Planning for Machine Directories

For a shared installation on each computer that starts from a floppy disk or a remote-boot disk image, the machine directory is a required network directory that contains the particular files required for that specific configuration. The machine directory contains WIN.COM, the full Registry, and startup configuration files such as SYSTEM.INI.

Both Windows 95 Setup and Server-based Setup can create machine directories automatically, as described in "Task 2: Creating Machine Directories" later in this chapter. For shared installations for floppy disk-based and remote-boot workstations, you need to run Windows 95 Setup only once for each type of computer configuration. Then you can use Server-based Setup to create machine directories for other computers. You can replicate the startup disks (or boot images) for other computers of the same type.

For computers that start from the hard disk, machine directories are optional; however, you must run Windows 95 Setup on each computer that has a hard disk, even if the computer will use a machine directory on the network.

The machine directory is for computer-specific settings. This is different from the individual user directories on Windows NT networks or the individual Mail directories on NetWare networks, which contain user-specific files such as login scripts or user profiles for individual users. Using machine directories offers several benefits:

Computer-specific settings are saved in a central location, rather than with user-specific settings. So the correct configuration is available for the particular computer, no matter which user logs on.
A single boot image on the network (or single version of the floppy startup disk) can be used to start several computers.
The administrator can easily create and replicate shared Windows 95 installations for new computers from a central location, often without having to run Windows 95 Setup repeatedly.

Windows 95 files for a shared installation are stored in the locations described in the following table.

File location	Description
Startup disk	Contains the real-mode software necessary to start the computer and connect to the shared Windows directory, including the mini Registry used to start the computer. The startup disk for a shared installation can be a local hard disk, a floppy disk, or a remote-boot disk image stored on a server.
Machine directory	Contains files specific to a particular computer (not a particular user), including the full Registry. This also includes the default USER.DAT file, which is updated with the user's personal USER.DAT if user profiles are enabled on the network. The machine directory can exist on any shared network resource. Machine directories must exist on the network for computers that start from a floppy disk or for remote-boot workstations, and are created locally by default for shared installations on computers that have hard disks.
Shared Windows 95 directory on a server	Contains all the shared Windows 95 files. This directory is marked read-only automatically during installation of the source files.