Add a home folder to a profile

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To add a home folder to a profile

  1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers.

  2. In the details section, right-click the applicable user account, and then click Properties.

    Where?

    • Active Directory Users and Computers/applicable domain/applicable container (such as Users)/applicable user account

  3. Click the Profile tab.

  4. In Home Folder, type the directory folder path information.

Notes

  • To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Account Operators group, Domain Admins group, or the Enterprise Admins group in Active Directory, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure. For more information, see Default local groups, Default groups, and Using Run as.

  • To open Active Directory Users and Computers, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Active Directory Users and Computers.

  • The Windows Server 2003 family includes a folder called My Documents, which offers an alternative to home folders, but does not replace them. All users have a My Documents folder in their user profile.

  • To provide better security, user profiles and home folders should be created on an NTFS volume.

  • Users can change the target folder location of their My Documents folders by clicking Start, right-clicking My Documents, clicking Properties, and then specifying a new location in Target. This capability can be enabled or disabled by the system administrator.

  • You can use Group Policy to change the target folder location of any user's My Documents folder, disable a user's ability to change the target folder location, remove the My Documents icon from the desktop, and choose whether programs use My Documents or a different folder as the default location for opening and saving files.

  • If you do not assign a home folder, the system uses the local user profile folder as the home folder (by default, systemdrive\Documents and Settings\UserName). The home directory can use the same location as the My Documents folder.

  • When you use Terminal Services on computers running Windows Server 2003 operating systems, the user profile is the default home directory.

  • When creating the user's home folder, the folder corresponding to the user's account name is immediately created if it does not exist. This is in contrast to roaming user profiles, where the profile folder for the user is created after the user logs on.

Information about functional differences

  • Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings. For more information, see Viewing Help on the Web.

See Also

Concepts

Managing files for local user accounts
Assign a home folder to a local user account
Working with MMC console files
Create a roaming user profile