Mapping drives with login scripts in Active Directory

[Farley2k]

I am having a tough time finding simple information about what I think is such a simple request.

I want to map several drive letters in login scripts for our users on a windows network (some 2k, and some XP user machines) with Active directory. Simple right? One would think that lots of people would want this. Actictive directory has a great place under the user properties for "profile" where you can put in a home directory but you have to write scripts for more than one mapping apparently. I want users not only to have their home drive mapped but also their departmental shares.

I came from a Netware environment where making these kind of mapping was a breeze! However MS seems to make it a huge deal.

This is the best example I could find on their web site

"// JScript.
var oNet, sUser, cInitial, startTime;
oNet = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Network");
// Get the user name. On Windows 98 and Windows ME, the use may not be logged
// on when the script starts running; keep checking every 1/2 a
// second until they are logged on
sUser = oNet.UserName;
startTime = new Date();
while (sUser == "")
{
var curTime = new Date();
if (curTime ? startTime > 30000) WScript.Quit();
WScript.Sleep(500);
sUser = oNet.UserName;
}
// Add a share for the "h" drive and the printer, based on the
// first letter of the user's name
cInitial = sUser.charAt(0).toUpperCase();
if (cInitial < "L")
{
oNet.MapNetworkDrive("h:", "\\\\server1\\users\\" + sUser);
oNet.AddWindowsPrinterConnection("\\\\printer1\\hp", "HP LaserJet 4");
}
else
{
oNet.MapNetworkDrive("h:", "\\\\server2\\users\\" + sUser);
oNet.AddWindowsPrinterConnection("\\\\printer2\\hp", "HP LaserJet 4");
}
' VBScript.
Option Explicit
Dim oNet, sUser, cInitial, startTime
' Helper object
Set oNet = CreateObject("WScript.Network")
' Get the user name. On Windows 9x, the use may not be logged
' on when the script starts running; keep checking every 1/2 a
' second until they are logged on.
sUser = oNet.UserName
startTime = Now
Do While sUser = ""
If DateDiff("s", startTime, Now) > 30 Then Wscript.Quit
Wscript.Sleep 500
sUser = oNet.UserName
Loop
' Add a share for the "h" drive and the printer, based on the
' first letter of the user's name
cInitial = UCase(Left(sUser, 1))
If (cInitial < "L") Then
oNet.MapNetworkDrive "h:", "\\server1\users\" & sUser
oNet.AddWindowsPrinterConnection "\\printer1\hp", "HP LaserJet 4"
Else
oNet.MapNetworkDrive "h:", "\\server2\users\" & sUser
oNet.AddWindowsPrinterConnection "\\printer2\hp", "HP LaserJet 4"
End If"




Come on! That is a huge pain in the butt plus it about requires a detailed knowledge of JScript! All I want is to map the stupid letter I to a network location!





Anyway does anyone know of a good resource for writing a script to do that? I am not opposed to software that helps me write a JScript if I have to but I the simplest solution is the best as far as I am concerned.


Thanks

 

[Saltin]

That script does a little bit more than just map drives for users, but if that's all you want, I'll give you something that will do it in a couple of lines.

net use u: \\fileserv\users\%username% /persistent:yes

Paste that into a new text file and rename it whatever.bat

What it does is maps a network drive U: to the name of the logged in user (%username%) on the server "fileserv" in the "users" folder (which should be shared out).

Actually creating those folders is a little more tricky if they don't exist. If you have a small userbase, just create the folders inside the parent folder "users"yourself, ensuring each child folder matches the users NT username.

Open up Active Directory and then create/modify the group policy object on the OU you want to apply the logon script to.
It's under User Configuration> Windows Settings> Scripts (logon/logoff) in the Group Policy MMC.

Once that is done, any user account inside the OU you linked the GPO to will have the logon script applied. Simple stuff.

 

[Farley2k]

Thank you.

It can be simple stuff, but lots of places seem to want to make it complicated. I am actually suprised this isn't a wizzard whe creating an object. I believe that most people will want to do a fairly small set of things (map drives, set logon times, etc.) so why not have a simple tool to do that?

Anyway thanks I will test this out on myself and see what happens!

 

[Saltin]

believe that most people will want to do a fairly small set of things (map drives, set logon times, etc.) so why not have a simple tool to do that?

Active Directory User's and Computers. You can do pretty much anything from there, in regard to policy, scripting, software publishing and user/computer account management.

If you are coming from an NDS background, you already have a head start learning Active Directory. Good luck!

 

[mobogasm]

Yeah login scripts are pretty simple specially if you're coming from a novell background. Should be pretty similar in nature for the most part.

 

[Kilrsat]

An example basic .bat file for mapping drives in a Win2k/9x mixed environment:

@echo off
echo Greetings, %username%

echo Synching time with Eyesee8...
NET TIME /SET \\server /yes

if not "%OS%"=="Windows_NT" goto :WIN9X

if exist H:\*.* NET USE H: /delete
echo Mapping H:\...
NET USE H: \\server\Data1 /persistent:no /yes
if exist M:\*.* NET USE M: /delete
echo Mapping M:\...
NET USE M: \\server\Data1\users\%username% /persistent:no /yes
if exist I:\*.* NET USE I: /delete
echo Mapping I:\...
NET USE I: \\server\Data2 /persistent:no /yes
if exist N:\*.* NET USE N: /delete
echo Mapping N:\...
NET USE N: \\server\Data1\website /persistent:no /yes
goto SCRIPT

:WIN9X
if exist %windir%putinenv.exe goto :NOCOPY
copy \\server\netlogon\putinenv.exe %windir%\*.*
:NOCOPY
%windir%\putinenv.exe L /L
\\servernetlogon\winset USERNAME=%username%

if exist H:\*.* NET USE H: /delete
echo Mapping H:\...
NET USE H: \\server\Data1$
if exist M:\*.* NET USE M: /delete
echo Mapping M:\...
NET USE M: \\server\%username%$
if exist I:\*.* NET USE I: /delete
echo Mapping I:\...
NET USE I: \\server\Data2
if exist N:\*.* NET USE N: /delete
echo Mapping N:\...
NET USE N: \\server\website$

 

[dbwillis]

I use a VB Script for my drives in AD.

2K and XP clients.


Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
WshNetwork.MapNetworkDrive "K:", "\\ERDHFDNAS002\ECCC_Info"

Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
WshNetwork.MapNetworkDrive "N:", "\\PL-PLIC-SRV1\OLForms"

Set WshNetwork = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")
WshNetwork.MapNetworkDrive "V:", "\\PL-PLIC-SRV1\Folio"

 

[Farley2k]

Ok, next question.

Where do you put the file? On the domain controller I put the .bat file in the winnt\sysvol\ directory and I also tried the winnt\sysvol\sysvol directory. In neither case did the script acutally run.

I need to play around more I am sure but I wondered where it need to be.

Thanks

 

[mikecel79]

You can put the batch files in your netlogon shares on your Domain Controller. Are you assigning the scripts through a policy? Or are you putting it in the logon script field under ADUC? If in the logon script field then you need to put them in the netlogon shares on your DCs.

 

[Farley2k]

I am thinking I want to make them part of a policy. It would be eaiser I think to manage different logins for departments if they were policies in the OU for the department.

 

[dbwillis]

I put my .VBS files in the Netlogon shared folder on the Domain Controller and specify them in Group Policy