Comments on: Using group policy to map network drives.

By: Karl L. Gechlik | AskTheAdmin.com

Karl L. Gechlik | AskTheAdmin.com — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:09:31 +0000

Thanks Patrick – I would love to see a write up on it… Any interest?

By: PatrickMaclennan

PatrickMaclennan — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:06:17 +0000

Group policy preferences that were mentioned above can only use item level targeting so you can’t apply targeting at the gpo level.

For example, if you want to filter all items within a group policy by users in a selected AD group, you have to set targeting manually on every item within that group policy.

I can recommend taking a look at http://www.logonscriptreplacement.com where you can find a desktop management solution called desktop authority.

With special technology called “validation logic” it can easily apply settings on profile level and all included items within the profile automatically.

In our company this way we not only map printers and drives but also configure outlook settings, deploy software, updates and patches.

By: How Group Policy is Like Pumkin Chuckin’… | Unit1

How Group Policy is Like Pumkin Chuckin’… | Unit1 — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:19:31 +0000

[...] Using group policy to map network drives. [...]

By: shadow

shadow — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:27:47 +0000

“Back in the day if you had to map a drive on several machines you did it via the Autoexec.bat or as a login script from your domain controller.”

This method still requires a logon script. in fact, it would require one script for each group you wanted, essentially making the same as the old method.

Or am I missing something entirely?

By: AnAdmin

AnAdmin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:04:22 +0000

Just what I was looking for

By: AskTheAdmin

AskTheAdmin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:52:13 +0000

Thanks for clearing that up for us! This is something I need to look into further.

By: Darren Mar-Elia

Darren Mar-Elia — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:42:39 +0000

Right. Group Policy Preferences is technology Microsoft acquired when it bought DesktopStandard. It used to be called PolicyMaker. It is a set of new Client Side Extensions that extend the things you can do with Group Policy. The CSEs are available on the MS download site and do support all versions of Windows after Win2K. You do not need Server 2008 running in your environment to use them, however, you do need at least one workstation running Vista, SP1 with the RSAT tools in order to configure GP Preferences settings, because only that newer version has the GP Editor version that contains the GP Preference options. In terms of what GP Preferences provide, the list is long. You can, as I've mentioned, easily map drives using it, without writing scripts. You can set power options for XP, do basic USB device restrictions, modify local account passwords, set group memberships, modify registry values without having to create custom ADMs, and the list goes on. If you go to download.microsoft.com and search on "Group Policy Preferences" there is a good overview document out there.

By: JahJah

JahJah — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:36:47 +0000

Although you don’t have to install any services to create GPOs (Group Policy Objects) that contain Group Policy Preferences, you must deploy the Group Policy Preferences client-side extension (CSE) to any client computer to which you want to deploy these preferences. The CSE will be available as a separate download from Microsoft and will support the following Windows versions:

* Windows XP with SP2
* Windows Vista
* Windows Server 2003 with SP1
* Windows Server 2008 already includes the CSE.

http://tinyurl.com/3pqj3x ">http://tinyurl.com/3pqj3x

It looks like it can work on 2003. What are the benefits?

By: JahJah

JahJah — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:36:47 +0000

By: NinjaAdmin

NinjaAdmin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:33:54 +0000

This is a new feature in Windows 2008 and does not work in earlier versions. Is anyone using 2008 yet?

By: AskTheAdmin

AskTheAdmin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:30:31 +0000

Care to tell us a little bit more about it Darren?

By: Darren Mar-Elia

Darren Mar-Elia — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:11:54 +0000

Mapping drives got a whole lot easier with the release of Group Policy Preferences. I would definitely recommend using that over logon scripts these days