Inconsistant login error - Can't find roaming profile path

[Matthew Smyrl]

I have three Win2K clients and one Win2k Server. All
users are using roaming profiles from the server.

Sometimes when a user logs in they get a message "Cannot
find path \\server\profiles\username.pds. You will be
logged in using a local profile." The message has a 20
second countdown and then the user is logged in. If the
users logs out and logs in again they do not get this
error again.

It can also happen that if the user logged successfully
that they'll see a similar message when they log out,
i.e. "Cannot find path \\server\profiles. Your roaming
profile will not be updated."

Another example of what I believe is the same problem is
occasional when the user tries to open a mapped drive
from the server the get a "File/Path not found" error.
If they immediately try to open the drive again they are
successful.

This problem first started appearing when I set up a
local DNS server on the Win2K server.

IP addresses for all four machines are static. There is
no WINS server in use (my understanding is that Win2K
doesn't need WINS if it has DNS). There is not a
secondary DNS defined for any of the workstations. All
DNS queries go through the server first. I am able to do
successful nslookup queries for the server and all three
workstations from either the server or the workstations.

I have checked the cables and tried a different hub. No
success.

I am unable to make the error happen consistently, but
will see it on each workstation within a couple day of
normal use.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Kevin D. Goodknecht Sr. [MVP]]

In

I have three Win2K clients and one Win2k Server. All
users are using roaming profiles from the server.

Sometimes when a user logs in they get a message "Cannot
find path \\server\profiles\username.pds. You will be
logged in using a local profile." The message has a 20
second countdown and then the user is logged in. If the
users logs out and logs in again they do not get this
error again.

It can also happen that if the user logged successfully
that they'll see a similar message when they log out,
i.e. "Cannot find path \\server\profiles. Your roaming
profile will not be updated."

Another example of what I believe is the same problem is
occasional when the user tries to open a mapped drive
from the server the get a "File/Path not found" error.
If they immediately try to open the drive again they are
successful.

This problem first started appearing when I set up a
local DNS server on the Win2K server.

IP addresses for all four machines are static. There is
no WINS server in use (my understanding is that Win2K
doesn't need WINS if it has DNS). There is not a
secondary DNS defined for any of the workstations. All
DNS queries go through the server first. I am able to do
successful nslookup queries for the server and all three
workstations from either the server or the workstations.

I have checked the cables and tried a different hub. No
success.

I am unable to make the error happen consistently, but
will see it on each workstation within a couple day of
normal use.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

You will get a lot more cosistent behavior if you mappings are to the FQDN
instead of to the NetBIOS name, I promise.
In fact I have totally disabled all NetBIOS access on my network, unless you
have specific applications that use NetBIOS, you don't need it. The only
thing Windows will lose is NetHood browsing which I consider a security risk
anyway.

 

[Matthew Smyrl]

Well I found the fix. It didn't turn out to be a DNS
issue at all, but thanks for the suggestion. I figured
I'd post just incase anyone else was seeing this in the
future.

The client I'm doing work for is using Compuserve 2000
for their e-mail. The Compuserve application will create
a "WAN" network adapter that is a virtual adapter it uses
when connected over the Internet. When this adapter was
created it got added ahead of the actual NIC in the
binding order. Client for Microsoft Networks, and File
and Print Sharing were bound to both adapters.

Because the WAN adapter is listed first, it is used as
the default adapter when the client looks to resolve DNS,
NetBIOS and similar activities. This created failures
and time-outs when trying to update Group Security
Policies, and occasionally when mapping shared drive
resources.

The fix is to go to open Control Panel-->Netork
Connections, then go to the Advanced menue and choose
Advanced Settings. It will list the network adapters.
Be sure the NIC with the DC is listed first (there are
arrow buttons to change the list order). Also for any
adapters where you aren't using Client for MS Networks or
File and print sharing, select those adapters and
unccheck those services.

In the end the fix was not hard, and makes sense, but was
not obvious from the errors I was seeing.

Matt