Migrating Outlook profiles to server

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* We have a startup with approx 20 current users, 10 more to come.
* We setup a network with all machines on a domain.
* Most of our users have been using outlook for a while. Thus they have
a profile with rules and data in a PST file -- stored locally on their
machine.


We want to move all their outlook profiles (PST, rules, etc) to a server and
get them to point to it (UNC) from their machine (using folder redirection)
so that they can roam.

Does anyone know any good TOOLS/METHODS to assist in migrating outlook 2003
profiles (PST, rules, etc.)?

There's one in the Custum Installation Wizard (Step 9 of 24) that i haven't
tried using.
Is their any documentation?


Thanks
 
There is no such migration tool as such. Outlook mail profiles are part of the user's Windows profile. If you implement roaming Windows profiles, the mail profile will roam along with the rest of the user's profile.

You can place the .pst file in one of the folders that can be redirected (e.g. Application Data and its subfolders). However, Microsoft does not officially support placing .pst files on a server and warns that corruption to the file may occur.
 
Now i'm wondering:

Machines that already have an Outlook Profile (created in the default
location: C:\...\Local Settings\...\Outlook\) ... (suppose) i've moved/copied
these files to the server. I have my new configuration of outlook also ready
where the profiles for all users WILL point to the files on server (and new
users will get the data created on first-run). ON MACHINES THAT ALREADY HAD
PROFILES SETUP (default) what is the best way of CHANGING the path to the PST
file (i.e. registry keys, etc...).

What about using a GPO setting?

What are the PROs and CONs of using the PRF file over GPO??

My thoughts (gathered from MS knowledge base):

* Registry changes can be made with CIW/CMW
* Functional areas in the PRF file include:
- A section specifying actions to take, such as ... modifying existing
profiles, overwriting existing profiles ...
- Sections that map information specified in earlier parts of the file
to registry key settings
* Using Group Policy (GP) to deploy Office 2003 - good choice in the
following settings:
- Small- or medium-sized organizations that have already deployed and
configured the Active Directory® directory service. -- definately me.
$Note: This could apply for PRF as well really.
Click to expand...
* Using GP would allow us to merge user details from AD (required to
deploy by GPOs)
* PRF is made for working with Outlook (office).
 
There are no native GPO settings for managing Outlook mail profiles. You would need to use a third-party tool like Policy Maker to add that capability to AD.

There is no easily identifiable registry key that holds the path to .pst files. It will vary from user to user and from profile to profile. (It would be possible to write a script to sift through the profile-related registry entries and find those related to PST files, however.) Easiest method? If you have moved (not copied) the PST file, then after starting, Outlook should prompt the user for the new location.

Note that storing PST files on a server is not supported by Microsoft, which warns that data corruption may occur in that scenario.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
First of all, Thanks for sticking with me and my posts!
There is no easily identifiable registry key that holds the path to .pst files. It will vary from user to user and from profile to profile.
Click to expand...

Can you elaborate on what you mean? Cause now i am confused about the quote
below from MS-KB.

"Each Office 2003 policy represents an option or feature in an Office
application. Each policy also corresponds to one or more value entries in the
Windows registry. All policy information is stored in the same area of the
registry.
For example, all user-specific policy settings are stored in the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0 subkey, which
mirrors most of the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0 subkey."
<http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011402401033.aspx>

Also, an update of what i'm leaning towards now (with all my reading and
predominantly your last answer regarding maintainance through GPO): i plan to
use PRF in CIW and ifff there are any registry settings that i might need to
manipulate as well i can do that through CIW. Reasn? Simply because while GPO
is a large scale method to deploy most software. Yes using it would give me
the advantage of linking things with AD however using CIW would be better
since it is really the tool made for this sort of process. ((i think that was
my PROs and CONs of PRF over GPO, right there))

Again, thanks a lot for replying .
 
The statement quoted below refers to Office application options. Mail profiles are stored in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles. Take a look, and you'll see how complex they are.

You can certainly use GPO to deploy the software using an .mst transform file created with the CIW. The .mst will contain any .prf file that you create with the CIW. However, if you want to mandate particular user settings -- so that users can't change them -- you should use the .adm administrative templates with GPO, not the user settings screen in CIW. It's your choice whether to use policy settings or user preference settings.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
Microsoft ... warns that corruption to the file (PST) may occur

Sue (anyone reading)... can you provide something like an article to which i
can reference (and reasons) for why this will happen? i tried to search it
out through MS KB but couldn't find anything... finding some documentation on
this issue would really help me present my case to ....

Thanks!
 
It's KB article 297019

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