How to avoid using folders under user profile??

Hi,
Does anyone know how to create Network Deployment image that DOES NOT use folders under user profile?

I would like to create ACAD 2005 Network Deployment image that installs all support file folders and files like menus, templates, plotters, tool palettes etc. under default installation directory, C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2005\

I already found out that I can modify "Search Paths and File Locations" using Network Installation Wizard but still installation creates several folders under installation user ID*s profile...

Help would be really appreciated!

Mika

 

Hi,

We just copied the files from "C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2005\UserDataCache"
to "C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2005".

AutoCAD still copies the files under the user profile but we don't use them.
The support files are directed to "C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2005\... etc.

The temporary files are also directed to C:\Temp.

Juha

 

Yep, Autodesk thinks your hard drives are so cheap that they can just load
them up with crap even when you tell AutoCAD not to Actually, hard drives
ARE so cheap and large that it really isn't a huge deal. Even with roaming
profiles, the total storage isn't huge, the bandwidth hit when profiles move
isn't huge, all in all just annoying. But I do hope that Autodesk allows the
OPTION to abandone the mess that MicroSoft hath wrought. Truthfully, MS
Office could benifit from a dose of Acad R14 style network customization.

Gordon

 

If you are using a local drive\folder (not under the user's Windows profile) you
can just copy the data as specified in the other posts, and reference that in
the NIW.

If, however, you wish to use a network location for such materials, which allows
for total user portability among machines, you must specify the UNC to the
folder locations. For this example, let's say you normally map J:\ to the
\\ServerName\ADT2005 share. You would use \\ServerName\ADT2003\[folder] instead
of J:\[Folder] when specifying locations for custom support/user files.

In the NIW docs it says something about using mapped drive letters, which
requires all users to use the same letters on their workstations. However, I've
found that using mapped drive letters when distributing software via GPOs causes
the installation to fail. This is because the GPO installation is pushed to the
machine, before the user logs on, and there is no mapped drive letter at that
point. The GPO installation reads the MST tranform file and coughs up a furball
when it hits that "J:\" drive.

So, if you go this route, use UNCs in the NIW deployment setup. Once you push
AutoCAD to a workstation via GPO, you can do two things. If you don't mind the
UNC paths in the Options dialog boxes, then you are fine.

If, however, you need mapped drive letters, then you can do this on a test
workstation:

1. Run REGEDIT, and do a FIND for all references to "\\Servername\ADT2005\"
2. Export all of those keys to separate REG files
3. Use Notepad to combine them into a single REG file
4. Do a Find/Replace and substitute "J:\" for "\\Servername\ADT2005\" and save.
5. Import the REG file.

We do this because we have multiple offices, each one referencing the same
mapped drive letter to a local server share.

Open AutoCAD and save this out to a standard profile which you can reference for
each user's desktop icon through the properties with the /P switch.

Matt