Automatic MAPI Profile Creation for Outlook 2000 / XP / 2003 & 2007
Like many Wintel Administrators I was presented with the requirement to automate MAPI profile creation on our Citrix Farm; this requirement was later extended to our Windows XP workstations running a multitude of different Outlook versions.
When auto-generating a MAPI profile in Outlook 2000 (Outlook v9) it is necessary to use the NewProf.exe tool along with a PRF file, newer versions of Outlook (Outlook v10+) are able to read a PRF file directly if configured to read the file on first run for a user.
The following script is Cross Platform (i.e Windows and Outlook) compatible; and must be used along with the PRF file further down:
Const ForReading = 1
Const ForWriting = 2
Set WshShell = CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
Set fso = CreateObject(“Scripting.FileSystemObject”)
windir = WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%windir%”)
Set objNetwork = CreateObject(“Wscript.Network”)
currentDomain = objNetwork.UserDomain
currentUser = objNetwork.UserName
‘——————————– Mk2
‘Create an instance of Outlook so that it can be queried for it’s version
Set objOLK = CreateObject(“Outlook.Application”)
OLKVer = left(objOLK.Version,inStr(1,objOLK.Version,”.”)-1)
objOLK.Quit
‘If Outlook version is later than 2000 then make this registry change so that Outlook imports the PRF on first run
If OLKVer > 9 Then
‘Set Wsh = CreateObject(“Wscript.Shell”)
If CheckRegKey(“HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\” & OLKVer & “.0\Outlook\Setup\First-Run”) = TRUE Then
RetVal = WshShell.RegDelete(“HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\” & OLKVer & “.0\Outlook\Setup\First-Run”)
End If
RetVal = WshShell.RegWrite(“HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\” & OLKVer & “.0\Outlook\Setup\ImportPRF”,_
WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%USERPROFILE%”) & “\My Documents\PST\Outlook.prf”)
‘Set Wsh = Nothing
End If
‘———————— Establish 16bit names for fso – required for newprof tools
arrPath = Split(WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%USERPROFILE%”),”\”)
For Each str in arrPath
If Len(str) > 7 Then
str = Left(str,6) & “~1”
End If
If fullpath = “” Then
fullpath = str
Else
fullpath = fullpath & “\” & str
End If
Next
savePath = fullpath & “\MYDOCU~1\PST\”
If Not fso.FileExists(WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%SYSTEMROOT%”) & “\Outlook.prf”) Then
WScript.Quit
End If
‘Read contents of Template prf file
Set fsoTextStream = fso.OpenTextFile(WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%SYSTEMROOT%”) & “\Outlook.prf”, ForReading)
strTmpPrf = fsoTextStream.ReadAll
fsoTextStream.Close
‘Search though the array of lines and replace anything with %username% with logon name
Set vbsRegExp = New RegExp
vbsRegExp.Pattern = “%username%”
vbsRegExp.Global = True
vbsRegExp.IgnoreCase = True
strNewPrf1 = vbsRegExp.Replace(strTmpPrf,currentUser)
Set vbsRegExp = Nothing
‘Search though the array of lines and replace anything with %userprofile% with env var userprofile
Set vbsRegExp = New RegExp
vbsRegExp.Pattern = “%userprofile%”
vbsRegExp.Global = True
vbsRegExp.IgnoreCase = True
strNewPrf2 = vbsRegExp.Replace(strNewPrf1,savePath)
Set vbsRegExp = Nothing
If Not fso.FolderExists(WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%USERPROFILE%”) & “\My Documents\PST\”) Then
fso.CreateFolder WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%USERPROFILE%”) & “\My Documents\PST\”
End If
If Not fso.FileExists(WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%USERPROFILE%”) & “\My Documents\PST\Outlook.prf”) Then
‘fso.DeleteFile(WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%USERPROFILE%”) & “\My Documents\PST\Outlook.prf”)
Set fsoTextStream = fso.CreateTextFile(WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%USERPROFILE%”) & “\My Documents\PST\Outlook.prf”, ForWriting)
fsoTextStream.Write strNewPrf2
fsoTextStream.Close
‘fso.CopyFile WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%USERPROFILE%”) & “\My Documents\PST\Outlook.prf” ,_
‘ WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%SYSTEMROOT%”) & “\Outlook.prf”, True
End If
‘Add code for Outlook 2K (9) only
If OLKVer =<9 AND fso.FileExists(WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%SYSTEMROOT%”) & “\newprof.exe”) Then
cmd = WshShell.Run(“%comspec% /c (” & WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%SYSTEMROOT%”) & “\newprof.exe -p ” _
& savePath & “Outlook.prf -x)”,0,True)
End If
‘**** CheckRegKey(RegStr)
Function CheckRegKey(RegStr)
On Error Resume Next
Wsh.RegRead RegStr
If Err Then
CheckRegKey = False
Else
CheckRegKey = True
End If
On Error Goto 0
End Function
Save the above code in to a new fie named ‘profgen.vbs.’ A group policy should then be created and this script assigned as a logon script for users.
