Single Desktop?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave Cousineau ( Sahuagin )
  • Start date Start date
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Dave Cousineau ( Sahuagin )

Hi I have a Windows 2000 Server domain with Windows XP Professional SP2
computers (and others) accessing it. Is there a way to disable the
multi-desktop feature of Windows XP? I would like if no matter which
credentials were used to login to the domain, the user was always brought to
the same desktop. Especially since it seems I have to setup email accounts
for every different possible login. I just want one set of email accounts
setup that any login can access, as long as they have the file permission for
the mailbox file. Thanks.

Note that my email is OLD: new address: nerevar at shaw dot ca
 
Dave said:
Hi I have a Windows 2000 Server domain with Windows XP Professional
SP2 computers (and others) accessing it. Is there a way to disable
the multi-desktop feature of Windows XP? I would like if no matter
which credentials were used to login to the domain, the user was
always brought to the same desktop. Especially since it seems I
have to setup email accounts for every different possible login. I
just want one set of email accounts setup that any login can
access, as long as they have the file permission for the mailbox
file. Thanks.

Note that my email is OLD: new address: nerevar at shaw dot ca
Click to expand...

So - what you want is a mandatory profile and no one will have a unique
email address?
 
no. I would like the desktop/start menu etc.., and the setup profiles of MS
Outlook to not depend on the login.

the way it is now, if I setup 5 email accounts, they only exist under the
login that I happened to set them up on.

I would like to prevent the state of the computer from relying on the domain
login. Instead, the login should only affect server resource access. (files
etc..)

thanks.
 
Dave said:
Hi I have a Windows 2000 Server domain with Windows XP Professional
SP2 computers (and others) accessing it. Is there a way to disable
the multi-desktop feature of Windows XP? I would like if no matter
which credentials were used to login to the domain, the user was
always brought to the same desktop. Especially since it seems I
have to setup email accounts for every different possible login. I
just want one set of email accounts setup that any login can
access, as long as they have the file permission for the mailbox
file. Thanks.

Note that my email is OLD: new address: nerevar at shaw dot ca
Click to expand...

Shenan said:
So - what you want is a mandatory profile and no one will have a
unique email address?
Click to expand...
no. I would like the desktop/start menu etc.., and the setup
profiles of MS Outlook to not depend on the login.

the way it is now, if I setup 5 email accounts, they only exist
under the login that I happened to set them up on.

I would like to prevent the state of the computer from relying on
the domain login. Instead, the login should only affect server
resource access. (files etc..)
Click to expand...

Still not sure what you are going for. Explain to me your situation.

In other words - how many users, how many computers and how do the users
utilize the resources they have? (Does each user use a single computer all
the time, does more than one person use the same computer, does each person
use a different computer (or have a high percentage chance of doing so) each
time they use a computer, etc...)

Then maybe with some combination of the All Users profile, the Default User
profile and possibly throwing in Roaming User Profiles and folder
redirection - someone can suggest something.

What I am getting right now is that you have a computer with a single logon
that many individuals know and use and then they all have their own
individual email accounts they also use on that single logon. Now if it is
a single computer with several computers - that is easily fixed through
default user profiles and Office PRF files and the likes.
 
Dave said:
Hi I have a Windows 2000 Server domain with Windows XP Professional SP2
computers (and others) accessing it. Is there a way to disable the
multi-desktop feature of Windows XP? I would like if no matter which
credentials were used to login to the domain, the user was always brought to
the same desktop. Especially since it seems I have to setup email accounts
for every different possible login. I just want one set of email accounts
setup that any login can access, as long as they have the file permission for
the mailbox file. Thanks.

Note that my email is OLD: new address: nerevar at shaw dot ca
Click to expand...

I can't tell if what I explain next is what you are striving for.
Normally each account gets its own profile path (i.e., %userprofile%).
You would still have to define the accounts and you will still have to
log into them once to generate the profile data in the registry (which
also generates the %userprofile% folder on the hard disk). However, you
can do what you want in 2 ways:

- Copy user profiles atop of each other. Decide which one will be
consider your master profile and use it copy atop of other account
profiles. If you change anything in your master profile, you would have
to repeate the overwrite process to copy over your other slave profiles.
If one profile goes belly up, you can use one of the other profiles in
the meantime while you fix or replace the broken one (assuming that all
of them had admin privileges).

- Edit the registry so the path to the profile folder of an account all
point at the same folder on the hard drive. If you make a change in one
profile, it gets reflected in the others because they are all sharing
the same folder. The danger with this is if one profile goes belly up
then they all go belly up.

