Why windows profiles changing

[CAMC1]

Hello,
We use Windows 2000 (SP4) Active Directory domain to login, but for some
reason, randomly, some user profiles have changed for no apparent reason.
Example: A user who logged into domain from a PC,
used to have his/her profile was named like
C:\Document and Settings\LOGINID
but now, same person (noticed when person got a new desktop)
Profile is now looks like
C:\Document and Settings\LOGINID.DomainName

What is going on?

Thanks
MC

 

[Debo]

this happens when more than one profile exist on the machine with the
same name. here is an excerpt from a MS KB:

Windows 2000 and Windows XP handle duplicate down-level account names
as well but in a slightly more intuitive manner. A suffix is placed on
the username of the profile that is either the name of the domain, if
the user account is a domain account, or the name of the computer, if
the user account is a local user account. If, by chance, another user
with the same name from the same domain or computer logs onto the
machine, Windows 2000 or Windows XP adds a .000 suffix to the domain or
computer name. If the action happens again, it then starts incrementing
the .000 as well.

 

[CAMC1]

Is there a solution to this problem?
In our domain, Active Directory won't allow 2 user with same login ID.

The only thing with these users names, their computer names are same as
their login ID on the domain.
(One is the machine account, which is the PC name, the other is users login
ID)
MC

 

[Scott Harding]

Sounds like they were logging locally and not onto the domain at one point
and now they are logging onto the domain? This is not a problem this is by
design.

 

[Guest]

No, the users are not changing the drop down to logon locally instead. That
is not the issue here. I am having the same problem as CAMC1. I recently
upgraded a domain from NT 4.0 to Windows 2003 Server R2 with SP1. All clients
are Windows 2000 Professional SP4. Since the server upgrade, which was done
with the Active Directory Migration Tool, all of my users randomly get a new
renamed profile upon login first thing in the morning every 7 to 14 days, and
they are logging into the domain every time. They are not changing to a local
profile login. The SID's apparently are changing. I reviewed the SID's on the
profiles in the registry, and they are different. When it first happened, I
logged on as Administrator and completely deleted all other profiles on the
client to "start from scratch." It still happened. I have been fighting it
for weeks. It is very frustrating. No errors in event logs whatsoever on
client and server when it happens. And good luck deciphering the userenv.log
file, even set to max. Netdiag passes. I've done static IP's instead of DHCP.
I've even setup WINS. For now, I am running an hourly batch file on the
server with getsid to monitor the ID's of the user accounts for changes.
There is nothing on the web about this issue, and it is driving me and my
client crazy! Never seen anything like it in 10+ years of server support.

 

[Guest]

By the way, when and if you upgrade to Windows XP, Vista, etc, machine names
and usernames must be different. I suggest you get into the habit of renaming
the machines now to something other than the username, such as username-pc.

 

[Brandon McCombs]

By the way, when and if you upgrade to Windows XP, Vista, etc, machine names
and usernames must be different. I suggest you get into the habit of renaming
the machines now to something other than the username, such as username-pc.

Using a username for a PC is one of the worst ideas I've heard of. If
machine gets reassigned do you then change the hostname? What if you
have roaming profiles? A better choice is to make the hostname the
location of the PC. This will help when tracking down a PC for inventory
purposes and/or for troubleshooting problems because you will know
exactly where a PC is when you see its hostname and you won't have to
trace wiring or anything else to find it.

Only if the machine gets moved (less likely than a different person
using it) would you have a need to change its name.

 

[Hank Arnold]

We tried that already. At different times we named machines based on the
job, location and department. Each becomes obsolete as people change
jobs, departments, turnover and we upgrade/redeploy machines. Also, if a
particular machine has a problem, we roll out a new machine with a Ghost
image if any significant amount of work is needed.

The most effective one for us has been to name them based on the purpose
of the machine. For example, most of out workstations are shared. The
user does a domain logon and it automatically launches and loads a
Citrix ICA client. These are named either HOSPICEPOOLnn or
HOSPICESHAREnn. Those assigned to individuals will be named by the
functional area they are in (for example, HOSPFINANCEnn). A few are
named for a position (HOSPICECEO, HRDIR, etc.).

Regards,
Hank Arnold

 

[CAMC1]

I have seen local profile change when a user allways logs into the Active
Directory Domain, even when the machine name and user name is different.
This thing only started a couple of months ago for us.

My guess is that, a MICROSOFT Patch on Domain controllers may have changed
the way Active Directory functions, and I am sure only Microsoft Engineeers
can come up with reasonable answer.

In the mean time, us the IT guys have to deal with another issue that was
not supposed to happen.

MC