The following code should be saved into a new file named ‘outlook.prf‘:
; Outlook PRF file for Exchange Server users
; ——————————————-
; Copyright (C), Microsoft Corporation, 1996.
;
; The following PRF file is included as an example of how to create a PRF file that will
; configure Outlook users with Exchange Server. Section 1, 2, and 3 may be modified.
; DO NOT MODIFY SECTION 4. It will most likely cause Exchange services to crash.
; Be very careful when editing to ensure property values match their property types.
; NOTE: The HomeServer setting for the Microsoft Exchange Server must be filled in
; before using this file.
;
; For information about how to disable Outlook Profile Setup and instead use the
; the Inbox Setup Wizard, see NONE.PRF in the Office Resource Kit.
; ************************************************************************
; Section 1 – Profile defaults.
[General]
Custom=1
; — Required. Indicates that this is a customized PRF file.
ProfileName=%username%
DefaultProfile=Yes
OverwriteProfile=No
DefaultStore=Service2
; ************************************************************************
; Section 2 – Services in profile.
[Service List]
Service1=Microsoft Outlook Client
Service2=Microsoft Exchange Server
Service3=Outlook Address Book
Service4=Archived Messages
;Service5=
; ************************************************************************
; Section 3 – Default values for each service.
[Service1]
EmptyWastebasket=TRUE
SelectEntireWord=TRUE
AfterMoveMessage=2
CloseOriginalMessage=FALSE
GenReadReceipt=FALSE
GenDeliveryReceipt=FALSE
DefaultSensitivity=0
DefaultPriority=1
SaveSentMail=TRUE
; **** Customized Outlook Client properties ****
CloseOriginalMsg=1
AllowCommaAsSeparator=1
MarkMyComments=0
AutoArchiveInterval=60
DefaultArchiveFile=”%userprofile%%username%.pst”
[Service2]
ConversionProhibited=TRUE
MailboxName=%username%
HomeServer=MAILSERVER
; Required.
; — The name of the Microsoft Exchange Server the user should
; connect to (ex: ALEX). You can specify any Microsoft Exchange Server
; in your site, and the correct Home Server will be assigned
; when the user first logs on.
[Service3]
Ben=TRUE
; — Dummy property. Do not delete or modify.
[Service4]
PathToPersonalFolders=”%userprofile%%username%.pst”
RememberPassword=TRUE
EncryptionType=0x40000000
Password=
[Service5]
PathToPersonalAddressBook=”%userprofile%%username%.pab”
ViewOrder=1
; ************************************************************************
; Section 4 – Mapping for profile properties. DO NOT MODIFY.
; ************************************************************************
; Microsoft Outlook Client definitions
[Microsoft Outlook Client]
SectionGUID=0a0d020000000000c000000000000046
EmptyWastebasket=PT_BOOLEAN,0x0115
; — A boolean value indicating whether or not to empty the
; wastebasket on exit.
