The system administrator specifies a home directory in the User Manager, in
the user profile properties. Windows NT sets the following three
environment variables based on the value of the home directory:
HOMEDRIVE
HOMEPATH
HOMESHARE
For example, these three environment variables could contain the following:
HOMEDRIVE=<drive letter>:
HOMEPATH=\<path>
HOMESHARE=\\<server name>\<share name>
NOTE: HOMESHARE could contain a local drive instead of a server
and share.
If no home directory is specified, Windows NT uses the following values by
default:
HOMEDRIVE=<drive where Windows NT is installed>
HOMEPATH=\users\default
HOMESHARE=
NOTE: If the \USERS\DEFAULT directory does not exist on the drive that
has Windows NT installed, HOMEPATH is set to the \USERS on that drive;
if the \USERS directory does not exist, HOMEPATH is set to the drive
that has Windows NT installed.
The default directory the Command Prompt displays is the equivalent of
HOMEDRIVE plus HOMEPATH.
If a user has the home directory set to \\<server>\<share>\<path>, the
Command Prompt does not display the specified directory if the server is
not available for any reason. The only method to determine what failed when
the Command Prompt does not display the specified directory involves
checking the event logs and verifying that everything is installed
properly.