Group Policy Preference: Problem Adding Network Locations
- Hello! I am having a problem when creating shortcuts in the My Network Places folder on Windows XP when using the new Group Policy Preferences (GPP). I used Miles' solution to help create the new GPP (http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverGP/thread/452028b2-d22a-42c1-9a1b-04b8e1f75281).
When I set this GPP to add some UNC paths to the My Network Places folder, it does show them in the My Network Places folder. However, if I click the Folders button in My Network Places to view the tree listing on the left side of the Explorer window, it does not correctly list the Network Places added using the GPP. It appears that Windows XP is not correctly identifying these new shortcuts added by the GPP as Network Places.
If I go into the Nethood folder of the user's profile folder, it shows that this GPP created a .lnk shortcut to the UNC paths. However, when adding a new network location using the Windows XP GUI, Windows creates this new entry as a folder.
Also, if I:
a. take a folder on the network
b. right click on the network folder and drag it into the Nethood folder and then let go
c. select Create shortcuts here
The "shortcut" that is added to the Nethood folder appears as a new "folder" and not a shortcut according to both the Windows GUI and DOS.
So, the GPP to add Network Places does not appear to be working correctly.
Can someone suggest a workaround for this problem?
Thanks.
All Replies
Hi,
The shortcuts created by using Group Policy Preference do not appear in the navigation tree because the type of them is Shortcut. What the shortcut preference policy does, is that it creates a shortcut in the NetHood folder. However, the navigation tree cannot display the Shortcut object.
In this case, I am afraid that you need to write a script or application to create the folder shortcut and then deploy the script or application as logon script via group policy.
I’ve also included a related article for your reference:
Shell Links
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb776891(VS.85).aspx
If you need further assistance regarding programming, I’d like to suggest that you post it in MSDN forum. The support professionals there are more experienced on programming.
MSDN forum
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN
Hope the information is helpful.
- Marked As AnswerJoson ZhouMSFT, ModeratorFriday, December 19, 2008 9:06 AM
- Unmarked As AnswerAakash Shah Sunday, January 11, 2009 2:50 AM
- Thanks for the detailed information. Since the goal of the GPP is to help admins set user environment settings, wouldn't this be considered a bug since the GPP is not correctly creating the type of shortcut that the NetHood folder expects?