Which way do you want to go? Or are you looking for something
completely different? Personally I see no need for all these different
logins if you want them all to reflect the same setup. Just define one
account and use that one.
 
Dave Cousineau ( Sahuagin )
Hi I have a Windows 2000 Server domain with Windows XP Professional
SP2 computers (and others) accessing it. Is there a way to disable the
multi-desktop feature of Windows XP? I would like if no matter which
credentials were used to login to the domain, the user was always
brought to the same desktop. Especially since it seems I have to
setup email accounts for every different possible login. I just want
one set of email accounts setup that any login can access, as long as
they have the file permission for the mailbox file. Thanks.

Note that my email is OLD: new address: nerevar at shaw dot ca
Click to expand...

This isn't how AD & multiuser operating systems work. You'd have to create a
single mandatory profile which was preconfigured to contain mail profiles
for *all* possible users.

What's the goal? I frankly can't see the point of this. You can set up
standard desktops via group policy, you can do all sorts of things
centrally.
 
ok thanks for your help guys. I see that this is not the way things are
intended to work. I am only just learning how this all works since until
recently we have had Win 98 workstations, and I am only a self-taught
"network administrator". I thought maybe there was a toggle somewhere for XP
that switched multi-desktops on and off or something.

so some questions i would have are:
- for each workstation I setup, should I have to anticipate every person
that might login to it?
- am I able to setup email access for people through microsoft outlook
without having to go to the particular workstation, and login as them, and
set it up? I would think that there should be a way of doing this without
having to know everyones password.
- is desktop folder redirection a common way of controlling what users have
access to on the desktop? how would the root folder shortcuts 'point' to
local applications if they are on the server?

many thanks
 
Dave said:
ok thanks for your help guys. I see that this is not the way things
are intended to work. I am only just learning how this all works
since until recently we have had Win 98 workstations, and I am only
a self-taught "network administrator". I thought maybe there was a
toggle somewhere for XP that switched multi-desktops on and off or
something.

so some questions i would have are:
- for each workstation I setup, should I have to anticipate every
person that might login to it?
Click to expand...

If the machines are a member of a domain and the users are logging in using
domain user accounts - your only 'anticipation' would be creating a default
user profile so that all users start with the same 'base' setup.
- am I able to setup email access for people through microsoft
outlook without having to go to the particular workstation, and
login as them, and set it up? I would think that there should be a
way of doing this without having to know everyones password.
Click to expand...

Do they all connect to the same email server? Depending on your version of
Outlook, you can create a PRF file through the Microsoft Office Setup Wizard
(I believe that is what it is called - I haven't done it lately...) to have
it configure Outlook automatically for each unique logon.
- is desktop folder redirection a common way of controlling what
users have access to on the desktop? how would the root folder
shortcuts 'point' to local applications if they are on the server?
Click to expand...

I would venture to say that unless you are going to be using roaming
profiles (a user will be using multiple machines and needs the same
look/feel) - you should just use default user profiles on the machines (or
the netlogon share) and that way they start the same way on each machine and
teach them to save their files ONLY on network shares - as their desktop/my
documents may not follow them (although you could redirect "My Documents" to
some share, etc.)

My random thoughts included above.
 
Dave Cousineau ( Sahuagin )
ok thanks for your help guys. I see that this is not the way things
are intended to work. I am only just learning how this all works
since until recently we have had Win 98 workstations, and I am only a
self-taught "network administrator". I thought maybe there was a
toggle somewhere for XP that switched multi-desktops on and off or
something.
Click to expand...

Ah. Nope. You should probably pick up a couple of books and do some reading
before you proceed, if you're responsible for the network overall. Or get a
good consultant in to help you set everything up & show you how to do the
basic admin. It's not rocket science, but there's a lot that can go wrong.
so some questions i would have are:
- for each workstation I setup, should I have to anticipate every
person that might login to it?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily; you can use roaming profiles & folder redirection (for My
Documents, Desktop, Application Data) so that each user gets their settings
& files no matter where they log in. This requires that your workstations
run the same OS and software (keep them as identical as possible).
- am I able to setup email access for people through microsoft outlook
without having to go to the particular workstation, and login as
them, and set it up?
Click to expand...

See above re profiles. But if you're not using Exchange, be very careful.
Outlook PST files must live on the local hard drive - not on the server.
They're difficult to back up, and can't be centrally managed. They are not
really suitable for a domain environment. Look into Exchange if you haven't
done so...you could get it hosted elsehwere if you don't want to manage it
in house.
I would think that there should be a way of
doing this without having to know everyones password.
Click to expand...

