Active Directories on home network

[Philgr]

On a home server what are the benefits of using active directories

I have 3 PC's in the house, one main, 2 Laptops and soon i will be adding a PC for the daughter

Thanks in advance

[GTwannabe]

You really don't need Active Directory at home; it's nice if you have different types of users and want to allow them to log on at any computer and have specific rights.

In a home environment, all you need to do is go around to each computer and create a new User for each family member's computer login and password. Then set the permissions on each user however you wish.

[Philgr]

I would like to be able to have a profile that moved with me around the machines that i am using though, example, internet fav's and passwords, that are the same on all machines

Is AD overkill to do this or is there a much easier way to achieve this ??

[GTwannabe]

I believe you can do this via the profile path option under the properties of each User. Set it to \\server\YourProfile and you should be OK.

You would have to manually configure roaming profiles in AD anyway, as it is turned off by default.

[Bryan]

AD also allows for the use of intellimirror to provide folder redirection so you won't have as much of a delay with large files for the profile.

AD makes administering a Domain far easier.

[AMDScooter]

AD also allows for the use of intellimirror to provide folder redirection so you won't have as much of a delay with large files for the profile.

AD makes administering a Domain far easier.

Ya, AD is pretty easy to configure for a single home domain. I'd recommend it.

[thenjduke]

It is easy and you will have to setup roaming profiles. It makes it easier to have one location to deal with users instead of 3 or more computers to run around too.

[Rutkus]

I have been actually interested in messing with AD at home as well. I know a search on google or msdn site may turn up some good stuff but does anyone know of any good documentation off the top of their heads on setup and administration?

[Philgr]

Thanks for the replies guys,

I think the general opinion is go for it.

I have had a quick bash, i think i have it set up ok, but more testing is required.

One problem i have is that any machine that i log off, it always defaults to the local machine instead of the domain, (dont think i have described that very well) so logging on can be a pain.

Also the username has to be in the following format - philgr@home.server

Any idea's

[GTwannabe]

Odd... it's supposed to default to your domain once the machine has been configured for a domain instead of a workgroup.

[LanMan_cw]

It will only default to the domain once you have logged into the domain using the standard Windows NT style login being username, password, domain_name. If you log into the system using the Win2K/XP way (user@domain.local), you shouldn't ever need to change between the workgroup and domain in the drop down list.

[Philgr]

It will only default to the domain once you have logged into the domain using the standard Windows NT style login being username, password, domain_name. If you log into the system using the Win2K/XP way (user@domain.local), you shouldn't ever need to change between the workgroup and domain in the drop down list.

Cheers LanMan_cw that works ,

i had been deleting the username to enter the domain

Off to have a play with it now, ill be back soon with more problems

Phil G

[Philgr]

Seem to have it working fine now - i think !

• Set-up all my shared drives from all the machines
• Mapped the printer
• Set-up Outlook to get its file from a shared directory on the server
• Set-up Mircosoft Money to do the same
• Set-up Media Player for all my music - all 500 albums
• Transferred all my doc's from the other individual machines accounts - did away with serveral duplicates and out of date files in the process
• Ported over all my internet favs into Firefox - Firefox is sooo much better than explorer, all the favs are held in a html file, instad of a seperate file for every bloddy fav website.

One problem that i do have which i have not got to the bottom of is when i set the wallpaper on one machine and then log on to another i get a blank background, i have tried to set it to look at the same file in a shared folder and its having non of it

Any ideas ??

Have i missed anything i should be doing or could be doing

Oh and thanx for the help chaps

[Bryan]

Is the wallpaper on a shared folder for the server?

[Philgr]

The wallpaper file is in the My Pictures folder of My Documents