User Profile Tip: Windows Explorer Favorites

Some of us are big on redirecting most folders to the server.

Some of us have learned the hard way to leave AppData and its contents alone on the local desktop. ;)

By default we redirect Desktop, My Documents/Documents, and Favorites.

We recently did a profile refresh using our Event ID 1511, 1515 Profile loss to TEMP method for one of our clients. Their profile had become hopelessly corrupted.

Now, to date we’ve not encountered too many folks that avidly use the Windows Explorer Favorites (pinning):

The above is a snip of my own Windows Explorer pins.

Okay, so we don’t redirect that folder and we’ve not really had to migrate those links before.

That begged the question: Where the chicken are they?!?

Our search foo both on the local machine, via AppData where we thought they should be, and via Internet turned up nothing but one clue: %UserProfile%\Links.

Bingo!

We copied the files from the UserProfile–OLD folder into their new UserProfile\Links folder and they were happy to have them back.

We’ve since added this step to our checklist and will pay a bit more attention to our client’s environments to see if we need to redirect %UserProfile%\Links to save on some time later on.

Philip Elder
Microsoft Cluster MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Looking Cloudy: Can't get in to any Microsoft property :(

My Microsoft ID is set to expire the password every 72 days.

Okay, so the warning came through that the password has expired. But, no matter what I try I can't seem to get anywhere to change it:

Something went wrong and we can't sign you in right now.

Please try again later.

Fortunately the data I'm after is located locally in my SkyDrive folder. But, changes made on other systems also connected to that folder will not happen until something gets straightened out and I am allowed to change the password!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen
Find out more at
www.thirdtier.net/enterprise-solutions-for-small-business/

Windows Live Writer

Windows 8: Share Desktop Backgrounds Across PCs/Laptops

We have a number of systems with one sign-on that is tied into our Microsoft ID (Live ID).

Besides the ability to keep our Metro UI experience relatively seamless across those systems we can also share the desktop backgrounds across them.

The path for the pictures is:

• C:\Users\%Username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\RoamedThemeFiles\DesktopBackground\

1. First, right click on the desktop and click Personalize.
2. Make sure Synced Theme is chosen.
• 
3. Click on Desktop Background.
• 
4. Open Windows Explorer
5. Open the picture’s location.
6. One can either copy and paste from here or open a second Windows Explorer window.
7. Copy and paste the above path into the Address Bar and hit [Enter].
8. Copy picture content into the DesktopBackground folder.

Our preference is to set the images to Fit instead of stretch.

Once this process has been completed the desktop backgrounds on all Windows 8 machines tied in with that Microsoft ID will show the same.

NOTE: Once this process has completed Windows 8 under Personalization may show “Unsaved Theme” as being selected. Change the setting back to Synced Theme.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

Utility: Convert Outlook NK2 File to Stream_Autocomplete*.dat File

This little gem came via fellow MVP Robert Pearman:

• Microsoft Office Forum: How to import/export .NK2 to Stream_Autocomplete*.dat file for outlook 2010

Quote:

Note: Please ensure Outlook 2010 is closed.

1. Download NK2Edit from http://www.nirsoft.net
   • Please Note: The third-party product discussed here is manufactured by a company that is independent of Microsoft. We make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.
2. Open the old Nk2 file (associating the file with NK2 does not work with version v1.12
3. Click Save As, Change the Save as type to "Outlook 2010 AutoComplete .dat file".
4. Navigate to the following directory in the address bar within the Save As Window. %AppData%\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\RoamCache
5. Save over the current Stream_Autocomplete file.
• Note: To avoid unexpected problems, you can first back up the Stream_Autocomplete*.dat file to other place.
6. Test the AutoComplete feature.

Best Regards,

Sally Tang

Our previous post on this topic:

• MPECS Inc. Blog: Outlook 2010 – “My Address Book Is Gone” Importing The NK2 File

We mention this second option to the original process because the import process did not always work with us subsequently being stuck for a method to bring in those addresses.

It is surprising to see just how many folks use that list as their address book with their actual Contacts list being relatively empty!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

Outlook 2010 – “My Address Book Is Gone” Importing The NK2 File

How many of us have heard, “My address book has disappeared!” after migrating the user to a new workstation.

We learned the hard way in the past to migrate the NK2 file, or what is called the Nickname Cache, to the new workstation _after_ creating a new one in Outlook 2007 or earlier.

With Outlook 2010, we need to go through an import process in order to get those nicknames into the user’s new Outlook mailbox setup.

• Microsoft KB980542: How to import .NK2 files into Outlook 2010

To import .nk2 files into Outlook 2010, follow these steps:

1. Make sure that the .nk2 file is in the following folder:

   %appdata%\Microsoft\Outlook

   Note The .nk2 file must have the same name as your current Outlook 2010 profile. By default, the profile name is "Outlook." To check the profile name, follow these steps:

   1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
   2. Double-click Mail.
   3. In the Mail Setup dialog box, click Show Profiles.
   4. 
   5. The original Outlook 2007 file is shown above.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type outlook.exe /importnk2, and then click OK. This should import the .nk2 file into the Outlook 2010 profile.
4.  
5. Note After you import the .nk2 file, the contents of the file are merged into the existing nickname cache that is currently stored in your mailbox.

