WINDOWS 1002000 PROFESSIONAL RESOURCE KIT [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Working with Files and Folders

This section describes changes to how files are accessed, methods for customizing the Windows Explorer user interface, and policies you can set to control how the interface works.

My Computer

My Computer provides access to local drives, mapped network drives, and Control Panel. System folders, such as Network and Dial-up Connections, Scheduled Tasks, and Printers, are now available through Control Panel.

By using the Address bar, you can quickly access other desktop shortcuts, such as My Network Places, the Recycle Bin, and Internet Explorer.

By default, when you open My Computer, you do not see the Folders Explorer Bar, which displays folders in a hierarchical relationship in a pane on the left side of the user interface.

To display the folders, you can choose Explorer Bar from the View menu and then select Folders. Enabling the Folders option is only in effect until you close My Computer. The next time you open My Computer the folders do not display until you choose the option again.

You can configure Windows 2000 Professional to show the Explorer Bar every time you open My Computer. To do this, use the following procedure:

To permanently display the Explorer Bar in My Computer

In My Computer, click the Tools menu, and then click Folder Options.

Click the File Types tab, and then under Registered file types, click Folder (the extension is N/A).

Click Advanced.

Under Actions, click Explore, and then click Set Default.

New to Windows NT 4.0 users is the My Documents folder, which is the default location for storing user documents and files. Windows 98 users will notice a new location for the My Documents folder. It is stored with other user profile settings in the Documents and Settings folder. Users who share computers cannot read each other's documents.

A subfolder of My Documents that is called My Pictures provides a place to store graphics and digital images from sources such as digital cameras. With Web View enabled, you can view images by using thumbnails (see Figure 9.1) or full screen previews, zoom in and out, pan left and right, scroll up and down, and print images.

Figure 9.1 My Pictures Window Displaying Thumbnails View

If the picture or image is stored on a drive that uses the NTFS file system, you can enter and view text descriptions of picture attributes, such as title, subject description, or category. Additional columns can also be displayed in the folder.

For more information about changing folder views and using Web view, see "Customizing Folders" later in this chapter.

My Documents is a system folder that cannot be deleted. However, you can rename the desktop shortcut, rename the folder, and redirect the My Documents folder to a network location by using Group Policy.

NOTE

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If you upgrade to Windows 2000 from a Windows 98 workstation that had redirected the My Documents folder, Windows 2000 Professional redirects My Documents to the same location.

To change the location of the My Documents folder

Right-click My Documents on the desktop, and then click Properties.

Under Target folder location, type a destination, or click Find Target to view locations (see Figure 9.2).




Figure 9.2 Target Tab of the My Documents Properties Dialog Box

You can use a Group Policy setting or a combination of Group Policy settings to control the My Documents folder. On a Windows 2000 Server, Group Policy has a special Folder Redirection component. For more information about using Group Policy with Windows 2000 Server, see "Group Policy" and "Introduction to Desktop Management" in the Distributed Systems Guide.

Table 9.1 lists some of the Group Policy settings that affect My Documents and provides a brief description of each. Before you change a Group Policy setting, you should be familiar with using Group Policy and with using Microsoft® Management Console (MMC). To make changes to these settings, you must log on as a member of the Administrators group. You can find these Group Policy settings by using the Group Policy MMC snap-in and then following this path:

Local Computer PolicyUser ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesDesktop

Table 9.1 Group Policy Settings That Affect My Documents

For additional information about Group Policy settings, including a more complete description of each setting, follow the preceding path to the Group Policy setting, right-click the Group Policy setting, click Properties, and then click the Explain tab, or refer to the Group Policy Reference on the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Resource Kit companion CD.

My Network Places

My Network Places replaces the Network Neighborhood feature that you used in both Windows 98 and Windows NT Workstation 4.0. In the My Network Places window, you can double-click Computers Near Me to quickly access files and folders on other computers in your workgroup or double-click Entire Network to search more widely.

