setting up home network with roaming profiles, need win server, or just xp pro?

[tart666]

i have been getting requests from the GF to get her 3 pc's to sync with each other. AFAIK, this means desktop settings, login passwords, email settings, favorites, and "my documents". I know this is possible with a win server, but that would mean a dedicated domain controller machine.

Is there an easy way to sync all of those things without a dedicated domain?

PS: one of the PC's is a laptop, so the document sync'ing would have to be done via a "briefcase" type setup, with the possibility of working off-line

 

[scottws]

Well, you could set up a shared folder on a PC designated as the server, and then she could store and access the documents she needs from there from any of the PCs.

Oh, and in a domain the items don't really sync. It's just a roaming profile that is stored on a server machine and points to a single profile location on some server. It's not like all the machines you use contain the items and sync up over the domain.

 

[tart666]

k, so, you are saying having a domain wouldn't really help setting up roaming profiles, so might as well just use folder sharing?

I was under the impression the domain setup had some functionality built-in to cache the profile information on the client, for the times when a laptop is not connected o the domain. Can the same be done with just folder sharing?

 

[scottws]

Originally posted by: tart666
k, so, you are saying having a domain wouldn't really help setting up roaming profiles, so might as well just use folder sharing?

No, that's not what I am saying. A domain is how you get the roaming profiles. You seemed to believe that with a domain, the files stored on various computers were synced together. That is not true. With a domain you have a roaming profile, and your profile and files are stored in a central location. The domain essentially allows you to take your profile and files to multiple computers without hassle (as well as provides a centralized point of management). You log onto the domain from any computer, and your settings are pulled over and the computer knows where your files reside. This is a very simplistic explaination, but I don't want to delve any deeper.

I was under the impression the domain setup had some functionality built-in to cache the profile information on the client, for the times when a laptop is not connected o the domain. Can the same be done with just folder sharing?

That is correct. Your profile will be cached. You can enable offline files so that when the laptop is going to be away, it pulls the files over to the local computer and then when it is reconnected to the domain, it will refresh the main version of the file. This has to be enabled server-side and client-side.

The same thing can be done in workgroup mode on shared files.

 

[tart666]

hokay, thanks a lot, i will start looking into it.