Note The .nk2 file is renamed with a .old file name extension on the first start of Outlook 2010. Therefore, if you try to re-import the .nk2 file, remove the .old file name extension.

Make sure to follow the profile name verification as the import does not work if that step is not followed. The Outlook 2007 file was named Default.NK2.

Also:

Our Outlook.NK2 file did not get the .OLD extension tied onto it after the file was imported into Outlook. We could tell that the file was indeed in there because typing a letter in the TO field of a new e-mail brought up _lots_ of e-mail addresses.

Obviously our client would not have been too happy if their address book was deleted.

Now, what happens when we want to move them from this system to another system whether with Outlook 2010 or newer version of Office has yet to be seen. Given that the above KB is a “Fast Publish” article, we can only hope that an avenue to move that nickname cache between Outlook 2010 profiles or to newer Office versions will happen.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer

SBS 2008 - Kewl Wizard - Add a new user role based on user properties

One of the tougher aspects of setting up a highly customized SBS 2003 setup was working things into the wizards. KISS.

Some of the things we worked out on SBS 2003:

• SBS domain with multiple e-mail domains had a User Template named and designated for each domain. Run the Add User Wizard and choose the DomainA.com User Template and that would be the user's UserName@DomainA.com e-mail address. This tied into custom LDAP queries via Exchange Recipient Policies, Group Policy, and Security Group membership.
• Custom share permissions assigned via User Template and tied into Access-Based Enumeration.
• Custom OUs for particular workstation and user setups via the Add Computer wizard.

The sky is the limit, but it was challenging developing the User Templates.

Things have changed a bit for SBS 2008:

Add a new user role based on the User's properties

The new Add a new user role based on the User's properties wizard that takes all of the customizations that we can do with a test user account and create the new User Role (SBS 2003: User Template).

How kewl is that?!? :)

Once we have our User Role created, we can go on to add any new users based on it, or run the Change user role for user accounts wizard to change existing user's profiles.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS - Reusing a user profile - Exchange and SharePoint changes needed

In some cases, a client wants a new employee to take over the old employee's profile.

One way to do this is to create the new user and migrate the old user's email settings, a PST export, and data to the new network based profile. In many cases, where the profile is task/position independent this works fine.

Sometimes, the employee's position and their network profile is position dependent. When a client goes through a change in employees and wants the new employee to take over the existing position profile, the shift is pretty simple to do.

We make the necessary changes to the user's profile in the User Management console on the SBS server:

• User name
• Name properties
• Email addresses
• Exchange x400 setting (E-mail Addresses tab)
• Alias (Exchange General tab)

Once we have completed the changes and the user logs in, there are a couple of other changes that need to be made where the previous employee's name would still be reflected:

1. The Exchange mailbox name that shows in Outlook
2. The user's name that comes up on the SharePoint CompanyWeb site.

To change the user name that appears behind "Mailbox - User Name" in Outlook we need only run through the setup steps via the Mail icon in the Control Panel and choose the new user name on that user's machine. Outlook should not be running when we run through the process.

In Windows Vista x64 versions the icon can be found here:

View 32-bit Control Panel Items

The following screen shot is what one would see on XP and in this particular case, a 32bit install of Windows Vista:

Windows Vista Mail Icon

A step by step as per a Vista/Office 2007 install:

1. Double click the Mail icon
2. Click the E-mail Accounts button
3. Double click the user's email Exchange profile
4. Change the User Name field to the new user's name
5. Click Check Name
• The new user name should become verified. It will then appear underlined.
6. Click Next and Finish.

Start Outlook and one should now see "Mailbox - New User" the correct name.

Send an email from the account to one of your test email accounts to verify that Exchange is properly tagging the email with the new user's name as well.

The above process is very similar for Outlook 2003 on Windows XP Professional.

To change the name that appears on any SharePoint Companyweb content:

1. Open the CompanyWeb page while logged in as the new user
2. Click on Site Settings near the top of the page.
3. Click "Update my information" under Manage My Information" near the bottom
4. Edit User Information
5. Change the "Display Name" to reflect the new user's name.
6. Save and Close

All posted content on the CompanyWeb site will now reflect the new user's name for all posted content via the original existing user profile.

One thing to let the new user know about: When all of the necessary name changes and profile shifts have happened, the local profile directory on the computer will not reflect their own name ... at least until that machine is replaced and they log into the new machine for the first time.

UPDATE 2008-05-16: Added the x400 change (thanks Tim) and the Exchange Alias change. Note that users with Exchange in Cached mode will not see the Alias change right away.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.