "SCRIPTING".
If this can be done, this is the only other route.

p.s. No one said anything about the Office Profile Wizard. By your
responses I suggest you pay closer attention when you read! You are wasting
my time by having to explain why it won't work, when you the "MVP" should
already be aware of that!
 
What options are available when using the CIW
or CMW? Do you even know?
Click to expand...

Sure I know, because I use them. CIW Screens 17-20 and CMW Screens 12-15
generate Outlook mail profile settings, which you can deploy either as part
of the CIW's .mst file during inital setup, as a .cmw file run with
Maintwiz.exe, or as a standalone .prf file which you can invoke in a couple
of different ways. On CMW Screen 12, you can choose Modify Profile, then on
CMW Screen 13, you can configure an Exchange Server connection *and* tell it
to overwrite the existing Exchange settings.
p.s. No one said anything about the Office Profile Wizard. By your
responses I suggest you pay closer attention when you read!
Click to expand...

I was paying very close attention to this sentence, which to my mind implied
that you thought the OPW was involved:

But if I drew the wrong conclusion, I'm sorry for that.
The best choice
is to use the ADM templates in a GPO.
Click to expand...

Except that is not an option for deploying Outlook profile settings, as
you've been told several times. The reason why is that mail profile settings
are not simple, straightforward registry entries than can be easily captured
in an .adm file.
The .prf file will not update a profile. It creates a new profile
all together, yes it has the correct settings of the new server.
Click to expand...

Actually, .prf files can be used both to create new profiles and to update
existing profiles. There certainly are some things that a .prf cannot do,
when it comes to modifying an existing profile, but we haven't had much to
go on about your specific scenario until now, since all you originally said
was: "is there a way to change users mail servers by scripting it," not
what kind of mail server.

Now that I see that you've clarified that this is an Exchange server, we can
talk a little more precisely about what the options are. I'd suggest that
you take a look at the Exchange Profile Update tool from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...c3-448f-4ccc-9bd5-b6b52c13b29c&displaylang=en.
Run from a script or with a Group Policy Object, it will make the necessary
changes in a user's Outlook mail profile after the user's mailbox has been
moved to a new server. The documentation is included in the download.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
Thank You, Thank You!...this is the answer I was after. I appreciate the
thoroughness in your answer. Forgive me for being crude earlier, but I was
getting upset (obviously) because no progress was being made and my issue
seemed to be in a repetitive loop. I am mostly to blame for that I guess
because I stated "without getting into too much detail". As we both know the
more detail the better. I had purposely omitted the detail of my issue
because I was almost positive that the only solution would be to script it.

We have attempted to use the .prf file to update the users profile (using
script logic w/ the .prf being created by script logic), event though we tell
it to "modify" the Outlook profile it creates a new profile (not tested on
’03). I cannot find any information regarding Outlook 2000 and .prf files.
I find plenty of information on Outlook 2003 & 2002. Using the CIW for
Outlook 2000 I do not see an option to "modify", except on pg.8 which says
"migrate user settings". With that checked it still creates an .mst file not
the .prf I want it to create.

Initially I did look into the Exprofre.exe tool, but (correct me if I am
wrong) it needs the X.500 address of each user that it is run against. So it
would require the 500+ logon scripts (one for each user). Although that
would be time consuming so would stopping at 500+ desktops. I had success
with the CMW for '03, unfortunately only office '03 has the CMW and
apparently MS doesn't support running that against previous versions of
Office (but I should probably test it to see what happens). Most of the
user's are on office 2000 (although they are scheduled for an upgrade to '03,
which is due after the fact.) I think for the most part I am SOL where
Outlook 2000 is concerned. If you do have any more information especially
regarding Outlook 2000 I would appreciate hearing it, Thanks again Sue!
 
For Outlook 2000, you'd need to download and use the Modprof.exe tool to
apply changes with a .prf file. I haven't used it in a very long time and
don't recall any particulars.

Did you try Exprofre? It does not require any user-specific parameters. As I
understand it, it looks in Active Directory for an X.500 proxy address that
matches the distinguished name of the old mailbox. So, as long as each new
mailbox in AD has that proxy address, Exprofre should perform its
redirection chores automatically for each user. If any scripting needs to be
done, it would be a one-time script to add the proxy addresses to AD if
they're not already there.

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