Assigning a Home Directory

On a Windows NT Workstation computer, home directories are assigned in User Manager. On a Windows NT Server computer, home directories are assigned in User Manager for Domains. The home directory that is used depends on whether the user logs on to the workstation account or the domain account.

The home directory can be specified by a local path name, such as /USERS\BILL, or by a universal naming convention (UNC) name, such as \\MYSERVER\USERS\BILL. The UNC name is the better option for large networks, because the system administrator can more easily see where users' home directories are located.

By default, the home directory is the \USERS\DEFAULT directory that is created during installation of Windows NT. The most common way to assign a home directory is to specify it using the following syntax:

\USERS\accountname

– Or –

\USERS\groupname

where accountname is the username given to the account or where groupname is the name of a local or global group whose members all share the same home directory.

To assign a home directory

1. From the Administrative Tools group in Program Manager, double-click the User Manager or User Manager for Domains icon, depending on whether you are using a Windows NT Workstation computer or Windows NT Server computer.
2. Double-click the name of the user or group whose home directory you want to assign.

The User Properties dialog box appears.

3. Choose the Profile button to display the User Environment Profile dialog box.
4. Enter the full path specification of the home directory in the Local Path box of the Home Directory group box.

If you are specifying a remote home directory, specify a disk drive letter and provide the full path (not just the sharename) to the directory. For instance, if the home directory is \JEFFHO on share \\SERVER1\USERS, enter the path \\SERVER1\USERS\JEFFHO.

Note If you want the user to control access to the home directory, give the user Full Control permission for the directory. You will probably also give members of the Administrator or Domain Admins group Full Control permission and give all other users No Access or List permission only. For information on setting directory permissions, see Chapter 4, "File Manager," of the Windows NT System Guide.

If you specify a nonexistent directory when you define or modify a user account, Windows NT automatically creates the directory.

When a user logs on to a domain, Windows NT automatically tries to connect to the home directory defined in the user's domain account using the following rules.

• If the computer where the home directory resides is not available, the user's home directory on the local computer is used (if there is one).
• If the home directory specified does not exist or the user does not have a home directory, then the user is connected to the \USERS\DEFAULT directory of the computer that processes the logon.
• If the \USERS\DEFAULT directory does not exist, then the user is connected to the \USERS directory.

Note

Windows NT Server connects the user to the home directory specified in the domain user account only when the logon is from a Windows NT or Windows for Workgroups 3.11 client. LAN Manager 2.x clients can connect to the home directory by typing the following command at the command prompt:

net use <drive>: /home