Internet Explorer - Shared Favourites

[enjay]

In addition to everyone's own Favourites, I would like to put a couple of links, or more accurately a couple of folders, on everyone's Favourites. Is this possible, and if so, how?

[glennda]

We just used to put them in the default profile, you could have a folder on your deployment share called favorites which you could use a batch to copy to favorites in the profile at login.

[enjay]

That would work, thanks.

 

I'm sure we had a shared links folder on our CC3 network, but I never used it and therefore don't know how it worked (or whether it would still work on Win7, come to that).

[sted]

could you just add a shortcut to h:\favorites (or wherever users files are) that points to \\server\sharefavorites$

 

infact wont group policy preferences allow you to add /remove to favorites?

[glennda]

could you just add a shortcut to h:\favorites (or wherever users files are) that points to \\server\sharefavorites$

 

infact wont group policy preferences allow you to add /remove to favorites?

 

yes you can - although not sure if can add folders.

[sted]

yes you can - although not sure if can add folders.

 

could always create ba shared favorites folder with the login script (but if youre doing that may as well copy an exisiting one there on logon)

[3s-gtech]

Group Policy / User Configurattion/Windows Settings/Internet Explorer Manintenance/URLs/Favourites and Links

 

Do this for the top level of the group, or make a new GPO.

[enjay]

Group Policy / User Configurattion/Windows Settings/Internet Explorer Manintenance/URLs/Favourites and Links

 

Do this for the top level of the group, or make a new GPO.

 

Thanks. I was hoping for something which was easier to edit than that - the ideal would be for staff to be able to add useful shortcuts to students' Favourites...

[sonofsanta]

Thanks. I was hoping for something which was easier to edit than that - the ideal would be for staff to be able to add useful shortcuts to students' Favourites...

 

Perhaps best to force them to come through you still so they don't flood the favourites bar with rubbish - if they want to start creating hundreds of links there's nothing stopping them doing it in a shared folder (or on a VLE if you have one - which is best of all as you can put the links on context)

 

GPO mentioned does the trick nicely, though. I had to laugh after I'd added the LGfL Audio Network as a favourite and a couple of days, a repeat timewaster here was spotted on it in a French lesson... promptly went up to the classroom with the Head of Dept., pulled her out and asked her why she was wasting time on that instead of what her teacher had told her to do... "well why did they put the link there if they didn't want us to go on it?"

[enjay]

Perhaps best to force them to come through you still so they don't flood the favourites bar with rubbish

 

Why are you assuming that the teachers would fill the bar with rubbish, and not decent sites?

 

if they want to start creating hundreds of links there's nothing stopping them doing it in a shared folder

Many do that, this is more for the younger children for whom navigating lots of folders deep into the shared area can be a bit fiddly/time consuming/hit-and-miss as to whether the whole class end up at the same folder.

 

It is also, in part, a request from a teacher who wants everything accessible from her desktop.

[MatthewL]

via Group Policy would be how I'd do it.

[sonofsanta]

Why are you assuming that the teachers would fill the bar with rubbish, and not decent sites?

 

From experience of teachers here, I'm afraid.

 

I imagine you could do it fairly easily with a logon script - copy from \\shared\folder to %userprofile%\favorites. If you're on 2008 you could use GPP or just redirect Favorites to a shared location. The latter should, I think, update as soon as a shortcut is created in the shared location - so in the middle of a lesson the teacher could create the favourite and have it immediately available to all logged on students.

 

EDIT: User Config > Policies > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection > Favorites for the 2008 GPO. 2003 doesn't have the equivalent, though, so you'd have to go the login script route there.

Edited December 13, 2011 by sonofsanta

[enjay]

I think I'll go with the script. Folder redirection would an option for younger children who aren't going to be creating favourites of their own, but not suitable for older pupils or staff.

[enjay]

Hang on - a logon script require rights to run batch files, which obviously our users don't have. Hmmm.

[sted]

Hang on - a logon script require rights to run batch files, which obviously our users don't have. Hmmm.

 

isnt the logon script itself a special case that gets past that as its an administratively assigned script

[glennda]

isnt the logon script itself a special case that gets past that as its an administratively assigned script

 

No - a startup script is a special one. We had to unblock ability to run batch files but block and saving of them on file servers - it is also blocked via outlook by default, and also on memory sticks using USBDLM.

[enjay]

This is proving to be more hassle than it is worth!

[dhoward_westexetc]

For students I plug the path of the Favourites location directly into User Shell Folders using the Registry wizard in Policy Preferences.

 

I then created a custom start menu to add Favourites to it as a menu, then it pops out as menu.

 

I also hide Favourites from Internet explorer, so that there is no access to Add to Favourites. Not that they could add anything anyway because the shared location is read-only on our public drive!!

Edited December 15, 2011 by dhoward_westexetc

[dhoward_westexetc]

For all staff I use Favourites and Links, which is under 'URLs' in Internet Explorer Maintenance. It will then create favourites entries for everyone and add it to their own favourites menu.

[enjay]

For all staff I use Favourites and Links, which is under 'URLs' in Internet Explorer Maintenance. It will then create favourites entries for everyone and add it to their own favourites menu.

 

That does seem to be the way to go, although I was hoping for something which would be hands-off for IT Support. I might just stick a link to a shared Word document on their homepages, and staff can edit that as they see fit.

[dhoward_westexetc]

That does seem to be the way to go, although I was hoping for something which would be hands-off for IT Support. I might just stick a link to a shared Word document on their homepages, and staff can edit that as they see fit.

 

I know what you mean, and is why I like the student way of doing it as staff can just dump url files into it.

 

A compromise of sorts is to add an lnk shortcut to the shared favourites to user's own favourites folder, so it appears in their Favourites menu. The only problem is you get a warning pop up when you click on it in IE. Pros and cons for everything it seems!!!!!!