Huge ntuser.dat

[Guest]

Dear all,

I have a user of a Windows XP Professional SP2 machine whose registry hive
(ntuser.dat) is 22.5 MB is size. All other users of the machine have
normally-sized hives (all under 8 MB), but this one is so large that he
cannot log out due to the limits imposed on the roaming profile space.

Does anyone know what could have made his hive increase in size so much?

Also, does anyone know if there is an application that will give you the
size of a registry key (and its subkeys) so that I can find what is making
the hive so large without having to go through the whole thing?

Thank you for your help.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I have a user of a Windows XP Professional SP2 machine whose
registry hive (ntuser.dat) is 22.5 MB is size. All other users of
the machine have normally-sized hives (all under 8 MB), but this
one is so large that he cannot log out due to the limits imposed on
the roaming profile space.

Does anyone know what could have made his hive increase in size so
much?

Also, does anyone know if there is an application that will give
you the size of a registry key (and its subkeys) so that I can find
what is making the hive so large without having to go through the
whole thing?

Normal is relative to what is installed on the machines that the user comes
in contact with (given roaming profiles.)
Many of my users are 15+MB in size for that file.

My suggestion, however - is to simply rename it and let it create a new one.
Yes - they will lose their settings, specific screen layout... But it shoudl
start out the size of your default profile NTUSER.DAT. See if it grows in
the same manner. Sucks for the user - but so does it not roaming at all
because of the size.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

I have a user of a Windows XP Professional SP2 machine whose registry hive

(ntuser.dat) is 22.5 MB is size. All other users of the machine have
normally-sized hives (all under 8 MB), but this one is so large that he
cannot log out due to the limits imposed on the roaming profile space.

Does anyone know what could have made his hive increase in size so much?

Also, does anyone know if there is an application that will give you the
size of a registry key (and its subkeys) so that I can find what is making
the hive so large without having to go through the whole thing?

Not sure if it'll help but you might want to give the user profile
hive cleanup utility a try.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Not sure if it'll help but you might want to give the user profile
hive cleanup utility a try.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

There has been a lot of discussion in this forum about the
benefits and dangers of registry cleaners. The OP should
perform a full backup of his registry before attempting
to "clean" it.

 

[Nightowl]

There has been a lot of discussion in this forum about the
benefits and dangers of registry cleaners. The OP should
perform a full backup of his registry before attempting
to "clean" it.

That utility isn't a registry cleaner, Pegasus; it's a Microsoft service
that ensures all connections to user registry keys are closed when the
user logs off.
<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1b286e6d-8912-4
e18-b570-42470e2f3582&displaylang=en>

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

That utility isn't a registry cleaner, Pegasus; it's a Microsoft service
that ensures all connections to user registry keys are closed when the
user logs off.
<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1b286e6d-8912-4
e18-b570-42470e2f3582&displaylang=en>

So it is - I actually use it myself but failed to realise this while
reading this thread. However, its purpose is something other
than reducing the registry size