SelectEntireWord=PT_BOOLEAN,0x0118
; — A boolean value indicating whether or not to select entire
; words when selecting.
AfterMoveMessage=PT_LONG,0x013B
; — Indicates what to do after moving or deleting a message.
; Possible values are shown below:
; 0 – Open Next Message
; 1 – Return to Viewer
; 2 – Open Previous Message
CloseOriginalMessage=PT_BOOLEAN,0x0132
; — A boolean value indicating whether or not to close the
; original message after replying.
GenReadReceipt=PT_BOOLEAN,0x0141
; — A boolean value indicating whether or not to generate
; a read receipt on sent mail.
GenDeliveryReceipt=PT_BOOLEAN,0x014C
; — A boolean value indicating whether or not to generate
; a delivery receipt on sent mail.
DefaultSensitivity=PT_LONG,0x014F
; — The default sensitivity to send mail with.
; Possible values are shown below:
; 0 – Normal
; 1 – Personal
; 2 – Private
; 3 – Confidential
DefaultPriority=PT_LONG,0x0140
; — The default priority to send mail with.
; Possible values are shown below:
; 0 – Low
; 1 – Normal
; 2 – High
SaveSentMail=PT_BOOLEAN,0x0142
; — A boolean value indicating whether to save a copy of
; sent messages in the sent items folder.
; **** Custom entries added by [email protected] ****
CloseOriginalMsg=PT_BOOLEAN,0x0132
; — A boolean value indicating whether Outlook should close original
; message when replying or forwarding.
MarkMyComments=PT_BOOLEAN,0x0319
; — A boolean value indicating whether Outlook should mark comments
; in a reply message with the users name.
AllowCommaAsSeparator=PT_BOOLEAN,0x0350
; — A boolean value indicating whether Outlook should allow a comma
; to be used as an address separator.
AutoArchiveInterval=PT_LONG,0x0323
; — The default is to auto archive every 14 days.
; Possible values are shown below:
; 1 – 60
DefaultArchiveFile=PT_STRING8,0x0324
; — The path and file name for the default auto archive file.
; ex: c:\home\rickva\outlook\archive.pst
; ************************************************************************
; Microsoft Exchange Server service definitions.
[Microsoft Exchange Server]
ServiceName=MSEMS
MDBGUID=5494A1C0297F101BA58708002B2A2517
MailboxName=PT_STRING8,0x6607
; — The name of the user’s Exchange Server Mailbox
HomeServer=PT_STRING8,0x6608
; — The name of the Microsoft Exchange Server the user should
; connect to. You can specify any Microsoft Exchange Server
; in your site, and the correct Home Server will be assigned
; when the user first logs on.
OfflineFolderPath=PT_STRING8,0x6610
; — The path to the Offline Store File that contains
; local replicas of the user’s Mailbox and Favorites.
; If you do not specify a value, no Offline Store will
; be created. If you specify a path, an Offline Store
; will be created and the Inbox, Outbox, Deleted Items,
; and Sent Items folders will be replicated to it.
OfflineAddressBookPath=PT_STRING8,0x660E
; — The path to the directory to store offline address
; book files in.
ExchangeConfigFlags=PT_LONG,0x6601
; — Flags that control behavior when connecting to the Exchange
; Server.
; The following values are possible:
; VALUE RESULT
; 4 Normal
; 6 Ask whether to connect or work offline at startup.
; 12 Allow clients to be authenticated via the Internet
; 14 Combination of 6 and 12.
ConversionProhibited=PT_BOOLEAN,0x3A03
; — A boolean value indicating whether NEWPROF should
; attempt to resolve the Exchange mailbox name at run time.
; If set to TRUE, NEWPROF will copy the name to the profile
; without resolving it.
; If FALSE, the name will be resolved. Invalid server or
; mailbox name will not be copied to the profile.
; ************************************************************************
; Microsoft Mail service definitions.
