XADM: Exchange Administrator Settings Are Windows NT Profile-Specific (259577)

SYMPTOMS

When you administer an Exchange Server-based computer by using the Exchange Administrative program from various Microsoft Windows NT computers on the network, you may notice that your Exchange Administrative program settings are not maintained between these two computers unless you are using a Windows NT roaming profile.

For example, while you administer the Exchange Server-based computer from computer A, you can modify the toolbar display if you click Customize Toolbar on the Tools menu. You can then log on to computer B and open the Exchange Administrator program against the same Exchange Server-based computer; however, the toolbar display does not reflect the change that you make to computer A.

CAUSE

This feature is by design.

The Exchange Administrator Display settings are specific to each Windows NT profile. When you log on to a Windows NT computer, and then log on to the domain, a profile is used and created on the local computer by default unless you specify a roaming profile path in the User Manager for Domains tool.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, administer Exchange Server-based computers from only one computer or enable your Windows NT account to use a roaming Windows NT profile in the User Manager for Domains tool. If the profile is a roaming profile, it cannot be a mandatory profile. If the profile is mandatory, changes that you make to the Display settings in the Exchange Administrator tool are lost when you log off the Windows NT computer.

MORE INFORMATION

By default, a user's Windows NT profile is created and maintained in the %SystemRoot%\Profiles\username folder.

A user's Windows NT profile is made up of two components, folders and registry settings. The %SystemRoot%\Profiles\username\Ntuser.dat file is started in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive every time that a user logs on to a Windows NT computer.

The Exchange Administrator settings are maintained in the following registry keys: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\MSExchangeAdmin

-and-

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\MSExchangeAdminCommon
For additional information about Windows NT profiles, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

161070 Step by Step Roaming Profiles Configuration

For information about how to implement profiles and policies for Windows NT 4.0, click the following link to view the Microsoft Web page:

http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/management/deployment/planguide/prof_policies.asp