File save locations for users in GP

[wardner]

Hi all,
I have a client with just under 1000 users using roaming profiles.
The client now wants the desktops of all users to be the same, and I know how to do this for them. The problem is that they do not want the users to be able to save to the local machine. All data needs to be saved to the server. My question is, is their a GP policy that will allow me to prevent users from saving to the local drive and if possible to set default save locations for work such as Word or Excel to a network share?

This would be great for the roll out as it will save me loads of time.

Look forward to your replies.

[scottzaiss]

Using the 'Folder Redirection' for My Documents will take care of the 90% of the apps out there, including Office. It won't restrict users from saving locally, but it will default the save to a share on the server.

For any app that doesn't default to MyDocs, usually you can change the working directory in the apps shortcut.

Hope this helps,
Scott

[AdamV]

default locations for saving in Word, Excel and Powerpoint is easy enough to customise in the apps, and can be set to a share by default when first installing. After the fact this becomes slightly harder but you could write a quick VB macro to do this and get it to run at startup (eg for Word have this as a macro called autorun in a template which you copy to the startup folder in a logon script).
Not sure about changing these through GP, even with a custom ADM since these are probably file-based settings rather than registry.

[wardner]

Thanks guys,
I really appreciate the advice. I had seen that option in the GP but not sure if it would do it as planned. The start up scripts for app default locations will be the next thing I would have to automate.

Thanks again

Dave Ward

[sephiroth_4]

Was there any progress to your dilemma....I have the same issues happening where users save to the hard drive and running apps that can run under limited users.