Home Folder Shows As “Documents” Instead of Folder Name

We have a rather complex setup for sharing out user documents on our domain, this has thrown up a problem whereby the users Home Folder shows as “Documents” instead of folder name.

We have a heady mix of;

  • Mandatory User Profiles
  • Drive Mapped to User Home Directory
  • Folder Redirection for Documents

In Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) we have the profile path pointing to a mandatory profile on;

\\SERVER\SHARE\PROFILES\USERGROUP

(we have multiple mandatory profiles for different user groups)

Also we have the Home Folder set to connect an F: drive to;

\\SERVER\SHARE\SURNAME_INITIAL\USERNAME

(we split our users by Surname Initial to make it easier to manage)

ADUC User Properties

ADUC User Properties

Then through Group Policy we redirect the Documents folder to the Users Home Directory as defined in ADUC.

Group Policy Manager

Group Policy Manager

All was fine until we migrated all our users over to Windows 7.

This was when the problem of users Home Folder shows as “Documents” instead of folder name came about.

In Everyday use this is not a massive issue but it was slightly annoying. Especially if you need to find a users file quickly.

User Share

User Share

I searched around and found a few pointers;

  • Make desktop.ini file read only
  • Re-Direct the documents folder to a sub-folder
  • Programatically edit the desktop.ini file for all users

None of these fit with my situation, there was however a mention here on Edugeek of using File Server Resource Manager.

Here are the steps I followed;

In “File Server Resource Manager”

In “File Screening Management”

Under “File Screens”

Create a new File Screen for the physical drive on the file server where the user shares reside – in our case K:\

I created a new “File Group” in this case to block only desktop.ini files.

File Server Resource Manager

File Server Resource Manager

This then meant that no users can create new desktop.ini files.

However the old files were still there so to delete these files I turned to Powershell.

I prefer to use Windows Powershell ISE.

I used the get-childitem cmdlet to firstly list all the desktop.ini files.

get-childitem \\SERVER\SHARE\SURNAME_INITIAL\USERNAME -filter desktop.ini -force

The -filter option will display only the desktop.ini files

The -force option will display hidden files (I did wonder why I got no results initially!)

This should list all occurences of desktop.ini files.

I then piped the results into the remove-item cmdlet

get-childitem \\SERVER\SHARE\SURNAME_INITIAL\USERNAME -filter desktop.ini -force | foreach ($_) {remove-item $_.fullname -force -whatif}

Here the -force option will delete hidden and system files.

The -whatif option is very handy and just runs a “test” of the script and gives you an idea of what will happen.

Finally remove the -whatif and delete all desktop.ini files.

get-childitem \\SERVER\SHARE\SURNAME_INITIAL\USERNAME -filter desktop.ini -force | foreach ($_) {remove-item $_.fullname -force}

I then tested the setup by logging on as a user and the problem was resolved.

All is good in the hood!

 

 

 

All OUs in this domain should be protected from accidental deletion

Best Practice Analyzer on one of our Domain Controllers was reporting; “All OUs in this domain should be protected from accidental deletion.”

Using Active Directory Administrative Center right click and OU and select properties, on the Object Tab is a checkbox “Protect from accidental deletion”

Protect From Accidental Deletion

Protect From Accidental Deletion

You could also use Active Directory Users and Computers you can right click and OU and select properties, on the Object Tab is a checkbox “Protect object from accidental deletion”

However if like me your AD is complex with lots of OU’s you may want to do this a little bit quicker.

Enter Powershell!

Using “Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell”

First check which OUs aren’t protected:

Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -filter * -Properties ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion | where {$_.ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion -eq $false} | ft

Then to protect them:
Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -filter * -Properties ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion | where {$_.ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion -eq $false} | Set-ADOrganizationalUnit -ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion $true

Then rerun the first command to verify the change has been made, you should get no results.

You could then double check using Active Directory Administrative Center  or ADUC.

Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) on HTC Radar – Part 2

In November last year I posted a review of Windows Phone 7.5 on my new HTC Radar….Previous Blog Post

I have now been using it for a few months and have to say….

IT IS EXCELLENT!

Why? Continue Reading

Exchange Transport Rule Corrupting Mail

A really interesting thing was happening to some of our clients e-mails which we eventually discovered was relating to Exchange Transport Rules.

Here is the mail flow through our setup.


Internet

\/

Sophos ES1100

\/

Exchange 2010

\/

Exchange 2007

\/

Client


The reason for both Exchange servers is that we are currently in the process of migrating from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010.