[Microsoft Mail]
ServiceName=MSFS
; — The path to the users post office. Mapped network drives, UNC and NETWARE paths
; are acceptable. NETWARE paths of the type NWServer/share:dir\dir1 are converted to
; UNC paths of the type \\NWServer\share\dir\dir1.
ServerPath=PT_STRING8,0x6600
; — The users mailbox name. eg. in a NET/PO/USER address,
; this is USER. The maximum mailbox name is 10 characters.
Mailbox=PT_STRING8,0x6601
; — The users mailbox password. The maximum password is 8 characters.
Password=PT_STRING8,0x67f0
; — A boolean value indicating whether the users password is
; to be remembered in the profile or not. This is useful because
; if the password is remembered the user can bypass the logon prompt
; if his server path, mailbox name and password are all supplied.
RememberPassword=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6606
; — The connection type. This may be one of CFG_CONN_AUTO, CFG_CONN_LAN,
; CFG_CONN_REMOTE, CFG_CONN_OFFLINE as defined below.
;
; 0x0 — LAN type connection. Used to connect to the post office using a
; UNC path or pre-existing mapped drive.
; 0x1 — Dial up connection using Dial-up Networking.
; 0x2 — Not connected.
; 0x3 — Automatically detect whether the connection type is LAN or REMOTE.
; This connection type is only available on Win95.
ConnectionType=PT_LONG,0x6603
; — A boolean value indicating whether session logging
; is on or off.
UseSessionLog=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6604
; — The path to the session log file.
SessionLogPath=PT_STRING8,0x6605
; — A boolean value which indicates whether mail in the outbox
; is sent.
EnableUpload=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6620
; — A boolean value which indicates whether mail in the server
; mailbag is downloaded.
EnableDownload=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6621
; — A bit array which allows the user to indicate which addresses
; for which the transport is to attempt delivery. This is useful
; in order to allow a user to specify that a transport only handle
; delivery for a subset of the addresses it can really process.
; When multiple transports are installed and the user wants a
; different transport to handle some specific address types they
; can use this bit array to specify that the MSMAIL transport
; only handle a specific set of addresses.
;
; Possible values as defined below include:
;
; 0x00000001 — Local Post Office and External Post Office address types
; 0x00000002 — PROFS address types
; 0x00000004 — SNADS address types
; 0x00000008 — MCI address types
; 0x00000010 — X.400 address types
; 0x00000040 — FAX address types
; 0x00000080 — MHS address types
; 0x00000100 — SMTP address types
; 0x00000800 — OfficeVision address types
; 0x00001000 — MacMail address types
; 0x000019df — All of the above address types
UploadMask=PT_LONG,0x6622
; — A boolean value which indicates whether a netbios notification
; is sent to a recipients transport when mail is delivered to
; their server inbox.
NetBiosNotification=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6623
; — The polling interval in minutes when the transport
; checks for new mail. 1 <= polling interval <= 9999
NewMailPollInterval=PT_STRING8,0x6624
; — A boolean value which, if TRUE, only displays the Microsoft Mail Global Address
; list for name selection. The Postoffice list, external post office lists, and gateway
; address lists are not shown.
DisplayGalOnly=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6625
; — A boolean value which indicates whether the user wants to enable
; headers while working on the LAN. Headers mode allows the user
; to download message headers and selectively choose which mail
; to download.
UseHeadersOnLAN=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6630
; — A boolean value which indicates whether the user wants to use
; name resolution based on a local copy of the server address book
; rather than the server address book itself.
UseLocalAdressBookOnLAN=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6631
; — A boolean value which indicates whether EXTERNAL.EXE, a server process, should be used
; to deliver submitted mail messages. This is sometimes useful when mail is running
; on a slow LAN connection.
UseExternalToHelpDeliverOnLAN=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6632
; — A boolean value which indicates whether the user wants to enable
; headers while working over a slow speed link. Headers mode
; allows the user to download message headers and selectively
; choose which mail to download.
