CREATE A SHORTCUT TO SEARCH ACTIVE DIRECTORY SHARED FOLDERS

As you probably know, you can easily locate computers, printers, and users in Active Directory using Windows XP's standard Search tool. But searching for shared folders is a very convoluted procedure.

You must begin your search by opening My Network Places, locating an Active Directory object, and clicking Find. Once the Find User, Contacts, And Groups dialog box opens, you can select Shared Folders from the Find drop-down list.

However, there's an easier way to access the Find User, Contacts, And Groups dialog box. To do so, you can create a specially configured shortcut on your desktop.

Follow these steps:

1. Right-click the desktop, and select New | Shortcut.

2. When the Create Shortcut Wizard appears, enter rundll32 dsquery,OpenQueryWindow in the Type The Location Of The Item text box.

3. Click Next, give the shortcut a name, and click the Finish button.

Now, anytime you want to search Active Directory for a shared folder, just double-click your new shortcut.