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User profiles, home folders and folder redirection
Step 3 of 9 in Active Directory users and groups · video 4:40
What you will learn
- Where Windows keeps a local user profile and what it contains
- Profile path, logon script and home folder settings on an account
- Using %username% in template accounts to create folders automatically
- Basic and advanced folder redirection with Group Policy
About this lesson
When a user signs out of Windows, their desktop and application settings are saved in a folder named after them under C:\Users on that computer. This lesson looks at how to make those settings and documents follow people who sign in at several workstations. The Profile section of a user account in Active Directory Administrative Center has three settings: the profile path, which gives a roaming profile when it points to a UNC share; a logon script, a batch file kept in the scripts folder in SYSVOL and nowadays usually replaced by Group Policy; and a home folder mapped to a drive letter such as H:. For template accounts the %username% variable lets AD DS create a folder per user, for example \\lon-fs\profile$\%username%. The second half moves to Group Policy folder redirection under User Configuration, Policies, Windows Settings, comparing basic redirection to one common root with advanced redirection chosen by security group.
Check yourself
1. What makes a user profile a roaming profile?
The profile path on the account points to a network share (a UNC path) rather than a local folder. The settings are then loaded from and saved to that share, so the user gets the same desktop on any domain computer.
2. You are building a template account for new starters. What should its home folder path contain so that each copy gets its own folder?
The %username% variable, for example \\lon-fs\home$\%username% mapped to H:. When the template is copied, AD DS substitutes each new user's name and creates a separate folder, instead of every user pointing at the same path.
3. What is the difference between basic and advanced folder redirection in a GPO?
Basic redirection sends every affected user's folder, such as Documents, to a personal subfolder under one common root share. Advanced redirection picks the target by security group membership, so research staff, for example, can be redirected to a more secure server.
4. Where must a logon script named on a user account be stored, and what is the more usual way to deliver logon scripts?
In the scripts folder under SYSVOL on every domain controller, so that whichever DC authenticates the user can supply it. In practice logon scripts are usually assigned through Group Policy rather than through this per-user setting.
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