Have a user (and he is one of the bosses and an IT junkie..the dangerous kind...with a little knowledge) and he uses a laptop to access the work enviroment. He also has a network at home that he uses the laptop to access. The problem is that once he has hooked his laptop up to the domain (work enviroment)his home workgroup disapears from his computer. He has 2 profiles one for each enviroment. When he logs onto the home enviroment he can still access the network however he must know the exact address (\\home\backup\personal etc). If he opens up the network it is showing the work enviroment. Is there anyway to enable these 2 enviroments to co- exsist? Thanks in advance and I hope the above makes sense.
Hi Dave, Go to www.globesoft.com and have a look at MultiNetworkManager. Or let him change his home workgroup to the same name as your sbs-domain.
Dave, I'm not sure I understand why one profile disappears. Workgroups and domains can co-exist without anything special. You just have to pick the right one in the drop down list when logging on. Of course, if he has another domain at home and not just a workgroup, it could be a completely different issue. But, by default, he will have a profile for his workgroup and another for his domain. Can you clarify again whether that is the case or not? -Trevor
Hi Trevor Thanks for the response. Yes there are 2 profiles, one for work and one for home. Yes the home network is a workgroup not a domain. There is a choice of which networks to pick at the logon screen. However no matter which one you choose the "Computer Name" details under the system tab always come up with the Domain Address not the Workgroup address when at home. Trevor I hope that has made things a little clearer and thanks again for your assistance. Dave
Hi Marina Thanks for the reply. Will suggest the workgroup name change if all else fails and I know that he won't be happy if he has to pay for the software you mention below but at least I can give him a choice if nothing else will work. Cheers Dave. MultiNetworkManager. Or let him
Dave, (1) Did you use the connectcomputer wizard to join the laptop to the domain? (2) if yes, was his home workgroup migrated during the connectcomputer process? If yes, I think the connectcomputer wizard probably is the cause of the issue. If I remember correctly, it doesn't create a new profile, it just points the new profile back to the old profile. That means you'd be sharing a profile whether at home or at work. I've never tried to "solve" this problem before, so take my suggestion with caution... I would remove the laptop from your domain and blow away the domain profile. Make sure he can still login locally with the workgroup okay. Then, manually add the laptop to the domain (don't use the connect computer wizard). You'll have to manually create all the mapped network drives and install all the network printers, but I don't think it will be tough for one pc. Good luck, and let me know if this sounds reasonable. -Trevor
1. Yes 2. Yes I think so. As stated earlier this user is a bit of an IT buff so he did the connect computer himself etc. However I am certain of one thing and that is that there are 2 profiles and each are set up seperately. Just had a thought, do you know where in the profile the network settings would be?, perhaps if I just changed the settings this may fix it...he says grasping at staws. Like your idea and will give it a try but will have to wait until the weekend as the laptop is used in a live enviroment (and the owner stands over me watching everything!) so want to be able to take my time and do it properly. Thanks again for all your assistance Trevor.
My laptop travels with me from home to the office to client sites every day (all domains) - my preferred configuration is to leave the laptop in workgroup mode . . . I have no problem browsing / accessing network resources at any site. At most, all I have to do is provide a valid username\password for the domain the first time I attempt to access a domain resource . . . -- Chad A. Gross - SBS MVP SBS ROCKS! www.msmvps.com/cgross www.gosbs.org
I've used "NetSwitcher" for years on peer-to-peer networks.. I'm not sure how well it handles SBS2k3 domains yet. I'll find out soon. See it at "NetSwitcher.com". License costs $14 USD. I've heard about "MobileNetSwitch" but have not personally used it and I don't know if it really surpasses "NetSwitcher" or not. See it at "MobileNetSwitch.com". License costs 24 Euros ($30 USD & change). I travel from client to client. All are currently peer-to-peer but I have my own testing domain at home. Win XP makes it a bit easier to move back and forth but some help is still desirable.
I've used NetSwitcher, but I actually find leaving the laptop in workgroup mode easier (for me at least) :^) -- Chad A. Gross - SBS MVP SBS ROCKS! www.msmvps.com/cgross www.gosbs.org
Thank you everyone for replying. It is great to get so many positive solutions. Will check out these 2 options as they appear cheap and easy..hope so. Thanks again everyone.