Laptops running slow when connected to another network

[Mark]

Laptops running slow when connected to another network

We have the situation where engineers in our company go out to different
sites and connect their laptops to customer LAN's (for programming PLC's &
internet access). All the laptops are joined to our Windows 2003 domain and
are WinXP SP2.

When out on site & connected to other LAN's the laptops are very slow to
login, open windows explorer etc. If the machines are started without being
connected to the network, everything runs fine.

I guess the laptops are looking for our domain controller. I have tried
making different hardware profiles and disabling a number of services but
with the same result.

Creating a local user on each Laptop isn't an option, as they don't want to
have different profiles.

Are there any specific timeout settings to help with this issue?

Thanks in Advance

Mark

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Laptops running slow when connected to another network

We have the situation where engineers in our company go out to
different sites and connect their laptops to customer LAN's (for
programming PLC's & internet access). All the laptops are joined to
our Windows 2003 domain and are WinXP SP2.

When out on site & connected to other LAN's the laptops are very
slow to login, open windows explorer etc. If the machines are
started without being connected to the network, everything runs
fine.
I guess the laptops are looking for our domain controller. I have
tried making different hardware profiles and disabling a number of
services but with the same result.

Creating a local user on each Laptop isn't an option, as they don't
want to have different profiles.

Are there any specific timeout settings to help with this issue?

They could have the same local/domain profile if you change the proper
registry settings and give the proper file/folder permission on the domain
profile directory.

- Does the slowdown exist if they logon to the laptop *before* they connect
to the network and THEN connect?
- Do they have any persistent network drives (always a bad idea for those
not using offline folders or something - IMHO.)

Essentially - once the machine sees a network - it is going to assume it is
the one where all its domain friends live and will look for it if you try to
logon using domain credentials. That slows the logon significantly. A
local profile that points to the same drive location as the domain profile
can help alleviate that and maintain the same look/feel they have setup
already.

As for the slowness after logging in - I can only assume that is because
they may have remembered drive connections?

 

[Mark]

Thanks for the Reply,

Sounds logical pointing Local Profile at Domain Profile Folder.

Just a few Questions:

What registry changes need to be made?

Does this casue any problems?

Many Thanks

Mark

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Laptops running slow when connected to another network

We have the situation where engineers in our company go out to
different sites and connect their laptops to customer LAN's (for
programming PLC's & internet access). All the laptops are joined
to our Windows 2003 domain and are WinXP SP2.

When out on site & connected to other LAN's the laptops are very
slow to login, open windows explorer etc. If the machines are
started without being connected to the network, everything runs
fine.
I guess the laptops are looking for our domain controller. I have
tried making different hardware profiles and disabling a number of
services but with the same result.

Creating a local user on each Laptop isn't an option, as they
don't want to have different profiles.

Are there any specific timeout settings to help with this issue?

They could have the same local/domain profile if you change the
proper registry settings and give the proper file/folder
permission on the domain profile directory.

- Does the slowdown exist if they logon to the laptop *before* they
connect to the network and THEN connect?
- Do they have any persistent network drives (always a bad idea
for those not using offline folders or something - IMHO.)

Essentially - once the machine sees a network - it is going to
assume it is the one where all its domain friends live and will
look for it if you try to logon using domain credentials. That
slows the logon significantly. A local profile that points to the
same drive location as the domain profile can help alleviate that
and maintain the same look/feel they have setup already.

As for the slowness after logging in - I can only assume that is
because they may have remembered drive connections?

Sounds logical pointing Local Profile at Domain Profile Folder.

Just a few Questions:

What registry changes need to be made?

Does this cause any problems?

Create the local account...

To make the profiles the same, have the user logon locally as well as in the
domain - choose the one they like the most (this is all assuming you do not
use roaming profiles) and as another administrative user (after rebooting),
change the registry setting pointing to one or the other profiles...

Start -> RUN -> regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Look for the SID (the really nasty looking number starting with S-1-5
usually) folder that when you select it on the left and look on the right in
the value for "ProfileImagePath" has the value for the user you want to
point to the other profile. Change that to be the path of the other user
you want it to be.. and then close the regedit and reboot. Make sure that
the users have full File and Directory permissions to boh of those
directories.

Does it cause problems? One that I know of.
When they bring the computer back in and do not choose to log onto the
domain - they run no logon scripts.