Group Policy

[netadmin06]

Hello to all, is there a way to use Group Policy in a Windows 2003 Domain to automatically create a shortcut to a network share on users' desktops?

 

[sutors]

No.
Alternative way: create the shortcut manually, then copy this shortcut file onto a network share.
Create a logon script that copies this file onto user's desktop at logon. You can then deploy that logon script via group policy.

 

[netadmin06]

Thanks!

 

[Dublin73]

here's a script that will do it for you...

Const OverwriteExisting = TRUE

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
objFSO.CopyFile "\\servername\sharename\shortcutfilename" , "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\", OverwriteExisting

paste this into notepad and save the file with a .vbs extension instead of .txt

From there within your GPO set it as a user logon script or a computer startup script. Either way should work

 

[netadmin06]

Dublin73 :

\\servername\sharename\shortcutfilename" I am cofused with the shortcutfilename part....do u mean inside the share i should create a shortcut ??why cant it be just \\servername\sharename\"???....

 

[Dublin73]

\\servername\sharename\ <this is a location on your network where you copy the file that you want copied to your users' desktop. This isn't the share that you are pointing them to with the shortcut.

let's say that you want to copy a shortcut to your users' desktops that's called AccountingDepartment, where AccountingDepartment is the name of a share on your network. Your script would read as follows...

Const OverwriteExisting = TRUE

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
objFSO.CopyFile "\\servername\sharename\AccountingDepartment.lnk" , "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\", OverwriteExisting

AccountingDepartment.lnk is the shortcut file that will get copied to everyone's desktop. hope that helps

 

[netadmin06]

Dublin73 i created a security group called "sales group" and added the users that I want to it . I then created an OU called "Sales" and made the "sales group" members of that OU by drag and dropping the "sales group" into the Sales OU". I then right clicked on the sales OU went to properties and created a new group policy with the logon setting to use the script that i created, I made user that the scrip is in fact where it suppose to be because i clicked on "show files" and I do see the script file there.. but when a user that belongs to the sales group logs in he does not get the shortcut"-(..do you know what could be the problem??...

if i add the code to the current mydomain.com script (top level) it does work with no problems but it adds the shortcut to every user in the domain, I only want the sales group to receive the shortcut

 

[sutors]

netadmin06, group policies apply based on the location of user/computer accounts and not by where the group is located.

leave your group policy at top level (or at the level where your users are located) and use security filtering to apply this policy only to Sales Group.

Lukasz

 

[netadmin06]

Thaks sutors! works great