Change where my Terminal Server identities are saved. ( ie. from C:documents and settings TO D:documents and settings )

Hi quickfixbryant,

im thinking you may want to introduce roaming profiles and use this policy

computer config\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\Set path for TS Roaming Profiles

or try changing the home path
Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\TS User Home Directory

Yes, I do this with most of my Terminal Server / Citrix Presentation Server deployments.

The following Microsoft article describes "How To Change the Default Location of User Profiles and Program Settings".
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322014/en-us

Wow, your support article looks perfect!  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322014/en-us

One question before I give it a try.  What does this part mean?

"The user SID method:
     a.  Use the Getsid tool from the Windows Server Resource Kit to obtain the SID. Use syntax that is similar to the following example:
                          getsid \\server1username \\server1username "

How do I access the 'Getsid tool.'  Thanks so much!  :)

-Bryant

Nevermind!  I found it.  I just Googled "windows 2003 resource kit" and the first link was to a microsoft site with a 'download here' prompt.  :)

I'm giving it a try now.  Thanks again for sharing your skills.

-Miz

... sorry.  I still can't find getsid.exe.  The server 2003 resource kit doesn't have it.  The windows xp resource kit does have it but it is not compatable with 2003.  2 more questions.

-Where can I download the 2003 version of getsid.exe

-Do I have to change the location of every single profile or can I just say something like this:
 
            getsid \\TS administrators \\TS administrators
            getsid \\TS users \\TS users
 
Thanks again!  

-Bryant

I've always skipped the GETSID part and just done a global search and replace on the following (in the order listed):

"C:\Documents"  ->  "D:\Documents"
"C:\Doc"  ->  "D:\Doc"
"%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Documents"  ->  "D:\Documents"
"%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Doc"  ->  "D:\Doc"

It's painful to do this using regedit, but it's simple using "Registry Search + Replace"  -  http://www.iserv.net/~sjhswdev/

Then you need to move the following using robocopy /copyall:

"C:\Documents and Settings\Default User"  ->  "D:\Documents and Settings\Default User"
"C:\Documents and Settings\All Users"  ->  "D:\Documents and Settings\All Users"

Then rename "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users"  -> "C:\Old Profiles"

All of this is best done from safe mode, or from an alternate boot environment such as BartPE (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder).

Once this is done, the next time a user logs on their profile will be created in a folder in "D:\Documents and Settings".

I'm having a phone meeting on Tuesday with a guy onsite with the server.  If you wouldn't mind, please review this and add or subtract or change my agenda:

{{from 'Safe-Mode'}}
FIRST:
-Copy and paste all current identities (tmcwane, sharris, tharding, epresley, gbush, etc.) from:  
         C:\Documents and Settings
to:
         D:\Documents and Settings

SECOND:
-Run 'regedit.exe'
-use search-and-replace to replace these registry files:
           "C:\Documents"  ->  "D:\Documents"
           "C:\Doc"  ->  "D:\Doc"
           "%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Documents"  ->  "D:\Documents"
           "%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Doc"  ->  "D:\Doc"

THIRD:
-Run 'robocopy /copyall'   ((is this a windows utility?  If not... where do I get it?))
            "C:\Documents and Settings\Default User"  ->  "D:\Documents and Settings\Default User"
            "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users"  ->  "D:\Documents and Settings\All Users"

How does this look?  What about 'administrator.'   Can I/ Should I copy that identity?

Thanks so much!  I'll finish this dialogue up after Tuesday.  It is very important that I don't screw this up... so I uped the points to 500.  Thanks guys!

-Bryant

First, I suggest you try doing this yourself before talking someone remote through it. It's easily tested in a virtual machine on a PC. VMware Server is free (http://www.vmware.com), as is microsoft virtual server.

FIRST:
You can't just copy & paste the profile folders, otherwise you lose the NTFS security settings. You could use robocopy /copyall though. Robocopy is part of the Windows Server 2003 resource kit.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-b18c4790cffd&DisplayLang=en
Also, I don't think that the system would use the copied profiles. I'm fairly sure that it will ignore the copied profiles & recreate them in a new directory in  D:\Documents and Settings. If the profiles aren't roaming profiles and you need to keep their contents, the best way to do this would be to first change them to roaming profiles (so that "C:\Documents and Settings" is just a cached copy of the roaming profile - the roaming profile folder can be on the same server), get the users to logon & logoff (so that their current profiles are copied to the profile share), then change the local profile path to  "D:\Documents and Settings" using the procedure here, then when the users logon next their roaming profile will be copied to " D:\Documents and Settings" and you can change them back to local profiles. Doing it this way, you don't have to manually copy the user profile directories.

SECOND:
Although you could do this with regedit, it would be painful. Regedit doent have a search and replace function, only a search function. I find it much easier to use "Registry Search + Replace"  -  http://www.iserv.net/~sjhswdev/ . You need to do the search & replace on keys and values.

THIRD:
Looks good.
To copy the administrator profile, you need to be logged in as a different user. Just handle Administrator as another user in step 1.

Thanks man... you rock!

I love your 'change to roaming profile and then back' solution.  

-How do I change a profile to roaming and then back to local?  

After I know this... I'm going to give it a try.  I appreciate your virtual server suggestion.

Thanks for all your help.

-Bryant

ps.  I had to move the date to help the onsite guy to next week.  I'll have to finish this up after that.

I didn't abandon it.  My grandmother died and my boss put me on other jobs.  I have yet to be able to try the solution.  I will give credit!!

Thanks for your patience Darwinian999.

-Bryant