The Add Network Place wizard, also available in My Network Places, guides users through connecting to a shared folder, a Web folder (not a Web site), or an FTP site. Users can specify alternate credentials for automatic access to Web folders and FTP sites. Users can provide friendly names for shortcuts that display in My Network Places. Network resources can be added to the Favorites menu.

When you open a document on a network resource, a folder shortcut is automatically created in My Network Places.

NOTE

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Mapped network drives do not appear in My Network Places.

Group Policy Settings That Affect My Network Places

You can use a Group Policy setting or a combination of Group Policy settings to control the functioning of the My Network Places folder. For example, with Group Policy on a Windows 2000 Server, an administrator can specify the connections that are displayed in a user's My Network Places folder. For more information about using Group Policy with Windows 2000 Server, see "Group Policy" and "Introduction to Desktop Management" in the Distributed Systems Guide.

Table 9.2 and Table 9.3 list some of the Group Policy settings that affect My Network Places and provide a brief description of each. Before you change a Group Policy setting, you should be familiar with using Group Policy and MMC snap-ins. To make changes to these settings, you must log on as a member of the Administrators group. You can find the Group Policy settings that Table 9.2 lists by using the Group Policy MMC snap-in and then following this path:

Local Computer PolicyUser ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesDesktop.

Table 9.2 Group Policy Settings That Affect My Network Places and Desktop Icons

You can find the Group Policy settings that Table 9.3 lists by using the Group Policy MMC snap-in and then following this path:

User ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesWindows ComponentsWindows Explorer.

Table 9.3 Group Policy Settings That Affect My Network Places

For additional information about Group Policy settings, including a more complete description of each setting, follow the preceding paths to the Group Policy setting, right-click the Group Policy setting, click Properties, and then click the Explain tab, or refer to the Group Policy Reference on the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Resource Kit companion CD.

Windows Explorer

In Windows 2000 Professional, Windows Explorer is located in the Accessories folder. Using Windows Explorer, you can easily add, remove, reorder, and size columns by right-clicking any column heading.

By default, the My Documents folder is selected when Windows Explorer opens. You can change the focus to My Computer.

To open Windows Explorer with My Computer selected

Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, right-click Windows Explorer, and then click Properties.

On the Shortcut tab, type the following text in the Target box:

%SystemRoot%explorer.exe /e,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

To restore Windows Explorer to the default My Documents view

Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, right-click Windows Explorer, and then click Properties.

On the Shortcut tab, type the following text in the Target box:

%SystemRoot%explorer.exe /e,::{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}

You can control the functionality of Windows Explorer by using the command-line switches listed in Table 9.4.

Use the following syntax:

EXPLORER.EXE [/n][/e][,/root,<object>][[,/select],<sub object>]

Table 9.4 Command-Line Switches to Control Windows Explorer

The following examples illustrate how you can use command-line switches to modify the way you view folders and objects in Windows Explorer:

To view objects on <server name> only:

explorer /e,/root,<server name>

To view the C:Windows folder and select Calc.exe:

explorer /select,c:windowscalc.exe

Group Policy Settings That Affect Windows Explorer

You can use a Group Policy setting or a combination of Group Policy settings to control the functioning of Windows Explorer. For more information about using Group Policy with Windows 2000 Server, see "Group Policy" and "Introduction to Desktop Management" in the Distributed Systems Guide.

Table 9.5 lists some of the Group Policy settings that affect Windows Explorer and provides a brief description of each. Before you change a Group Policy setting, you should be familiar with using Group Policy and MMC snap-ins. To make changes to these settings, you must log on as a member of the Administrators group. You can find these Group Policy settings by using the Group Policy MMC snap-in and then following this path:

Local Computer PolicyUser ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesWindows ComponentsWindows Explorer

Table 9.5 Group Policy Settings That Affect Windows Explorer

For additional information about Group Policy settings, including a more complete description of each setting, right-click the Group Policy setting, click Properties, and then click the Explain tab, or refer to the Group Policy Reference on the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Resource Kit companion CD.