UseHeadersOnRAS=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6640
; — A boolean value which indicates whether the user wants to use
; name resolution based on a local copy of the server address book
; rather than the server address book itself.
UseLocalAdressBookOnRAS=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6641
; — A boolean value which indicates whether EXTERNAL.EXE, a server process, should be used
; to deliver submitted mail messages. This speeds up message delivery when mail is
; running on a Dial-up network connection.
UseExternalToHelpDeliverOnRAS=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6639
; — A boolean value which indicates that a Dial-up Network connection should
; be established when the transport provider starts up.
ConnectOnStartup=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6642
; — A boolean value which indicates that a Dial-up Network connection should
; be automatically terminated when headers are finished downloading.
DisconnectAfterRetrieveHeaders=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6643
; — A boolean value which indicates that a Dial-up Network connection should
; be automatically terminated after mail has finished being sent
; received.
DisconnectAfterRetrieveMail=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6644
; — A boolean value which indicates that a Dial-up Network connection should
; be automatically terminated when the provider is exited.
DisconnectOnExit=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6645
; — The name of the Dial-up Network profile that the transport will use by
; default to attempt the connection.
DefaultDialupConnectionName=PT_STRING8,0x6646
; — Number of times to attempt dial for connection.
; 1 <= retry attempts <= 9999
DialupRetryCount=PT_STRING8,0x6648
; — Delay between retry attempts in seconds.
; 30 <= retry delay <= 9999
DialupRetryDelay=PT_STRING8,0x6649
; ************************************************************************
; Personal Folders service definitions.
[Archived Messages]
ServiceName=MSPST MS
; — Path to personal folders.
PathToPersonalFolders=PT_STRING8,0x6700
; — A boolean value that determines if the personal folders password
; should be cached.
RememberPassword=PT_BOOLEAN,0x6701
; — A value that designates the type of encryption that is used to
; compress the data in the PST:
;
; No Encryption 0x80000000
; Compressable Encryption 0x40000000
; Best Encryption 0x20000000
EncryptionType=PT_LONG,0x6702
; — PST password.
Password=PT_STRING8,0x6703
; ************************************************************************
; Personal Address Book service definitions.
[Personal Address Book]
ServiceName=MSPST AB
; — Path to personal address book.
PathToPersonalAddressBook=PT_STRING8,0x6600
; — Determines if PAB entries are first, last, or last, first.
;
; first last 0
; last, first 1
ViewOrder=PT_LONG,0x6601
; ************************************************************************
; Outlook Address Book service definitions.
[Outlook Address Book]
ServiceName=CONTAB
Ben=PT_STRING8,0x6700
; — Dummy property. Do not modify.
Finally we have to ensure the availability of the required files for the profgen.vbs VBScript. This is completed by running a machine start-up script attached to a group policy. First, copy the NewProf.exe, outlook.prf into your domains NETLOGON share (i.e \\mydomain.com\NETLOGON). Then copy the code below into a new text file and save it as comp-startup.vbs. Assign this script as machine startup script for all machines you wish to automate MAPI profilecreation on.
Set objNetwork = CreateObject(“Wscript.Network”)
Set fso = CreateObject(“Scripting.FileSystemObject”)
Set oShell = CreateObject( “WScript.Shell” )
windir = oShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(“%windir%”)
target = windir & “\NEWPROF.EXE”
If Not (fso.FileExists(target)) Then
‘If it exists overwrite it.
fso.CopyFile “\\mydom.com\netlogon\NEWPROF.EXE”, windir & “\” ,True
End If
‘target = windir & “\Prfpatch.exe”
‘If Not (fso.FileExists(target)) Then
‘If it exists overwrite it.
‘ fso.CopyFile “\\mydom.com\netlogon\Prfpatch.exe”, windir & “\” ,True
‘End If
target = windir & “\outlook.prf”
If Not (fso.FileExists(target)) Then
‘If it exists overwrite it.
fso.CopyFile “\\mydom.com\netlogon\outlook.prf”, windir & “\” ,True
End If