Windows 7: setting up a server for school help (windows server 2008)

I'm quite sure your instructor/teacher did not intend for anybody but you to do the final project for the year and nobody else.

- How do i give all users access to programs?

- Each student needs to have access to her own drive through the server not locally.

I'm not going to give you exact directions because I feel it is for you to find out and research yourself as a final project.

This is done with group policy normally however depends on the application. Group policy is limited to the deployment of .MSI installers only. Only enterprise or open sourced software maybe deployed in a domain, any use of home license software will break the license agreement and will not allow deployment. When deploying via group policy you need to create a share that all users may access (Read only) so that upon startup of the machine it can automatically install software.

Attachment 288022

You need to first create a share that all users can access (everyone) and have (full control) so they can have full control over their files. After that in group policy change the folder redirection to the UNC path of the share (make sure when setting up the folder redirection you use the %USERNAME% variable so that the username is used as a folder.

Attachment 288023

Lastly, you may want to map the share for the users which can also be done by group policy so that upon log on they can have access to their area.

Josh

Assuming the domain and users are set up accordingly. To deploy software via group policy you will first need to create a security user group within Active Directory Users and Computers and name it something similar to the application you wish to deploy. Once done, assign assign the computers that you wish to have access to that application to the group.

Attachment 288752

You will need to ensure that the object type includes 'Computers' to be able to add computers as members to the group

Attachment 288753

Next thing is to open Group Policy Management and create a new policy under your domain that will be used just for the deployment of a particular piece of software.

Attachment 288757

Once done right click and edit the policy, navigate to Computer Configuration\Policies\Software Settings\Software Installation. Once there, right click and then click on New>Package. From here then click on the .msi package that you wish to deploy to machines.

A window should pop up, click on Assigned to force the deployment to domain computers.

Now just change the security filter to apply only to the group you created in active directory (To apply to computers listed)

Attachment 288758

Over time the application should be deployed to the machines that are joined to the group made in active directory.

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The next job for user files is to create a share that has the permissions shown in the screenshot below so that users can have full control of their files.

Attachment 288761

Then go to group policy and create a new policy called folder redirection.

Edit it and navigate to User Configuration\Policies\Windows Settings\Folder Redirection

Once there simply right click on the folder you wish to move to a remote location and click on properties

Then just change the setting to Basic and change the root path to the UNC SHARE!!! Make sure it is the same share as the one you created. The image below should help to clarify

Attachment 288763

Rinse and repeat on other user folders you wish to have stored on the server.

Now create a new group policy object and name it something like 'Map Drive'. Click edit and navigate to the following:

User Configuration\Preferences\Windows Settings\Drive Maps

Once located, just right click and select 'New>Mapped Drive'

From here change the action to Create and the location to the same path as your share but add on '\%USERNAME%' at the end of it.

An example of mine is below:

Attachment 288765

The last '%' was cut off since it went over at the end.

Apply and OK and then you should have a mapped drive and redirected folders to that share on the server for all users in the domain.

Hope This Helps,
Josh :)

To redirect a users documents folder to a shared folder you would set it as the root path.

The UNC share is the share name made when you shared the folder. For example if I am on a machine called 'Josh-PC' and shared a folder on my desktop called 'test' then the UNC path will be:

\\Josh-PC\test

The algorithm is:

\\computer-name\share

The map drive location is just the same as the share used for folder redirection with a slight adjustment:

to keep with my previous example:

\\Josh-PC\test\%USERNAME%

That is all you would put for the mapped drive location. If you still need help I'll see what I can do...

Josh