mapping drives per user

Hi,

I'm not quite sure how to do this, but....

I want to be able to map three drives 'L:/' 'M:/' and 'Z:/' on a Win XP Home machine to go to different places for a different user.

There are 5 users and I want it to go something like this:
John's Account:
Z:/ --> C:/Documents and Settings/John/My Documents/
M:/ --> D:/Video/John/
L:/ --> C:/Documents and Settings/John/My Documents but on a laptop via a network....

Ian's Account:
Z:/ --> C:/Documents and Settings/Ian/My Documents/
M:/ --> D:/Video/Ian/
L:/ --> C:/Documents and Settings/Ian/My Documents but on a laptop via a network....

etc, etc.

How would I go about setting this up like it?

thanks,
comp

hi comp!

just write a batch file (.bat or .cmd) for each user and add the link to their startup-folder.

the batch-file could look something like this:

map-ian.cmd

@echo off
subst z: "C:\Documents and Settings\Ian\My Documents"
subst m: "D:\Vide\Ian"

etc.

you can use
net use drive: \\computername\share

to mount a share to a drive.

hope this helps,
jameskirk

so I think this file would work:

map-ian.cmd


map-john.cmd


and so on...

then I just drag this file into the users startup folder?

also, how would I get it to set the nearest printer to be default?

so some computers would have a .cmd file in all users startup to remove one printer as default and set another....

thanks,
comp

nearly,

change


because the path is not local but on the network. (but you have to create a share "c" on laptop_ian.)

i am not sure, what you mean with connect to the nearest printer. are there more than one computer around?
if yes i just would set a specific default-printer on each computer (not user-dependent).

hope that help,
jameskirk

Basically, they are 6 printers in 5 departments (areas).

They are set like:
Marketing -> Lexmark Optra xxxxxx B&W Laser (Name: lexmark_marketing)
Sales -> Lexmark Optra xxxxxx B&W Laser (Name: lexmark_sales)
IT -> Lexmark Optra xxxxxx B&W Laser (Name: lexmark_it)
IT -> HP Deskjet 940c Colour Inkjet (Name: hp_it)
Administration -> Lexmark Optra xxxxxx B&W Laser (Name: lexmark_administration)
CEO Office -> HP Deskjet 940c Colour Inkjet (Name: hp_ceo)

We want all the PCs in Marketing to have lexmark_marketing set as default and hp_it as a normal printer.
The CEOs PC and laptop have hp_ceo set as default, etc.

So how would I control which one is default and add/remove others from a .cmd?

Hope you understand,
comp

PS: About sharing 'c', well, I have the 'My Documents' or 'Documents and Settings' folders shared (depending on system OS).

*bump*

and also, is there a way to remove xxxx's documents from the My Computer folder after you have applied SP1?

I am also looking for a 802.11b adapter thing which I can plug a wire from my ethernet port in my PC into to give it w/less capabilities. It has to be available in the UK and under £50...

hi comp,

ok..
to be honest: i don't know a way (and also do not think there is a way) to set the default printer by command line. maybe this can be done by some windows API-calls.

but as i told you before, i would just setup a default printer for each computer in each area (i.e. setup the default printer to "lexmark_marketing" on all computers in marketing and setup the default printer to "lexmark_sales" on all compter in the sales-area.).
this has to be done just once on each computer. i don't think there is no other "easy" solution.

xxxx's documents in the "my computer"-folder? what do you mean with that?

i also would not buy a 802.11b "adapter-thing". instead i would look for USB-wireless adapter which surely can be bought for under £50.

greetz,
jameskirk

p.s. maybe my english is not could enough for answering all your questions, so sorry for reasking what you mean with "this or that"...

okay, I can sort out the printers, but about the xxxx's Documents folders....

Once you have applied SP1 to Win XP Home, then a link to everyones documents appears in My Computer.
(see screenshot).

What I want to know is if I can easily remove these, however they don't seem to be normal shortcuts...
I will then map Z:/ to be the users local documents and M:/ to the network documents, using the .cmd files shown above.

Re: Wireless card...
From your advice, I will probably purchase this (retails @ £34.98). It just means opening up a few boxes rather than taking advantage of existing NICs.

Thanks,
comp

(screenshot is of my computer at home right now)

PS: these pcs only have one front USB port, so a usb adaptor will not work very well.

shortcuts: i am sorry, i can't help you with this problem.. cause i only use windows xp - pro and with this one you can't even access the folders of any other user.

wireless: ok.. actually the adapter look fine, but i think it is much less work if you buy usb-adapters and - if you really need more usb-devices - a usb-hub than screwing up each computer and installing the wireless-nics.
but on the other hand i also prefer pci-cards than usb-devices.

greetz,
jameskirk

is this any good for printer mapping?



using the con2prt program??

ne1?