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any way to centralize desktop/favorites/documents?

D

DarkManX

Diamond Member
Im going to have 2-3 desktops throughout house and a laptop, is there any way I can have like a client/server setup where all my favorites/documents/desktop items be the same on any computer that I log on to? I also wondered about how to accomplish this because I have never seen it done at any of the companies I?ve worked for or even schools. I know you can do drive mapping, but I am not very familiar with windows networking environments. Any input would be appreciated.
 
Well with Linux all you would have to do is have your home directory be a network share. Then all your preferences and users files and bookmarks and such would be accessable on all your computers identically.

With stuff that I have that aren't always connected to a network I've used rsync to sycnronize the desktops of my laptop and desktop. That may work with Windows as far as directories and files are concerned, but isn't going to do anything with the registry and such.

If you have a windows server with a domain and such you can do roaming profiles. That is probably the most complete solution for Windows. http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=383856&rl=1
 
this seems easier with linux, to bad i want to stick with windows. roaming profiles may not be the best solution for me, is there any applications that will sync desktops/documents/favorites?
 
You don't have to use roaming profiles. You can redirect just those folders using group policies, but you have to be on a domain. I'm not sure if a Samba PDC would have those policies or not.
 
Well, I only suggested Samba because to set up a Windows domain, you have to shell out $600 for Windows Server, and most people aren't willing to just throw down $600 to play around at home.

Yes, you can redirect the desktop folder, however, at work we redirect the Favorites and My Documents. Sometimes it's nice to have the desktop local, for when working on files that could be cumbersome over a slower (than local) network connection.
 
On Vista at least (I can't remember if this applies to XP) you don't need to be in a domain to redirect folders in your profile. Vista also allows you to redirect more folders of the profile than XP.

You can redirect the desktop folder in both Vista and XP.

Without a domain, you would need to manually config each computer to redirect each folder in your profile to the common share. I do this in Vista today to redirect my Documents folder to one of my servers at home. Both my laptop and a desktop redirect that folder to the same location, and the laptop is configured to use offline files so that I have access to that data when I'm away from home.

This allows me to have a common centralized data store and access that data when I'm at the office or traveling.
 
Originally posted by: stash
On Vista at least (I can't remember if this applies to XP) you don't need to be in a domain to redirect folders in your profile. Vista also allows you to redirect more folders of the profile than XP.

You can redirect the desktop folder in both Vista and XP.

Without a domain, you would need to manually config each computer to redirect each folder in your profile to the common share. I do this in Vista today to redirect my Documents folder to one of my servers at home. Both my laptop and a desktop redirect that folder to the same location, and the laptop is configured to use offline files so that I have access to that data when I'm away from home.

This allows me to have a common centralized data store and access that data when I'm at the office or traveling.
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, yeah, you can redirect folders in XP without a domain, but you have to edit the registry by hand. There are no local policies on it.
 
Originally posted by: Brazen
Originally posted by: stash
On Vista at least (I can't remember if this applies to XP) you don't need to be in a domain to redirect folders in your profile. Vista also allows you to redirect more folders of the profile than XP.

You can redirect the desktop folder in both Vista and XP.

Without a domain, you would need to manually config each computer to redirect each folder in your profile to the common share. I do this in Vista today to redirect my Documents folder to one of my servers at home. Both my laptop and a desktop redirect that folder to the same location, and the laptop is configured to use offline files so that I have access to that data when I'm away from home.

This allows me to have a common centralized data store and access that data when I'm at the office or traveling.
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, yeah, you can redirect folders in XP without a domain, but you have to edit the registry by hand. There are no local policies on it.
Click to expand...


would it slow down the computer if i have the desktop folder sittin on a server in my basement?
 
Originally posted by: DarkManX
Originally posted by: Brazen
Originally posted by: stash
On Vista at least (I can't remember if this applies to XP) you don't need to be in a domain to redirect folders in your profile. Vista also allows you to redirect more folders of the profile than XP.

You can redirect the desktop folder in both Vista and XP.

Without a domain, you would need to manually config each computer to redirect each folder in your profile to the common share. I do this in Vista today to redirect my Documents folder to one of my servers at home. Both my laptop and a desktop redirect that folder to the same location, and the laptop is configured to use offline files so that I have access to that data when I'm away from home.

This allows me to have a common centralized data store and access that data when I'm at the office or traveling.
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, yeah, you can redirect folders in XP without a domain, but you have to edit the registry by hand. There are no local policies on it.
Click to expand...


would it slow down the computer if i have the desktop folder sittin on a server in my basement?
Click to expand...

It won't slow down the computer as a whole. It will just slow down any time you access files on your desktop (it will probably also take longer to log in).

Like I said, I like to redirect Favorites and a My Documents, and that's it. That way if you want to work on a file locally, you just put on your desktop. Generally, though, I don't put anything on my desktop. Keeps it clean that way, and I can access all my files on the file server.
 
Question:

If I change the group policy to redirect, will it automatically copy the current contents to the new location? Or I need to do some login script voodoo to take care of that?
 
Originally posted by: Brazen
You don't have to use roaming profiles. You can redirect just those folders using group policies, but you have to be on a domain. I'm not sure if a Samba PDC would have those policies or not.
Click to expand...

 
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