Windows 7 Roaming profile problem

[gshaw]

I noticed this on my Win 7 test PC, thought it would sort out with 2008 managing the workstations (stuck on 2003 at the moment until we move our DCs to virtualised) but looks like a poorly thought out design unless we're all missing something?

Is there a GPO to hide the USERNAME item from the Start Menu and just see Documents, Pictures etc? Saying Access Denied when trying to save into a viewable folder just sounds like a good way to get lots more support calls when we move over

[timbo343]

Ok, so i have tried all the suggestions on this thread but still no joy...

I have attached a pic to show which area i would like disabling. The only problem is when a user clicks on save in a word doc it defaults to the desktop but when you click the users name it goes the local profile... which i can see most users doing here.

EDIT: Its not jsut word documents, its everything PDFs, smartboard files... etc

[ChrisMiles]

You wont be able to stop it completely, there are system files in this folder that the user must be able to read/write/create, this is just how windows 7 works. This was always there on windows xp and it was the same problem then, the only difference is that it wasn't presented to the user in quite such an obvious way.

To that end, I think your best hope now is to just hide it so the user cannot ever browse to it. You can remove it from the start menu and desktop using the usual group policies and you can remove it form the file save dialogs by doing this:

Hide User Folder on Save as Dialog Box - TechNet Forum Windows 7 Support Team - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

[timbo343]

You wont be able to stop it completely, there are system files in this folder that the user must be able to read/write/create, this is just how windows 7 works. This was always there on windows xp and it was the same problem then, the only difference is that it wasn't presented to the user in quite such an obvious way.

To that end, I think your best hope now is to just hide it so the user cannot ever browse to it. You can remove it from the start menu and desktop using the usual group policies and you can remove it form the file save dialogs by doing this:

Hide User Folder on Save as Dialog Box - TechNet Forum Windows 7 Support Team - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Thanks for this... This was the solution i used and added a shortcut on the users desktop to point to their userarea so if they need to save there they can do

[gshaw]

Just bumping this one, I'm guessing there's still no fix for the users' named folder in the Start Menu?

[Michael]

Just bumping this one, I'm guessing there's still no fix for the users' named folder in the Start Menu?

I believe this is the GPO you're looking for:

User Config > Policies > Admin Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar - Remove user folder link from Start Menu - Enabled

[Michael]

so what is the work around??? or isnt there one? I keep thinking that win7 is more aimed at the home market rather than the corporate market...

Windows 8 is going to be a small release by the looks of things. There aren't that many changes, so Windows 8 will be Windows 7 + tablet functionality.

There are a lot more GPOs you can set with Windows 7 compared to XP. I am presuming you're running 2008 R2 to get the best out of Windows 7?

[gshaw]

I believe this is the GPO you're looking for:

User Config > Policies > Admin Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar - Remove user folder link from Start Menu - Enabled

Was hoping it would be that simple, saves a bit of digging around

Now just to disable those pesky libraries, hopefully the ADM template from Windows 7 - Removing Libraries should do the trick?

[Michael]

You could disable Libraries but personally I would leave well alone. I've setup quite a number of networks with Libraries enabled with no problems. Users are also familiar with Libraries as Windows 7 is starting to gather speed with user popularity. Many users are now using Windows 7 at home.

Libraries are new to Windows 7, just like the new Start Menu was new to XP and many went back to the classic Start Menu. In Windows 7 you're now forced to use a revised version of XP's/Vista's Start Menu and I suspect eventually Libraries will become the standard in Windows 8 onwards.

[sted]

You could disable Libraries but personally I would leave well alone. I've setup quite a number of networks with Libraries enabled with no problems. Users are also familiar with Libraries as Windows 7 is starting to gather speed with user popularity. Many users are now using Windows 7 at home.

Libraries are new to Windows 7, just like the new Start Menu was new to XP and many went back to the classic Start Menu. In Windows 7 you're now forced to use a revised version of XP's/Vista's Start Menu and I suspect eventually Libraries will become the standard in Windows 8 onwards.

Id rather have gpo to specify more so i could add shared work drives as a library or even quickly create ones when 2 kids work together

[Michael]

Id rather have gpo to specify more so i could add shared work drives as a library or even quickly create ones when 2 kids work together

I suppose you can do that in a way with network drives and applying permissions. I think if Libraries were to have an edge, it would be to create them and make them available instantly without a reboot or logoff. You could apply this to lots of 'features' of Windows that require restarts or logoff/on.

[sted]

I suppose you can do that in a way with network drives and applying permissions. I think if Libraries were to have an edge, it would be to create them and make them available instantly without a reboot or logoff. You could apply this to lots of 'features' of Windows that require restarts or logoff/on.

I do but if the locations bit at top could have my docs and network shared docs might be a bit easier for users and could have easily separated shared pics music etc

[gshaw]

You could disable Libraries but personally I would leave well alone. I've setup quite a number of networks with Libraries enabled with no problems. Users are also familiar with Libraries as Windows 7 is starting to gather speed with user popularity. Many users are now using Windows 7 at home.

It's the rather brainless way it's been implemented for networks, seems so silly that we have to cludge up scripts to remove the C: drive public location when no-one in their right mind would want users to be saving there on a network as opposed to simple GPO config change...

[themightymrp]

I have been doing a lot of experimenting with trying to get the Libraries feature working correctly this week and have finally managed it!

First off, find and download a program called Windows 7 Library Tool (its free).

Then, using a test system, navigate to "C:\Users\Default User\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries". Shift + Right click to open a command prompt here. Delete the 4 default *.library-ms files (they are XML but renamed).

Run the Library tool, create a new library and point it to a general location i.e. \\servername\share\%username% (for My Documents) or H:\ etc. NOTE - this tool allows you to add network locations that ARE NOT indexed This gets around the normal problem of not being able to add network places.

Create the necessary libraries as you would like them. I recreated the original 4 but pointed them to sub folders of the users own network share.

When done click Apply. This will build the necessary *.library-ms files in the folder mentioned above.

Using command prompt (windows explorer will attempt to copy the contents of the library location!), copy the library-ms files onto a central network share i.e. \\servername\netlogon\windows7\libraries

Now create a logon script that copies the contents of this share to the %appdata%\microsoft\windows\libraries folder. Thats it Each user on my network using Windows 7 has their libraries redirected onto their own network share.

Hope this helps

[themightymrp]

After some testing by @Miscbrah , there is a slight alteration to this method which seems to work better:

1) Log into a test machine and run the Library Tool
2) Import the current default library settings
3) Modify the Documents library to point to where you want i.e. %homeshare% or H: etc
4) Before you apply the settings, open a command window
5) Browse to %userprofile%\appdata\roaming\microsoft\windows\li braries (if it exists. If it doesnt then change to the default user profile’s library location)
6) Delete the *.library-ms files
7) In the Library Tool, click apply to build your new files
8) You should see them appear in command prompt in the location you just deleted them from (using the dir command)
9) Copy these new files to a network share, again from the cmd prompt
10) Create a login script that copies from the network share to the %userprofile%\appdata\roaming\microsoft\windows\li braries folder