Automating network printer and mapped drives

[webwired]

Hi, first of all I am in no means a network administrator, I am a .net developer and was told that I am now going to manage the servers and all that goes with them... So with that said, I am hoping someone can help me out.

I have to set up a certain set of mapped drives and network printers on all of the workstations... there's like 25 of them... I know there is a way to create a batch file or something to automatically create those mapped network drives and network printers, but I'm not sure how to start... I'm running SBS 2003 Standard with all XP Pro workstations...

[KEATON!]

You can map the shares using a LOGON.BAT once it is added to the Group Policy. I do the same. If you try and map a drive that is already mapped it won't map it can lead to confusion if the old map was to someplace other than where you wanted it. But with the SBS logon script it will automatically install any printer which is shared from server each time they logon.Hope it helps you.

[webwired]

Thanks for the help KEATON! but can you please tell me the content of that bat file you talking? I have no idea about the same.

Thanks again.

[KEATON!]

Alrite, I’m mentioning the script below but depending on my server situation which is SBS 2003 and the fileis located at \\sbs2003\NETLOGON. Just remember to change the server name and location in your script.

@ECHO OFF
echo Hello %USERNAME%, welcome to the network!
echo By accessing this system you agree to all rules set forth by thecompany.
echo You are accessing the network from computer %COMPUTERNAME%
echo And you are running the %OS% os.
echo Please wait, authenticating %USERNAME% with DOMAIN

REM SBS Setup Script (Installed By SBS)
\\SBS2003\Clients\Setup\setup.exe /s SBS2003

REM Flush DNS (Not Needed but sometimes good in new installations)
ipconfig /flushdns

REM Force Time Set (Not really required but sometimes good in new installations)
net time \\SBS2003 /set /yes

REM (Drive Mappings Below)

net use p: /del /yes
if not exist p:\nul net use p: "\\SBS2003\Users\%username%"

net use u: /del /yes
if not exist u:\nul net use u: \\SBS2003\Users

net use w: /del /yes
if not exist w:\nul net use w: \\SBS2003\CompanyFiles

net use x: /del /yes
if not exist x:\nul net use x: \\SBS2003\ClientApps

net use y: /del /yes
if not exist y:\nul net use y: \\SBS2003\Accounting

net use z: /del /yes
if not exist z:\nul net use z: \\SBS2003\TempWork

Let me know if you need any more help.

[webwired]

The problem is that I didn't set anything up on the server... it's all been done since 2003 when they first got it... I'm not really sure how they set up the groups and policies... Like when I added myself to the server, I just went into the Active Directory I think it was called, copied a profile of a person that used to be there as an administrator and put in my info... it was pretty easy...

I was just thinking about a script file or batch file that I could run once on the workstations to set up all of the mapped drives and network printers... I'll do some googling about how to go about creating a batch file... to put in the sample code that you have provided, modifying it of course to match my own needs...

[Loeb]

Well, I think there is a book which can help you lot in this. You should get the same for sure. It is:

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Administrator's Companion (Pro-Administrator's Companion) (Hardcover): http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Busi...1290449&sr=8-1

In addition Read this before making changes : http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...4/SBSITPRO.doc

[webwired]

Thank you for the book suggestions, I have been looking for a couple that could help me out...

Trust me, I did lobby for RackSpace to run and manage our Exchange server and new application server that I'll be developing on... but even though I showed a list of benefits for doing it that way and virtually none if we had it in house, they still wanted to keep it all in house...