Libraries and Public Folder

[Scorpio]

Hi Guys

Next Problem we are facing is Public /shared folders appearing in the save as and open dialogue on windows 7.

Users can save into the Public folders stored on C, we want to remove this or disable them, i read not to delete these as the system uses them, so either:

1. Disable / hide the links
2, Remove the libraries link from the Save as/ opn dialogue all together, so just My Computer (Which have links to Shared drives and homedrive)

Anyone know if thjere is any GPOs in 2008R2 or any other methods?

Cheers

S

[sted]

ive just used permissions to deny access to the public folders still shows them but nobody can save there

[DrCheese]

hi,
On your default profile open with notepad
AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Docume nts.library-ms

remove the entry for "knownfolder:{ED4824AF-DCE4-45A8-81E2-FC7965083634}"

It's the same with the other libraries, this will stop them from showing.

[Scorpio]

Thanks can i do this in the the Hide Known Folders GPO ?

Does this remove it from the Save as/Open box ? or Just the Explorer side Bar?

[DrCheese]

I'm not sure, I did it on our "default user.v2" profile that sits on our \\domain\netlogon share before I'd got any users using Windows 7, so their profiles were always created using it. Never tried it any other way.

It removes the public folder from the library entirely, users can't select it on the saveas/open box or the explorer side bar. Tho you may still want to lock c:\users\public down using GPO as users would still be able to save to it if they found it manually.

It does drive me up the wall that there's no real GPO support for libraries.

[Scorpio]

Yes ive found that there is very little support to configure them. Anyone have any other methods?

Thanks for everyones input so far.

Scorps

[Scorpio]

I Just tried adding {ED4824AF-DCE4-45A8-81E2-FC7965083634} into Disable Known Folders GPO, tried as a new user and it looked promising, when i opened notepad open/save as it defaulted to desktop no sign of Libraries, but opening IE save as it then showed them, and also in documents from the start menu the libraries are still on there.

Ahhhh

How does everyone on here do this, as it could be a big problem users saving files to the local disk that are unoticed.

Cheers

Scorps

[Scorpio]

Dr CHeese, i was reading an older thread by you, or you contributed, how did you stop users configuries libraries ? As i can right click and start messing with all the libraries as the user ?

[ricki]

Hi

Have a look at the adm half way down this page.

Windows 7 Gotchas/Tips/FYI

Richard

[Scorpio]

Hi, which one in particular ?, i have hidden all the libraries icons and links in explorer, but when you go to save as the libraries appear and then you can browse to public and also right click select properties and then mess around with the properties of libraries.

[Scorpio]

Ive just found these GUIDs

Public
DFDF76A2-C82A-4D63-906A-5644AC457385

PublicDesktop
C4AA340D-F20F-4863-AFEF-F87EF2E6BA25

PublicDocuments
ED4824AF-DCE4-45A8-81E2-FC7965083634

PublicDownloads
3D644C9B-1FB8-4F30-9B45-F670235F79C0

PublicGameTasks
DEBF2536-E1A8-4C59-B6A2-414586476AEA

PublicMusic
3214FAB5-9757-4298-BB61-92A9DEAA44FF

PublicPictures
B6EBFB86-6907-413C-9AF7-4FC2ABF07CC5

PublicVideos
2400183A-6185-49FB-A2D8-4A392A602BA3


Going to see if i can Disable them all using the Disable Known Folders GPO, see if that helps.

edit: THESE ARE FOR VISTA!

[User3204]

To change the libraries just right click on them.

Change the one that a user is using, redirect it to wherever you store the files (in our case p:\docs where p: is mapped to \\server\share\username)
Take out all the ones that are wrong.

Change the GPO to copy this new file over to the users.
The Libraries are saved in files located at: %appdata%\microsoft\windows\libraries (or possibly from the %userprofile%)

If you don't want the libraries, delete the files. Although I'm not sure what would happen to documents....

[Scorpio]

Hi User

Can you explian further, im not sure what you mean, do you mean edit the library files first to get them how you want them ie:

Pictures.library-ms
music.library-ms
videos.library-ms
documents.library-ms

Then copy them over using GPP?

This doesnt stop users changing the config for the librarys which means they can mess up alsorts.

What i have done is this, create a logon script which hides the librarys, they are still there but huiddens so windows is happy as its needed by some apps. But i still have the option of NEW > Library when right clicking in the Library window. Does any one know how to get rid of this right click action in this windows or remove the option.

Heres the script if anyone find it helpful:

 @echo off
%systemdrive%
cd\
cd %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries
attrib +h Pictures.library-ms
attrib +h music.library-ms
attrib +h videos.library-ms
attrib +h documents.library-ms
attrib +h *.library-ms

Delete lines as appropriate

Cheers

Scorps

[DrCheese]

Dr CHeese, i was reading an older thread by you, or you contributed, how did you stop users configuries libraries ? As i can right click and start messing with all the libraries as the user ?

You can't. It's retarded I know as there's nothing to stop a user making a mess of them. Microsoft totally dropped the ball when it came to group policy support of the library feature.
If it's any help tho, we've never had a student/staff mess about with the setting and we've had Windows 7 out for nearly a year now. To be honest if they did screw it up, it's their own damn fault if they lose any work.

[Scorpio]

Hiding them will be ok, trouble is it always throws you into the lib folder when saving in certain apps.