Proper Way to Redirect/Roam?

[PreviousPoster]

Previously, I've redirected My docs and the App data in GP and added in the profile tab of the user the location of his profile \\servername\share\%username%

I've been told numerous times that's wrong/not needed/etc with Win2k3 server and XP/Vista clients.

So what is the proper way to:
Have My Docs redirected to a server / not downloaded on login.
Have Desktop, Icons, Preferences follow the user from machine to machine.

Sorry, just I've found things from 2001, 2003, and 2005 that discuss different ways, with no clear cut Microsoft supported way.

So, are you asking how to do REDIRECTED MY DOCS,
but make sure that those files are NOT automatically "pinned" whenever you roam?

Is that the question?

[PreviousPoster]

I'm asking what is the proper way to setup roaming profiles (including my docs).

I believe the terminology is changing from ROAMING to REDIRECTED but not sure.

I want the my docs redirected to 'their' network folder - so the files aren't downloaded/uploaded each time.

I want their profile / application data / Outlook Signatures /etc to 'roam' with them from machine to machine.

This (from another post) is pretty much what I've been doing and had 'issues' and was told I was doing it incorrectly. Though their method only made things worse.

"... i setup a GPO with folder redirection so it created a user folder and redirected their my documents to one location (\\server\MyDocs\Name) and application data, and desktop to a network 'profile' location (\\server\profiles\name).

I set up each user's profile tab as \\servername\profiles\%name%

That more clear? :-)

[DennisT]

To get a user's environment/files/etc to "follow" them from PC to PC do the following:

Set up their profile to roam by defining the location of their profile path in the Profile tab under the user's properties. This path should be easily accessible from all login locations. If you have a distributed environment (IE New York and LA) then use a DFSr share. This is an area where DFSr really shines (assuming you don't "share" user accounts). The profile should not be located where the user could access it and accidently compromise it (IE onto their "home" drive).

Modify their GPO to redirect My Documents, Application Data, and Desktop. Again, these should be easily available from all login locations. IIRC, Microsoft recommends these not be located in a location where a user could compromise the data in them. In our environment we put My Documents in their home drive but the other folders are hidden.

By redirecting the above the user's profile stays small, typically well under 10MB so login time isn't significantly affected.

If Offline files is enabled the above folders are cached which can further reduce login delays (assuming the synchronization is done at log off), though log off is delayed slightly for the sync. There are settings in the GPO to taylor how/when the sync occurs. This appears to be a solution for notebook users but we don't have many so I can't say how good it would work in an environment with a lot of "roaming" users.

We use this setup and haven't had any issues. Users can log onto any PC and their entire environment follows them. We even have a couple users that log onto XP and 2000 PCs without a problem.