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Microsoft Profiles

Windows 95 and NT have the capability to store user-specific information on the network, rather than storing it on the local hard drive (although the hard drive has a copy of the information, too). This information consists of the following items:

  The Start menu (shortcuts)
  The desktop (shortcuts)
  Recently used files (shortcuts)
  The User Registry (a roaming version of the Registry with user-specific settings)

Profiles are a wonderful standardization tool, as well as a good network troubleshooting tool. Because the user settings are easily separated from the user’s workstation, having the user try something at another workstation is easy and painless—you sometimes don’t even have to reinstall applications to have the application settings move with you.


Because Windows 9x ships with profiles turned off by default (so that every user has the same settings), you’ll want to make sure you turn them on. You can do this by clicking the Start button, choosing Settings|Control Panel, selecting Passwords, choosing the User Profiles tab in the Passwords Properties dialog box, and then making the appropriate changes (see Figure 16.2).


Figure 16.2  The Windows 9x Control Panel allows you to turn profiles on or off for a given machine. Many corporate networks use the settings shown in this figure.


Where do the user profiles live? On a Windows NT network, as well as on Novell 4.x and higher, they live in the users’ home directories. On Novell 3.x, they live in the SYS:MAIL directory, under directories named for the users’ unique numeric user IDs. (You can determine what a particular user’s unique numeric ID is by choosing SYSCON|User Information|User Name|Other Information.)


If you’re going to add or replace something in the user’s network profile files, make sure you do it while the user is logged out, because Windows writes a user’s profile to the network as he or she logs out of the network. If you don’t enact changes while the user is logged out, your changes will be overwritten at the point when he or she logs out.

Send in the Clones

Disk duplication has been one of the innovations that has made using complex desktop operating systems such as Windows a survivable experience for network administrators. It has allowed administrators to treat the whole Windows kettle of DLLs, VXDs, configuration files, and so on as one manageable container. Disk duplication isn’t a panacea for all your standardization woes, but it sure helps. The idea behind a disk-duplication rollout is that you get it right once for each functional group and then roll it out many times.

Instead of doing an hour-or-so-long Windows 9x or Windows NT install from CD-ROM for each workstation—to the tune of 40 or so hours for 40 workstations—you can perform a 10-minute disk duplication, which translates into a mere six-plus hours for those same workstations.


Yes, Microsoft supports automated setup scripts for Windows NT and Windows 95, which allow you to run unattended setup sessions for large numbers of computers, usually from the network. This also results in identical setups. However, writing unattended setup scripts requires a reasonable amount of “inside knowledge” and will require customization for your site. If you’re comfortable with an easy level of programming, you can play with this and get it working—but it takes a long time. Here’s the bottom line: It’s not as easy and quick as disk duplication.

What’s more, in addition to the time consideration, you know that each workstation is the same. You don’t have to write anything down—even those small tweaks you do to optimize your system—to ensure that all installs have the correct settings.


You’ll want to make sure all the workstations’ hardware is pretty much the same before you duplicate drives between them; otherwise, you run the risk of intermittent or hard-to-find problems. This typically isn’t a big deal—if you’re buying 10 to 20 PCs, it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to purchase them all from different sources. This sanity check comes more into play when you’re upgrading folks rather than doing new installs.

Yes, Windows 9x is really good at detecting when the hardware changes—but why risk any problems? We’re looking at using duplication to avoid trouble, not cause it.



Every so often, no matter how sure you are that the duplication is a “known good” one, you should verify that the duplication image is still what you want to be rolling out. For example, file and print software might have changed, and your duplication might need updating.

A duplication session in its simplest form is basically a DOS session with a network boot disk. You boot a DOS disk, load the network client, log in, and then run your duplication software. This allows you to copy the entire contents of the current hard drive to a file on the network or download the contents of the network file to the workstation’s hard drive. You have other options, too. You can duplicate disk to disk, to a tape drive, or to a CD-ROM image, all depending on the duplication software you choose.


Whoa, you say, that’s a lot of stuff! Yes, this is true. However, current duplication technology will allow you to compress the disk file on-the-fly, making a 2GB hard drive with 1GB free take up only about 250MB on the network.

Think of this as making a ZIP file of your hard drive—but with all hidden files, system files, and certain drive-specific contents such as the boot sector.

Be aware, however, that not all duplication software will allow you to recover individual files from a duplication file—some will only allow you to restore the entire hard drive.


After you duplicate, you have to change the individual parameters on the new workstation—for example, the machine name and the TCP/IP address (if you’re not using DHCP). Advanced duplication software has the capability to do this for you. Cool!

Protection Policy: Automatic Administrative Tools

”Save the users from themselves!” is the cry heard from many a network administrator. I’m sure you’ve at least thought it. Consider the case of the lady who learned how to change her screen colors—and changed them to yellow, her favorite color. This would have been fine, only she changed all the colors to yellow—foreground and background—leaving her with a yellow-on-yellow Windows installation. Kind of hard to read!


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