Where Outlook looks for .PST files

[enderandrew]

Perhaps this is a stupid question. I've worked for two companies where it seemed by default, Outlook looked to a network drive for a .PST file. The actual default for Outlook is to look in c:\documents and settings\user-foo\local settings\application data\microsoft\outlook

How do I change this? Is there a group policy setting?

I'm setting out a new domain for a small business and I was curious. If you have any other suggestions for tweaks you would make beyond typical defaults for a small business domain, I'm all ears.

[submix8c]

??

Here is a reference (with other references) -

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287070

(claims networked PST is unsupported and causes problems)

[IcemanND]

Did your previous employers use Exchange? If so the PST was not stored on another server you accessed the mail store directly form the Exchange server or if configured in cahced mode you pulled the mail, calendar, etc down to you machine and worked from a cached copy in an OST file found in the same location as the local PST.

[enderandrew]

They're not using Exchange for email. Their ISP provides email. So we've had users lose their .PST file with a HDD crash, and lose all their email. We have no way to restore it.

Thusly, I need the .PST file on the server for backup purposes.

The last two companies I worked for had this working automatically. The first time you ran Outlook, you'd put in your Exchange details, but Outlook defaulting to storing the .PST on a shared drive. I assume this is in GPO somewhere.

I'm still looking for a solution if someone has one.

[jackie]

just recently i did this for a small business ( 4 PC networked with no server ) it's pretty easy/weird setup but it will work.

i created a shared folder for outlook on a network drive and mapped it to each PC and separate folder for each user than setup each user's email account, close the outlook and move the .pst file to the mapped drive. (if you have a backup .pst file use that one) now when you open outlook it will complain that it can not find the PST file and there you can point it to the new location on the mapped drive.

in my case they wanted this so they can have running backup on their main PC in case of something went wrong.