Automatically configure Outlook when Server is on another domain?

[Mygposts]

It is Exchange 2003 mail with Outlook 2003 on XP Pro.

In the past I have setup Outlook 2003 to automatically create the user's
Outlook profile when the Exchange server used the user's local login
credentials to access their mailbox and it worked fine. All they did was
click on the Outlook icon and the Outlook profile was done for them the first
time they logged in.

Now our users will still be logging in to our local domain, but their e-mail
will be on a different domain's Exchange server and the Exchange mailbox user
name and passwords do not match.

Some users will be using their existing XP profiles and others will be
getting new XP profiles.

Not only this, but the new Exchange server connects via RPC over HTTP and it
is a bit complicated to expect the users to configure their own profiles
without typos or missing any check boxes and we do not have the staff to go
visit everyone's desktop and configure their profiles for them.

Is there any way to configure these types of Outlook profiles to either
automatically configure and ask the users as little interaction as possible
beyond entering their Exchange user name and password?

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Yes, you can achieve this easily by deploying a prf-file. You can find more
information about this in the Office Resource Kit for Office 2003.

 

[Mygposts]

I found a 32 page whitepaper on PRF files.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ork2003/HA011403051033.aspx
That looks like a nightmare wading through that document and a lot of
registry tweaking.
There has to be an easier way. Is there a short version of the instructions
or another alternative?

I also tried the custom maintenance wizard, but it was slow and it put the
machine behind in security updates so previously-installed Office updates had
to be reinstalled again,

 

[Roady [MVP]]

None of that is needed. Simply create the prf-file (so no mst or cmw file)
via the ORK with your settings and execute that via a script or custom
shortcut. It's all UI based and for a basic configuration no manual editing
of the prf-file is required.