You need to know their passwords only once, when you log in for the first
time to customize their profiles.
- is desktop folder redirection a common way of controlling what
users have access to on the desktop?
Click to expand...

Well - in a manner of speaking, yes.
how would the root folder
shortcuts 'point' to local applications if they are on the server?
Click to expand...

Applications don't generally live on the server. The shortcuts will point to
the local path of the hard drive. But I do try to discourage people from
cluttering up their desktops - the Start menu is the best place to find
their programs.
 
ok excellent so I have read up on default profiles. very nice to know about.
now I can go to a computer, setup emails, copy the profile to be the default,
and then no matter which login is used, they will have access to the same
outlook profiles that i setup.

now a question i have is, what if there are already 10 profiles on a
computer, and I want to make a change to a workstation that affects all of
the profiles that are already made, as well as any that might be in the
future, since the default profile is only used when profiles are first
created? if theres a way would it have something to do with the "All Users"
profile? i guess if i just wanted to put an icon on the desktop or startmenu
for everyone it wuold be easy enough by copying it to the all users profile,
but what about something like outlook where its an application configuration?
 
Dave Cousineau ( Sahuagin )
ok excellent so I have read up on default profiles. very nice to know
about. now I can go to a computer, setup emails, copy the profile to
be the default, and then no matter which login is used, they will
have access to the same outlook profiles that i setup.
Click to expand...

Ouch. No, don't do that. Keep the default profile very clean! Why would you
want each user to have this? Each user should have his/her *own* mail
profile only. I use the default profile (copied to one of my DCs -
\\server\netlogon\Default User) only to control things like power settings,
Windows explorer view settings, etc.
now a question i have is, what if there are already 10 profiles on a
computer, and I want to make a change to a workstation that affects
all of the profiles that are already made, as well as any that might
be in the future, since the default profile is only used when
profiles are first created?
Click to expand...

Correct. Don't try to use the Default Profile for too much. You're making
life so much harder for yourself this way. One user = one profile, and each
person logs in as him/herself when using the PC. Keep it simple and this
will work better for you, and your users.
if theres a way would it have something
to do with the "All Users" profile? i guess if i just wanted to put
an icon on the desktop or startmenu for everyone it wuold be easy
enough by copying it to the all users profile, but what about
something like outlook where its an application configuration?
Click to expand...

That's why you have a customized profile per user :)
 
"Ouch. No, don't do that. Keep the default profile very clean! Why would you
want each user to have this? Each user should have his/her *own* mail
profile only."

i get what you're saying and i appreciate your advice but we are not very
organized or strict here when it comes to computers. computer security is
seen as an annoyance. i have to make things as easy and simple as possible as
i can. multiple people need to be able to sit down at this computer and
immediately access their personal email regardless of who logged in. if i
setup everyone's email that was accessible only under their own particular
login, i would be getting complaints about people not having their email
setup yet. (since they sit down at the computer, run outlook, and dont see a
drop down list with their name in it.) people would consider it too much of a
hindrance to have to switch users just to look at mail.

i guess i could point out that this is an amusement park, so its not like a
normal office setting, our seasonal staff is mostly high school and college
students, and everyone is constantly on the go when we are open. it can get
quite hectic. that is why a person should be able to come to this computer,
sit down, check email, and leave without having to worry about logins and
things.
 
Dave Cousineau ( Sahuagin )
"Ouch. No, don't do that. Keep the default profile very clean! Why
would you want each user to have this? Each user should have his/her
*own* mail profile only."

i get what you're saying and i appreciate your advice but we are not
very organized or strict here when it comes to computers. computer
security is seen as an annoyance. i have to make things as easy and
simple as possible as i can. multiple people need to be able to sit
down at this computer and immediately access their personal email
regardless of who logged in. if i setup everyone's email that was
accessible only under their own particular login, i would be getting
complaints about people not having their email setup yet. (since they
sit down at the computer, run outlook, and dont see a drop down list
with their name in it.) people would consider it too much of a
hindrance to have to switch users just to look at mail.

i guess i could point out that this is an amusement park, so its not
like a normal office setting, our seasonal staff is mostly high
school and college students, and everyone is constantly on the go
when we are open. it can get quite hectic. that is why a person
should be able to come to this computer, sit down, check email, and
leave without having to worry about logins and things.
Click to expand...

Then honestly, why have different user accounts at all? Perhaps that's
overkill in your environment. I'd probably just have a single login and add
mail profiles as needed.

At that point, using AD at all may not be necessary.
 
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