Active Directory Win 2k3

Is there away in AD to have a common desktop for all users. Not exactly a roaming profile but a folder where everyone would get the same icons but the data is still stored on the local PC. For instance if a user goes from pc to pc and login they always get the same desktop but we don't want roaming profiles. thanks

Well, you could place specific folders on the desktop in the All Users profile on the local machine: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop

Look into creating Group Policy objects for each OU to enforce same desktop settings for each user.

we are acutally using teh all users. What was happening that users were deleting the icons which we didn't realize was effecting everyone so we recently change the folder rights on each workstation so that can't happen.

But what I am trying to implement is user a,b,c,d login and they all get the same icon but with using AD. But I was problems pointing users to the same folder at the same time. Say we have 500 users we want to point to one folder not 500 individual profiles.

Also we don't care about the data but just basically want to give them the icons.

The only thing I can think of is to create a Group Policy for the domain. In this policy go to: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Desktop > Active Desktop. There is a feature called "Add/Delete Items" that you should enable. Then, point to a network share that will hold the icons to be present on the desktop.

I'm not 100% on this, but may be worth a shot.

Good luck.

I will give it a shot and see what happens.

I am not sure where else to look or go. If you have any other suggestions let me know. I am no means of a AD user but I am trying.

If I can think of anything else, I will let you know. I think this may work for you, however.

well it kinda worked but it using that setting uses the icons like an active webpage content and that hides the backgroup.

I know in novell it can be done but I can seem to find a setting for windows.

I found folder redirection any ideas on that??

I should have mentioned that earlier but didn't even think about it. Folder Redirection probably would be your best bet. You can configure it via Group Policy and apply it to different objects in Active Directory.

With this, you could redirect the users' Desktop folder to a folder on the server and prevent users from deleting items.

I have been meaning to post. Yes this does work and I can point more then 1 user at the same time.

Thanks for the help

Great, glad this worked for you