[K12OSN] Redirect "My Documents" folder to home folder

[Doug Simpson]

Indeed is *may be* easier to show them how to save to their "My Documents" 
folder, but I prefer to be able to just connect a computer and it just 
work.  You will have to have the registry key to se their "My Documents" 
to somewhere else, and then that will only be applied if that user has 
appropriate rights. 

Another reason to teach them to use their H: drive is simjply this. . .

When a user logs in on a computer with XP on it, they get a profile.  On 
that computer. . . If they already have one on the server somewhere, that 
it the one they get.  So, if their "My Documents" folder is bloated (most 
are) then that entire foder (regardless of it's actual location) will get 
copied to that local computer they just logged in on.  Now, that user had 
a complete copy of their "My Documents" folder on that computer, and if 
they just logged in to do a single thing and they never log in again, 
there sits their local copy of the profile, wasting space on that computer.

If they login on many computers, every single one will get a local copy of 
their "My Documents" folder (regardless of where it is actually located) 
because it lives in their profile.

MUCH wasted drive space.  Also, if they happen to be a counselor or 
whatever, their profile (including their "My Documents" folder (which may 
contain classified data and documentation)) get copied to that local 
computer's hard drive. . . MAJOR security and confidentiality risk.

Any user who sits down at the computer and can browse the local drive can 
see into those files.

For our student computers, we use DriveShield (similar to DeepFreeze) and 
the local drive is restored to our settings and etc. (all local data is 
deleted (including profiles)). The server also deletes their profile when 
they log off.  It only takes once or twice (three times for the really 
slow ones) to figure out that if they save to their H: drive, it doesn't 
disappear and will be there the next time they need it.

One major reason for this is that in the profile, there are copies of your 
"Temporary Internet Files". Yup! your CACHE! Imagine. . .hundreds of 
students, thousands in some districts, each with a full-blown copy of 
"Temporary Internet Files" on the server in their profiles! We had 
hundreds of gigs in server space and it was running at 60% when their 
profiles were living there.  Once I set up the auto-profile-removal thing, 
that usage went to below 10%.  Pprofiles don't live in each user's home 
directory, either. . . they live in their own share and the directory 
structure is created on the fly when they login, and deleted on the fly 
when they log out.

WHAT A WASTE of drive space!.  We don't have that problem anymore on 
student computers.  They also learn that their cutesy screensavers, 
wallpapers, and other stuff disappears as well and they eventually learn 
that and will quit messing with them.

BEEE--YOUOUOUUUUU--TEE-FUUULLL!


Doug Simpson
Technology Specialist
DeQueen Public Schools
DeQueen, AR 71832
simpsond at leopards.k12.ar.us
Tux for President!

On Wed, 9 Aug 2006, Paul Lemke wrote:

> Hi all, 
> Is there a way in windows 2000 to script the changing of the "My Documents"
> from "c:\docs and settings\blah\blah\mydocuments" to their mapped home
> directory? Specifically their startup.bat file that get's executed when they
> log in. 
> 
> I've googled it and can't see to come up with an easy answer. The reason
> behind this is I have roaming profiles turned on, but I don't want the users
> to wait all the time to copy their entire home directory. Sure I could tell
> them to save everything to their "X drive" but it's easier to show them how
> to save it to their "my documents" folder. 
> 
> Thanks for the help!
> Paul 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> K12OSN mailing list
> K12OSN at redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/k12osn
> For more info see <http://www.k12os.org>
>