Map network drives without scripts (W2K)

[SystemEngineer]

It would appear most organisations use scripts or batch files to sign users into network drives, has anyone actually thought about the benefits surrounding creating custom ADM files for use with Group Policy or Systems Policy Editor?

Most corporate environments would probably like to disable the command prompt but can’t because they have batch files running at logon. By creating a custom ADM file an administrator can specify which network drives should be available to that user through Group Policy or Systems Policy Editor.

Example of a custom ADM file for mapping the ‘K’ drive:

CLASS USER

CATEGORY "Network Drives"

POLICY "Drive K"
KEYNAME Network\K
PART "ConnectionType - LEAVE" NUMERIC REQUIRED
MIN 1 MAX 1 DEFAULT 1
VALUENAME "ConnectionType"
END PART
PART "ProviderName - LEAVE" EDITTEXT REQUIRED
DEFAULT "Microsoft Windows Network"
VALUENAME "ProviderName"
END PART
PART "ProviderType - LEAVE" NUMERIC REQUIRED
MIN 131072 MAX 131072 DEFAULT 131072
VALUENAME "ProviderType"
END PART
PART "RemotePath" EDITTEXT REQUIRED
DEFAULT "\\SERVER\SHARE"
VALUENAME "RemotePath"
END PART
PART "UserName - LEAVE BLANK" EDITTEXT
DEFAULT ""
VALUENAME "UserName"
END PART
END POLICY

END CATEGORY

This policy is a registry based policy and thus can be tweaked to adapt to a third party registry editing programme.

Hope this is helpful.

[SystemEngineer]

Does anyone have any comments on the above post?

[lowey]

I've been looking everywhere for something like this. It has always worried(?) me why Microsoft don't/won't/can't provide this functionality by default. It is so basic to Group policy I've always wondered.
Anyway, does this ADM work??

[lowey]

I've been trying it for an hour or so and everytime I try to add it to GPO I don't see any values in GPEdit. I don't think GPEdit likes the Network\K Keyname.

Any ideas

[SystemEngineer]

Hiya, Group Policy only shows, unless specified, ADM files which relate to the policies key in the registry. To make GP work with other ADMs:
In the console tree click the Administrative Templates node, on the console menu bar click View, and then untick Show Policies Only.

Hope this helps, let me know how you get on.

[schwerv]

Can this work for multpile network drives with different drive letters? My staff have 4-5 network drives and I would like to set those by Group Policy. If this can be done, can you give an idea how?

Thanks

ScHwErV

<font color=red>Vegetarian: Old Indian word for Bad Hunter.</font color=red>

[jogdial]

I use this, and it works to an extent... or I'm imagining things. One of my users doesn't have a VPN to our network so disconnects all her drives on her laptop when at home. When she comes back in, her drives don't remap. If I do the same, mine remap. The difference seems to be that she disconnects her drives using windows explorer. I do it from the command line. Does that make sense/hold true for anyone else or am I barking up the wrong tree? I tried disconnectly all my drive with windows explorer and they did indeed not reconnect. So while it's weird seems like thats the way it is.

[SystemEngineer]

Yes, just copy and paste the policy multiple times changing the drive letters. I've created an ADM file with an option to map drives F-X.

Hope this helps.

[jdharm]

I have been using the NT4 Poledit to create my policy files for Win2K out of laziness - the proper use of the built in editor in 2K didn't make itself readily apparent and Poledit is a snap to use.

However, I suspect the 2K editor would give me more power if I use it. So, do you know of any comprehensive guides on using the built in 2K policy editor?


Josh

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[SystemEngineer]

Hi Josh, if you’re referring to the build of Systems Policy Editor made available with the 2000 build of Windows there's not much difference between it and the previous NT4 version.

The difference is that the 2000 build loads and supports more levels of file encoding of the administrative template.

You won't get any more administrative power with the 2000 build or any future build simply because the Policy Editor can only be as powerful as the ADMs it loads.

I simply edit the latest ADMs and load them with the NT4 Policy Editor.

There may be guides on individual’s websites relating to it. I would suggest Microsoft but 'comprehensive' and 'guides' aren’t two words I associate with Microsoft when it comes to Poledit.

Hope this helps.