Managing PCs with IntelliMirror

IntelliMirror is the blanket term for a combination of management technologies introduced in Windows 2000 Server that enables administrators to centrally manage and replicate a user’s PC. In particular, user data, settings, and applications can “follow” the user to any PC running Windows 2000 or XP Professional on the network.

IntelliMirror in Windows Server 2003 benefits not only from incremental improvements to the server but also from benefits to Windows XP Professional and the Windows Installer. But the true barrier to IntelliMirror adoption was the difficulty of deploying Active Directory (AD) and Group Policy (GP)-a barrier that has largely been removed with Windows Server 2003. This makes IntelliMirror ripe for reconsideration.

IntelliMirror isn’t a single technology: it’s an umbrella term for two major families of configuration and change management technologies that rely on AD and GP:

User data and settings management technologies, including Folder Redirection, Offline Files and Folders, and Roaming Profiles, that enable administrators to centrally manage user data and user and computer settings and ensure they are available on any PC in the organization.