Managing Custom Folders for Use with System Policies

The administrator can define five system policies to create a custom desktop. These policies use custom folders, created by the administrator, which contain the specific settings for the customized desktop. The following list summarizes the policies used to create a custom desktop.

Policy

Description

Custom Programs Folder

Shortcuts that appear in the Programs group on the Start menu

Custom Network Neighborhood

Shortcuts to resources that appear in Network Neighborhood, including shortcuts to shared printers and files and to Dial-Up Networking connections

Custom Desktop Icons

Shortcuts that appear on the desktop

Custom Start Menu

Shortcuts and other options that appear on the Start menu, as defined by using the Taskbar Properties dialog box

Custom Startup Folder

Programs or batch files that appear in the Startup group on the Start menu


Before you create a custom desktop by using system policies, you must define custom folders.

To define custom folders for use with policy files

  1. Create and place the custom folders in a central location where users have access. You can use any valid folder names for the folders you create. Windows 95 uses the path defined for the related policy to find the folder.

    Note To prevent accidental removal or unauthorized changes, you should place custom folders in directories where users are restricted to read-only access.

  2. Place the custom set of files and shortcuts you want in each folder.
    • You can place any kind of files in the custom folders.
    • For shortcuts, make sure that the path specified in the Target box in Shortcut properties is a UNC name, rather than a mapped directory. Otherwise, the users who will access resources using these shortcuts will have to have the same drives mapped in their login scripts.

Caution Do not place folders in the custom Network Neighborhood. Windows 95 does not support this feature, and unpredictable results can occur.

To create a custom desktop by using system policies

  1. In System Policy Editor, open the system policy file.
  2. In the system policy file, set the related policies.
  3. In the Path To Get Program Items From box, type the path to the folder's location.

  4. If you checked the Custom Programs Folder policy, also check the Hide Start Menu Subfolders policy to enable it.

    Otherwise, multiple Programs entries will appear on the user's Start menu — one for the location of the Custom Program Folder and one for the default location.

If the custom folders will not be stored in the directories where Windows 95 automatically looks for them, then you must specify another location when you specify the Custom Folder policies. For example, you might want to create these folders where the system policy files are located on the server.

The following list shows the default locations for custom folders.