[WEB4LIB] sharing favorites between users on Win2K boxes

[Warren Dawkins]

Actually all the tools you need to do this are built into Win2k 
itself, that is if you don't mind editing the registry.

1. Close Internet Explorer.

2. Copy the Favorites folder you want to share to a network folder 
that is accessible to all of the people who want to share their Favorites.

3. Login under each person's profile and use Regedit (Start > Run > 
type "regedit" and press Enter) to edit the following two keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell 
Folders\Favorites

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User 
Shell Folders\Favorites

4. Change the values of these keys to match the shared network folder 
where you stored the Favorites. You can either use the regular path 
notation (e.g. H:\Favorites) if you've mapped the network share to a 
drive letter within each person's login, or use the UNC (universal 
naming convention) naming scheme (e.g. 
//Server_Name/Share_Name/Favorites).

5. Close Regedit to save your changes.

Be sure to repeat steps 3-5 for each profile which you want to share 
the common set of Favorites. Once these edits have been made, when the 
users restart IE, it will access the Favorites on the network share.

CAVEAT: If the network should ever be down when one of the user's 
starts IE and thus the shared folder is unavailable, the Registry 
settings will automatically convert back to their defaults and so you 
will have to go through the same process for each user all over again. 
However, if you have a pretty stable network that you only take down 
at night when all the staff is gone, this is a simple, effective, and 
free solution.

Also, you can easily automate these edits with a Regedit file and a 
Wscript program, or even with a batch file.

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, please let me know.

-- 
****************************
  Warren Dawkins
  Head of Copy Cataloging
  Ball State University
  Office: (765) 285-3349
  E-mail: wdawkins at bsu.edu
****************************

Reed, Tracey wrote:
> Greetings Web4Libbers!
> 
> We just recently upgraded most of our staff computers to Windows 2000.  One
> of the big problems we're encountering is the fact that when two or more
> people share a computer on a desk, they cannot share the bookmarks (ok,
> favorites) folder between users.  
> 
> Anyone know if this is possible?  I can't seem to find the share features
> for that folder, seeing as how M$ has decided it's a system folder????
> 
> ARRRRGGGGHHHH!
> 
> -t
> 
> ___________________
> Tracey Reed
> Webmaster
> Clearwater Public Library System
> treed at clearwater-fl.com
> If the eyes are the windows of the soul, then words are the doorbells of the
> mind.
> -Josh Wilson, Australian journalist, The Weekend Australian, 2002 
> 
> 
> 
>