In particular circumstances email was coming through containing what can only be described as “oriental” characters, see below…..

tml> 格ead> 猼tyle㰾!– .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { font-size: 10pt; font-family:Tahoma } –>⼼style> ⼼head> 㰊body class=’hmmessage’㰾div dir=’ltr’> 昼ont face=”Tahoma” size=”2″>,⼼font㰾div style=”font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; “㰾br㰾/div㰾div style=”font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; “>

Upon further investigation and an attempt to replicate the issue it was found to occur through some e-mail clients when sent from mobile devices.

Our first instinct was to investigate any possible problems with the Sophos Email Appliance.

However upon doing further searches on the internet there was a suggestion that certain Exchange Transport Rules could be the cause of this issue.

As we were in the process of migrating from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 the existing Transport rule from our 2007 Hub Transport server had  copied over to the 2010 Hub Transport server.

The transport rule in question simply applied an HTML disclaimer to all e-mail both internal and external.

We disabled this rule and the problem disappeared (at least we were unable to replicate it).

Upon further research we found that we could enable the Transport rule to add a disclaimer to mail going external only.

It would appear that the process of Exchange Transport Rules re-writing certain HTML type e-mails  would cause the corruption of e-mail as illustrated above.

Installing Exchange 2010 SP2

This morning I have installed Exchange 2010 SP2.

I must say it was (as expected) a very straightforward process.

The setup wizard passed most pre-requisites first time.

The only pre-requisite which failed was the UM Language Packs.

As I work in the UK I had the en-GB language pack installed.

This was easily done using command prompt in the
<EXCHANGE SERVER INSTALL POINT>\bin directory

I ran;

Setup.com /RemoveUmLanguagePack:en-GB

Then continue with the install.

Once completed re-install the language packs, the desired language pack can be found here;
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=231660

Download the correct one and run it and you will have your desired UM language pack installed.

The only other issue I came across was the
“You must close all dialogue boxes before you can close Exchange Management Console” problem.

A quick google pointed me here;

http://smtp25.blogspot.com/2011/07/you-must-close-all-dialog-boxes-before.html

This seems to indicate some problem with IE9.

I added https://localhost  to trusted sites in IE9 and all worked fine.

So as said the install was all good and was straightforward.

 

Are Tablets The Future Of Education?

Working in education is always a balancing act between budget restrictions and the use of the latest technologies.
Does the future of education lie in the use of “Tablets”?

Will every student have access to their own personal mobile device? Continue Reading

Disjoint Namespace – Netbios Domain Differs from DNS Domain Name

I administer a Windows 2008 R2 Active Directory Domain.

All was good, all worked OK.

Came to install Exchange 2010 and found the missing “Document” functionality (but I don’t like to talk about this!).

Made a decision to implement UAG 2010 with SSO for OWA along side File Access and access to Remote Apps (RDS).

Followed recommended guides for setting up UAG with SSO but was always prompted for Username and Password when accessing OWA.

Continue Reading

Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) on HTC Radar

I have been using (very happily!) an HTC Desire running Android 2.2 (Froyo) for a couple of years now.

I have been contemplating new phones for a few months and have finally taken the plunge and aquired an HTC Radar running Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango). Continue Reading

Additional Steps for Exchange 2010 Migration

After evaluation of the new features of Exchange 2010 the decision to implement it was taken.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 introduces the Exchange Server Deployment Assistant or ExDeploy, a new Web-based tool that can help you with your Exchange deployment. ExDeploy asks you a few questions about your current environment and then generates a custom checklist and procedures that help simplify your deployment.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exdeploy2010/default.aspx#Home

DO NOT FORGET (as I did!)

Install Exchange SP1

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/04/07/3409710.aspx

Because I also neglected to tick the Install pre-requisites check box I also came acrosss the following aditional steps I needed to carry out……

Continue Reading

Asus EeePad Transformer TF101 Tablet PC Review

 I have just taken delivery of my new Asus Transformer – the name is cool btw!
Thought I would test out the keyboard docking module by writing a quick blog review of the Tablet.

First Impressions.

Upon opening the packaging you can’t help but notice how well made the tablet is.
The bronze finish is very nice.
As an Ipad owner also I could not fail to compare the 2 devices.
The Transformer is more shiny on the screen area and this does admittedly make it a bit harder to view and you do indeed find yourself angling the screen for the best position.

Continue Reading