[Samba] Windows User Home Folders automatic creation via GPO

[Sys Admin]

Hello,

I've been following the Windows User Home Folders
<https://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Windows_User_Home_Folders> guide in the
Samba wiki to create user home folders on a Samba file server that is also
a domain member.

I followed the Windows ACL sections to a tee, and to cut a long story
short, the end result is I can now supply the appropriate Home folder path
in ADUC (i.e. \\server\users\demo) and have the user folder be
automatically created with the appropriate permissions, as described in the
article.

However, I cannot seem to automate this process via GPO as described in the
article ("Using a Group Policy Preference" section). The GPO is configured
correctly and I've confirmed it's being applied correctly on the target
machine, however no home folder is automatically created upon user login;
instead, it only maps the home folders **already created manually** in
ADUC. Is this expected behaviour?

I think I must be misunderstanding the purpose of the GPO; do I have to
first manually assign the home folders to each user manually in ADUC, after
which the GPO will automatically map them? Or does the GPO also
automatically assigns and creates the home folders and maps them as a
drive?

Any insight into this is appreciated, thanks.

A.Z