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\Documents.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.

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-7/47835-windows-7-gotchas-tips-fyi.html#post558952

 

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!

Edited April 6, 2011 by Scorpio

[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....

Edited April 6, 2011 by User3204
edit: missed some stuff

[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

Edited April 7, 2011 by Scorpio

[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.

[Scorpio]

Right guys ive cracked it !

 

This is how to lock them down and this is reliant upon you not wanting to keep any user manually setup libraries.

 

1. Log on as a user, remove the public folders from all 4 standard Libraries, and untick "show in navigation pane"

 

2. Copy these 4 XML files to a network location \\server\share\

 

3 Use Group policy preferences (File) to:

delete any .library-ms from %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries

replace \\server\share\(all for four library XML files) to %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries

making sure you set the file attribute to read only

 

4. Set the Policy "Prevent users from adding files to the root of their Users Files folder"

 

What will happen is, when the user logs on all the library files are deleted from the users profile and replaced with the set ones from the server share without the public path (just incase) and then made hidden, when the users goes the libraries they appear empty and when they right click and say New > Library they get a file error due to the policy not allowing new files. So they cannot config the Libraries as they are hidden so relies also on locking down your Folder Options.

 

If you do not have 2008 server, you can do this with batch scripts to delete and copy over the files and then using the attrib command as per below:

 

@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

 

Hope this helps someone out and glad we now have a way of doing this, as it keeps the files intact so programs can access them if needed, as i know WMP12 has issues if you delete or disable the libraries.

 

Cheers

 

Scorps

[rvdmast]

We took a different approach. Instead of disabling public folders and/or removing libraries, we

redirect the "Public documents" (and Common pictures, movies, etc...) folder to our Shared drive, much the same as redirecting My documents to their network home share.

This way we have the best of both:

 

• You get to keep the libraries functionality for both "My documents" and "Public documents"
  
• You get to keep the "Public documents" functionality, except it's now on the network Shared area.
  

[DaveCoop]

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

 

Has anyone got any further on this one! no point in hiding as the little darlings are trying to save to desktop when its says you need permission windows gives them the option to save to c:\users Nice!!!!! try it open notepad save the file as cmd to desktop annoying to say the least

[fiza]

Why is this so difficult? Why have Microsoft forgotten about Domain Admins? All I want is that when a user clicks to save it goes to their home drive. I've managed to redirect my docs to the server but the library location still shows 2 locations. 1 for the server and 1 local. I DONT WANT the local.

 

Has anyone resolved this? I have managed to hide Libraries with a custom GPO found on Edugeek.

 

BUT when I open Notepad and then click "save as" I still get "Documents Library" appear with the obligatory "some library features are unavailable due to unsupported library locations". It still shows 2 locations. 1 is the users Home Drive and the other is Public Documents on C drive!!!!

 

Can someone please tell me how to resolve this?

[Miscbrah]

Hi - hope I'm not too late to the party! I knocked up a guide a little while back, be keen to see it tried out and see if it solves any problems for anyone! I know these threads actually come up on Google and I learned how to do this here on Edugeek, so spreading the love.

 

If the guide's any good/sucks let me know.

 

Linky.