Recipe 6.29 Setting a User's Profile Attributes

6.29.1 Problem

You want to set one or more of the user profile attributes.

6.29.2 Solution

6.29.2.1 Using a graphical user interface
  1. Open the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in.

  2. In the left pane, right-click on the domain and select Find.

  3. Select the appropriate domain beside In.

  4. Beside Name, type the name of the user and click Find Now.

  5. In the Search Results, double-click on the user.

  6. Click the Profile tab.

  7. Modify the various profile settings as necessary.

  8. Click OK.

6.29.2.2 Using a command-line interface
> dsmod user "<UserDN>" -loscr <ScriptPath> -profile <ProfilePath> -hmdir[RETURN]
<HomeDir> -hmdrv <DriveLetter>
6.29.2.3 Using VBScript
' This code sets the various profile related attributes for a user.
strUserDN = "<UserDN>"   ' e.g. cn=jsmith,cn=Users,dc=rallencorp,dc=com
set objUser = GetObject("LDAP://" & strUserDN)
objUser.Put "homeDirectory", "\\fileserver\" & objUser.Get("sAMAccountName")
objUser.Put "homeDrive", "z:"
objUser.Put "profilePath", "\\fileserver\" & _
            objUser.Get("sAMAccountName") & "\profile"
objUser.Put "scriptPath", "login.vbs"
objUser.SetInfo
Wscript.Echo "Profile info for " & objUser.Get("sAMAccountName") & " updated"

6.29.3 Discussion

The four attributes that make up a user's profile settings include the following:

homeDirectory

UNC path to home directory

homeDrive

Drive letter (e.g., z:) to map home directory

profilePath

UNC path to profile directory

scriptPath

Path to logon script

When you set the homeDirectory attribute, the folder being referenced needs to already exist. For an example on creating shares for users, see MS KB 234746.

6.29.4 See Also

MS KB 234746 (How to Create User Shares for All Users in a Domain with ADSI), MS KB 271657 (Scripted Home Directory Paths Require That Folders Exist), and MS KB 320043 (HOW TO: Assign a Home Directory to a User)



    Chapter 3. Domain Controllers, Global Catalogs, and FSMOs
    Chapter 6. Users
    Appendix A. Tool List