Desktop Configuration for Roaming and Mobile Users

Roaming and mobile users are the two main types of users for whom you need to provide specific desktop configurations. A roaming user requires the ability to move from computer to computer throughout the organization. Although a roaming user logs on to different computers, the computers are usually connected to a network through a high-speed connection or LAN connection. A mobile user logs on at the same computer but moves to geographical locations; mobile users sometimes connect through a high-speed connection and at other times through a low-speed connection or dial-up line. Each of these users requires a different desktop configuration.

The technologies that you use when you manage the desktops of roaming and mobile users are as follows:

• Software Installation and Maintenance

• Roaming User Profiles

• Folder Redirection

• Offline Files

Software Installation and Maintenance

As previously mentioned, you can use the Software Installation extension of Group Policy to assign, publish, update, or repair software. When you are working with roaming user profiles, you might want to assign applications that users are going to require to do their jobs. You can install these applications on any computer the user travels to. For mobile users, you can assign or publish software. Publishing software adds the software to the list of applications that are available by using Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. You publish software that users find useful but don't necessarily need to perform their jobs. For example, not all users need to know a computer language to perform their jobs. So you can publish software such as Microsoft® Visual Basic® or Microsoft® Visual C++®; users who need these programming languages can choose to install them.

You can also define the settings that control what occurs when an application requires an update or needs to be repaired. If the user deletes a critical file, and the application is set to repair itself, the application locates the server and attempts to fix itself by using Windows Installer technology. This behavior is transparent to the user.

You can establish how the system manages the deployment of applications and day-to-day files that are required by roaming or mobile users. Because mobile users are not always connected to the network, they might need to update their software by using a CD or low-speed network connection.

Roaming User Profiles

When a user who has a roaming user profile logs on to a computer, runs applications, modifies documents, and then logs off, his or her user profile is copied to a server when he or she logs off. When the roaming user logs on to another computer, all of the profile information, including any Start menu customizations and the contents of the My Documents folder, is copied to the second computer. If you have a mobile user, or a branch office user who uses the same computer all the time but connects using a low speed network connection, you should always redirect his or her My Documents folder. For example, you can use roaming user profiles combined with Folder redirection of My Documents.

Note

When you store user profiles on a server, the user must wait for the information that has changed each time he or she logs on.

Folder Redirection

By using Folder Redirection, you can redirect the path of a local folder to a server location. Users can work with individual or shared documents on a secure server as if the folders are on the local drive.

You not only can redirect the My Documents folder including the My Pictures subfolder, but you can also redirect to a network location: the Desktop, Application Data, and Start menu folders. All of these folders are where the user is likely to store data. These folders are located within the Documents and Settings user profile folder on the local computer. It is best to redirect the folders by using the following setting:

\\<servername>\<sharename>\% username %

For example, for a user named Alice, whose My Documents files you want to redirect on machine1 in the userdocs network share, you need to use:

\\machine1\userdocs\% username %

For roaming and mobile users, My Documents is the main folder that you want to redirect. Windows 2000 uses the My Documents folder as the default location to store user documents on the Windows desktop. Standard application dialog boxes also point to applications that use the Open dialog box in Windows 2000 to save files to My Documents by default; so there is a greater tendency for the user to save information in this location.

Note

When entering this information, let the operating system create the folder. In this way, the folder is created with all of the correct permissions.

For compatibility with Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 allows you to use Folder Redirection to redirect the Start menu folder. You do this by having all users point to the same read-only information. As a best practice for Windows 2000–based computers, do not use Folder Redirection to redirect the Start menu folder, use Group Policy to control what appears on the Start menu. Using the Group Policy snap-in:

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Start Menu & Taskbar\

You can set Group Policy settings to:

• Remove user's folders from the Start menu.

• Remove common program groups from the Start menu.

• Remove Documents menu from the Start menu.

• Remove Network and Dial-up Connections from the Start menu.

• Remove Favorites menu from the Start menu.

• Remove Search from the Start menu.

• Remove Help from the Start menu.

• Remove Run from the Start menu.

• Add Log off to the Start menu.

• Disable Log off on the Start menu.

• Disable or remove the Shut Down command.

• Disable drag-and-drop context menus on the Start menu.

• Disable changes to taskbar and Start menu settings.

• Shade (gray) unavailable Start menu shortcuts for Windows Installer programs.

You can also combine Folder Redirection and Roaming User Profiles to increase performance for roaming and mobile users. Besides the improved availability and backup benefits of having the data on the network, users also have performance gains with low-speed network connections and subsequent logon sessions. Because only some of their documents are copied, these users experience performance gains when their profile is copied from the server. Not all of their data in the user profile is transferred to the desktop each time they log on — only the data that they require is transferred.

When you combine the use of Folder Redirection and Roaming User Profiles, you enable the ability to provide fast computer replacement. If a user's computer goes down, the data that a user requires can quickly be reestablished on a replacement computer.

For information about a user with a roaming user profile who roams from a Windows 2000–based desktop to a Windows NT–based desktop, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at https://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/reskit/webresources .

Offline Files

By using Offline Files, you can designate that users can continue to work with a copy of network files even when they are not connected to a network. If your organization has mobile users that use portable computers to work, Offline Files gives them access to their files when they are not connected to the network, and ensures that they are always working with the current version of network files. By using a cached version of the files, users can open and update files even when they are not connected to the network. Offline Files stores the data in the computer's cache to make network files available offline. The cache is a portion of disk space that a computer accesses when it is not connected to the network. The view of shared network items that you have made available offline remains as it is when connected, even if users lose a connection to the network or they remove a portable computer from the docking station. Users can continue to work with the Offline Files as they normally do. Users have the same access permissions to those files and folders as when they are connected to the network. When users dock a portable computer and the network connection is restored, any changes they made while working offline are updated to the network.

If two users on the network make changes to the same file, they can save their version of the file to the network, or keep the other user's version, or save both. Sometimes, the file date and size information is not enough to determine which version of the file must be kept. When you are in doubt about which version to keep, save both versions and then review them. After reviewing the files, delete the one that you do not want.

Note

Shared files or folders on a Microsoft Windows 2000 network can be available offline. You can make files available for offline use from any computer that supports server message block–based file and printer sharing, including Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0. The Offline Files feature is not available on Novell NetWare networks. You can set up shared folders so that what is made available offline to a user is either every network file that a user opens in that shared folder or only the network files that the user selects.

Offline Files is a completely stand-alone technology, which means that you don't need to pair it with Folder Redirection and set up and configure network shares, but it works well if you do pair the two technologies. For example, if a shortcut to a file is available offline, that file is made available offline, but if a shortcut to a folder is available offline, the contents of that folder are not available offline. If you pair the two technologies, Offline Files and Folder Redirection, the shortcut and the folder are available offline.

Cache Settings

Users can also work with the information stored in the computer cache, when working offline. If more than one user is using the shared information, there are three ways to specify if and how files within the shared folder are cached locally. Figure 21.2 shows caching settings.

Figure 21.2 Caching Settings

By using the manual caching for documents, users manually specify any files that they want available when they are working offline. Automatic caching for documents is recommended for folders that contain user documents. Opened files are automatically downloaded and made available when users work offline. Older copies of the files are automatically deleted to make room for newer and more recently accessed files. The automatic caching of programs is used for folders with read-only data or run-from-the-network applications. To ensure proper file sharing, the server version of the file is always opened.