65960 - Set user profile location via registry key (network drive)

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Core Graveyard :: Profile: BackEnd, enhancement)

Description

[:spachti]

i am not sure if it isn't already implemented somehow/somewhere. please comment

it is possible to set the netscape profile location by setting a registry key in 
the (users) registry in netscape4. 
http://help.netscape.com/kb/consumer/19990708-9.html

also storing the netscape profile or just a config file with the path info in 
HOMEDRIVE/HOMEPATH/HOMESHARE would help.

why?: the whole netscape profile shouldn't be stored in the windows userprofile 
because it's to large 

thanks

Comment 1

[Keyser Sose]

Marking NEW.

Comment 2

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

over to profile manager.

Comment 3

[timeless]

*** Bug 67959 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 4

[Conrad Carlen (not reading bugmail)]

> it is possible to set the netscape profile location by setting a registry key in
> the (users) registry in netscape4.
> http://help.netscape.com/kb/consumer/19990708-9.html

No, if you want to set the profile location, use the profile wizard when you
create the profile. That registry you mention as well as the URL are for 4.5.
We're talking mozilla here.

Also, what does this bug have to do with 67959?

I'd say this is invalid.

Comment 5

[Grace Bush]

the duplicate was a typo I think, sb bug 67960

Comment 6

[Edward Rudd]

Well, I have on use for this.  With netscape 4.xx I have a profile located on a 
users home drive. (ie. H:\Netscape).  I have this set in the registry, and 
create a default netscape configuration when the user account is created.  I 
want to be able to do the same thing with mozilla.  the problem is, the latest 
release (0.9.2) default creates the profile in the profiles/application 
data/mozilla directory and that increases the roaming profile bigger that my 
alloted 2MB.  I want to be able to place this somewhere like H:\Mozilla.  
Are there registry keys where these values are stored so I can force a profile 
on a user.. I will be having around 600-700 users (students) so I can't have 
every single user create their profile when they login.

Comment 7

[David W. Fenton]

Also, the default location of the profiles is non-standard for any version of
Windows. As it stands in Mozilla 0.9.3, the default location is
%WinDir%/Mozilla, whereas Microsoft's standard approaches to the storing of
profiles and user data are:

               OS Standard                        MS Installer Application Data
Win9x/NT4      %WinDir%/Profiles                  %WinDir%/Application Data
Win2K          %SysDrive%/Documents and Settings/%User%
                                                  (probably the same, not sure)
I would vote for the Mozilla program folder as the proper location for this data
(as in NS4.x), since the profiles are a characteristic only of Mozilla and its
components. The 2nd best alternative is in the Application Data folder as
implemented with the MS Installer, according to current Microsoft standards
(which I don't really like, but. . .). The last thing I want is all my
applications creating their own special folders in %WinDir% to store their settings.

[Apparently the problem with the cache location not being settable will be fixed
in the next release. That is very important because I don't want my Mozilla
cache, my IE cache and my Windows swap file all fighting over the same free
space on my C: drive. I can change it in IE, which is a pretty damned autocratic
application, though it stupidly needs a Windows reboot to do it]

Comment 8

[Conrad Carlen (not reading bugmail)]

If you're getting %WinDir%/Mozilla, unless you're running 95, something is
wrong. These are the intended locations and ones which are tested (Right,
Grace?) C:\ is for example. Actually, it should be %SysDrive% but I copied this
from elsewhere.

Windows2000 :  C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application
Data\Mozilla\Profiles\

WinNT : C:\Winnt\Profiles\<user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\

Win98 :
if password protection is disabled : C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\ 
if password protection is enabled  : C:\Windows\Profiles\<user name>\Application
Data\Mozilla\Profiles\
 

Comment 9

[David W. Fenton]

> If you're getting %WinDir%/Mozilla, unless you're running 95,
> something is wrong. . . .

I'm running Win95, since it's a better OS than Win98 (no one believes me on
this, but my client base demonstrates it).

It's handling of user profiles is *not* different from Win98, in my experience.

> . . . These are the intended locations and ones which
> are tested (Right, Grace?) C:\ is for example. Actually, it should
> be %SysDrive% but I copied this from elsewhere. 

You mean %SysDrive%\%WinDir%.

Well, actually, the %WinDir% environment variable includes both drive and path.
Actually, it's not independent, based on the APIs for it (apiGetWindowsDirectory
returns both drive and path as one string).
 
> Windows2000 :  C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application
> Data\Mozilla\Profiles\  
> 
> WinNT : C:\Winnt\Profiles\<user name>\Application
> Data\Mozilla\Profiles\ 
> 
> Win98 :
> if password protection is disabled : C:\Windows\Application
> Data\Mozilla\Profiles\ 
> if password protection is enabled  : C:\Windows\Profiles\<user
> name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\

Do you mean if profile tracking is turned on? The way it works is that
individual profiles are only maintained if you turn on profile tracking in the
Passwords tool in Control Panel. And I thought that Application Data was
implemented with the Microsoft Installer (released just before Office 2K).

Why on earth is it handled differently in Win95? Why isn't it handled exactly
the same as the first listing you gave for Win98, at the very least? I have an
Application Data folder in Win95 because I have IE5.5 installed (which uses the
MS Installer). The very worst thing to do is what it actually does, create a
Mozilla folder under Windows.

In any event, I still don't think any of it, especially the cache, belongs under
OS user profiles. It's way too much garbage for the Windows directory, given
that it's used by a single program.

The locations of profiles should be user configurable on all platforms without
requiring the user to turn on profiles, and moving the cache independently
should also be an option (I know this is slated for a coming release).
Oh, and I'm sure I shouldn't report this here, but there's a bug in the profile
manager startup: if you already have an instance of Mozilla open, it won't run
the startup -- it just passes on to the browser. If it's intended to work that
way, you should at least trap for the -ProfileManager command line switch and
prompt the user to close all running instances of Mozilla in order to manage
profiles.

Comment 10

[guanxi]

Rewording Summary to accurately reflect RFE.