Roaming Profiles not working Consistently

[Don Jones]

Working with a Windows NT 4.0 Domain, and W2K member
servers. Profiles are being stored on a Windows 2000
Member server.

Create a template profile, and apply it to a user.
Policies are set to delete the cache profiles.

When after the user logs off, the profile remains and the
updates are not being saved to the network server. Found
that the profiles are left in a "in use condition".

Users logon to terminal services.

What is the best way to make roaming profiles work
consistently? Syncing the time doesn't help.

Don Jones

 

[Bob Qin [MSFT]]

Hi Don,

Thanks for your posting here.

I have done some research and I would like to share the following
information with you.

Under Windows NT 4.0, if you make a connection to a network printer, your
roaming profile may not be saved back to the server when you log off. This
problem typically occurs when common desktop settings (such as icons) are
also used.

Please try the hotfix mentioned in the following article.

325086 Windows NT 4.0 Roaming Profiles May Not Be Saved to the Server
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=325086

To obtain the hotfix in the most efficient way, please call Microsoft
Product Support Services directly. For a complete list of Microsoft Product
Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit
the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

More information
===
241572 Roaming Profile May Not Be Saved to the Server
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=241572

226535 Access Denied Error Occurs if the Roaming Profile Is Saved to a
NetWare
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=226535

Thank you for using our newsgroup.

Regards,
Bob Qin
Product Support Services
Microsoft Corporation

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Don Jones]

Thanks for the reponse.

Not sure if the articles apply to my environment. We
currently do not have any printers defined, and we are not
using modems, so I don't think article on tapi applies.

I'll try to get the updates in any case.

We are using Roaming profile(s) mainly to save off the
user's mail profile, so that when they log into 1-18
servers, their mail environment follows. When using a
template and making it mandatory, the user ends up with
the default profile, and not the one that was setup.

Don Jones

 

[Bob Qin [MSFT]]

Hi Don,

Thanks for your update.

In addition, you can also check if there is any error about user profile in
event log.

Another suggestion would be to run a tool that will monitor the logoff
process for one of the accounts that you are seeing the issue with to see
what hold the user profile.

1. Downloaded DGBView from sysinternals at
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/debugview.shtml and installed it
on a remote machine.

2. Run DbgView on a remote machine and connect to the problem machine (in
this case the terminal server) using Computer->Connect and give the machine
name.

3. Optionally, you can have DbgView to save the information to a log file.
Please set the Max log file size.

4. Have a client logon to the Terminal Server, load their profile and log
back off saving the profile. Once the problem occurs, save the log file
that is created.

NOTE: This is a third party tool and unsupported by Microsoft but I believe
that it will provide information to assist in resolving the issue.

If it is Windows 2000 Terminal Server, you can also try the following
hotfix.

827825 "Windows Cannot Unload Your Registry Class File" Error Message When
You
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=827825

Have a nice day!

Regards,
Bob Qin
Product Support Services
Microsoft Corporation

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Don Jones]

Thanks for the information. After reading through the
article(s), and looking at the server(s) in question, it
appears that some of the security fixes that we applied to
prevent security problems created the problem with roaming
profiles.

Working on getting the previous fixes, and I'll get the
new ones specified in the article(s). Do you know if
there is a schedule for the next Service Pack for Windows
2000?

Do the problems have any relation to being an NT 4.0
Domain, or is it isolated to W2K itself? Do you know if
W2003 has any of the same issues in regards to Roaming
Profiles?

Don Jones

 

[Bob Qin [MSFT]]

Hi Don,

As I know, it is scheduled to be included with Microsoft Windows 2000
Service Pack 5.

The problem should be related to the Terminal Server. Because when you
logon computer with roaming profile, it will copy the roaming profile to
local as cache and when you logoff computer, it will upload profile to the
shared folder.

As for Windows Server 2003, I am not aware of any roaming profile issue by
now.

Regards,
Bob Qin
Product Support Services
Microsoft Corporation

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

====================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
====================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.