Roaming Profiles in Mixed XP, Windows 7 ,Windows 8 Environment

[dubsdj]

I thought to share my initial discoveries when using roaming profiles in a hot seat XP, Windows 7, 8 enivironment.

I read somewhere that Microsoft said it cannot be done and windows 8 profiles would have to be seperated from the Windows 7.v2 ones... However I have been testing this and it works really well and makes use of the V2 profiles absolutely fine.

****EDIT

I AM WRONG, NO IT DOESN'T... I HAVE NOTICED SOME REALLY ODD BEHAVIOR INCLUDING, MISSING REDIRECTED BACKGROUNDS AND MENUS NOT POPPING UP JUST TO NAME A COUPLE..

SO YES THE PROFILES MUST BE SEPARATE AFTER ALL*

TO FIX THIS I HAVE CREATED A COMPUTER GROUP POLICY FOR THE WINDOWS 8 COMPUTERS WHICH POINTS TO AN ALTERNATIVE ROAMING PROFILE. THIS FIXES ALL THE PROBLEMS WITH USERS WINDOWS 7 PROFILES BEING MUDDLED UP WITH WINDOWS 8 PROFILES.

EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE THE SAME .V2 NAME, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME...

PS.. ALL EXISTING LOCAL PROFILES STORED ON THE WINDOWS 8 COMPUTERS MUST BE REMOVED BEFORE TRYING TO REDIRECT WINDOWS 8 PROFILES USING GROUP POLICY... IMPORTANT.....

THOUGHT I SHOULD EDIT MY POST WITH THIS NEWS

****** END OF EDIT

some problems that I have noticed.

PROBLEM 1

--------------------

start menu redirection gets broken completely. I had to redesign my way of doing this:

Solution

-------------

1stly.. create 3 OU's (Well had done this anyway but)

one OU called Windows 7 Workstations

one OU called Windows 8 Workstations

one OU called Windows XP workstations

created a windows XP policy (loopback enabled,) linked it to WindowsXP Workstations OU

created a windows 7 policy (loopback enabled, enforced) linked it to Windows 7 Workstations OU

created a windows 8 policy (loopback enabled , enforced) linked it to Windows 8 Workstations OU

The reason loopback is enabled is because XP user specific Policies with folder redirection causes all sorts of problems when applying to Windows 7 and Windows 8 PC's...

I created a folder with the shortcuts in it and put it in a readable area.

then made a batch file on computer startup gpo for both the Windows 7 and Windows 8 policy

The batch file looks like this:

@echo off

copy /y "\\mydomain.local\NETLOGON\Menus\Start-Menu-Shortcuts-Windows-7-8\*.*" "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\"

exit

now roaming users can log into either Windows 7 or 8 PC's and get icons in the start / apps menu without a problem. And they actually work when you click on them!

and because it's on the computer startup script it doesn't really interfere with anything and takes a fraction of a second to run...

PROBLEM 2

-------------------

restricted users are able to install apps... This could potentially be a headache but I haven't investigated it enough yet..

That's it for now but I will post any other discoveries that I make...

Edited November 8, 2012 by dubsdj