Implementing Mandatory Profiles

The procedure for implementing mandatory user profiles is similar to the procedure for implementing RUP described earlier in the tutorial, with the following differences:

• Instead of assigning the Authenticated Users built-in group Full Control permission of the Profiles folder on the profile server, assign this group Read permission and the Administrators group Full Control instead.
• Follow the steps in the section titled "Creating a Default Network Profile" earlier in this tutorial, but instead of copying the domain user profile that you configured to \\domain_controller\NETLOGON\Default User.v2, copy the profile to \\profile_server \Profiles\Mandatory.v2.
• Browse to locate the super-hidden \\profile_server\Profiles\Mandatory.v2\Ntuser.dat file and change its name to Ntuser.man. (Super-hidden files have the hidden and system attributes set.)
• Follow the steps in the section titled "Configuring a User Account to Use a Roaming Profile" earlier in this tutorial, but instead of typing \\profile_server\Profiles \%username% in the Profile Path text box, type \\profile_server\Profiles\Mandatory.

Any user who now logs on with this mandatory user profile will be able to configure the desktop environment while logged on to the network, but when the user logs off, any changes made to the environment will not be saved.

Warning Do not add .v2 to the profile path of the user object in Active Directory Users And Computers. Doing so may prevent Windows Vista and later versions from locating the roaming or mandatory profile. You should apply the .v2 suffix only to the name of the user folder on the central file server.

Warning It is acceptable to use the existing server and file share where you store your current roaming user profiles. If you do so, however, each user will have two roaming profile folders: one for Windows Vista and later versions and one for Windows XP. The added folder also means additional storage requirements for the server. Ensure that the server hosting the share has adequate free disk space, and adjust any disk-quota policies accordingly.