Strange user profile path change to C:\Documents and Settings\TEMP

[NZSchoolTech]

I have a laptop user who has lost their desktop items and My Documents
contents etc as well as access to Outlook data files.

When I look in the Registry at
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders, I
find that most of the string values in this key point to C:\Documents and
Settings\TEMP path instead of C:\Documents and Settings\<user name> which is
the default that this user was set up with when they were set up on the
laptop.

The laptops are set up so that the main user has a local profile. Everyone
else who logs on gets a roaming profile from the server.

Folder redirection is applied by GPO. The GPO setting for the group they are
a member of explicitly redirects their folder My Documents and Desktop to
%USERPROFILE%\Desktop and My Documents meaning that these should be set to
wherever the user's profile comes from. Ordinary this is not this TEMP
folder. I do not know why this would have been changed to C:\Documents and
Settings\Temp for this user. It is a very strange situation.

What other steps can I take to try to determine why the user's profile path
has changed? I haven't yet looked in User Shell Folders but I expect it will
probably contain the expected Expandable String values loaded with variants
of %USERPROFILE% as normal.

There is definitely no user called TEMP and no idea why this path would have
been created to be used for a userprofile.

I remember another user was having problems one day because an application
had altered one of the environment strings causing their path to be wrong.
This meant Windows could not load a DLL it needed because of the path
change. Is it possible that an application has somehow changed the
environment variable %USERPROFILE% ? How would I be able to determine what
is causing this to happen?

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

I have a laptop user who has lost their desktop items and My Documents
contents etc as well as access to Outlook data files.

When I look in the Registry at
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders, I find that most of the string values in this key point to
C:\Documents and Settings\TEMP path instead of C:\Documents and
Settings\<user name> which is the default that this user was set up
with when they were set up on the laptop.

In a command prompt, type
set
and look for the %userprofile% path. ....

The laptops are set up so that the main user has a local profile.

Meaning, your domain user logs in, the roaming profile is downloaded once,
and then you change the type from roaming to local? That's what I often do
if I've got a user who has a laptop & a desktop - you know you've got at
least some backup of their profile settings. If they don't use both a laptop
and a desktop, just leave it roaming (why not)?

Everyone else who logs on gets a roaming profile from the server.

Folder redirection is applied by GPO. The GPO setting for the group
they are a member of explicitly redirects their folder My Documents
and Desktop to %USERPROFILE%\Desktop and My Documents

Ah. Do not use folder redirection to send anything over to the user's
roaming profile folder- it kinda defeats the purpose of having folder
redirection at all. By default, those folders *would* roam as part of the
profile - and you don't want that, as you want your profiles to stay *tiny*.

Instead, redirect them elsewhere....I usually use the users' home
directories (& appropriate subfolders therein).

meaning that
these should be set to wherever the user's profile comes from.
Ordinary this is not this TEMP folder. I do not know why this would
have been changed to C:\Documents and Settings\Temp for this user. It
is a very strange situation.

Check the event logs, and I'll bet you the domain profile got corrupted and
a temporary one was loaded. I'd delete the cached local profile and log in
again as the user (see note above about roaming profile/change to local).

Download & install the latest version of the User Profile Hive Cleanup
Service on all computers.

What other steps can I take to try to determine why the user's
profile path has changed? I haven't yet looked in User Shell Folders
but I expect it will probably contain the expected Expandable String
values loaded with variants of %USERPROFILE% as normal.

There is definitely no user called TEMP and no idea why this path
would have been created to be used for a userprofile.

I remember another user was having problems one day because an
application had altered one of the environment strings causing their
path to be wrong. This meant Windows could not load a DLL it needed
because of the path change. Is it possible that an application has
somehow changed the environment variable %USERPROFILE% ? How would I
be able to determine what is causing this to happen?

See above (event logs are where you ought to start). I'm presuming you've
got backups of the data (My Docs & Desktop), right? That they were
redirected & are available on the server?

 

[NZSchoolTech]

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"

In a command prompt, type
set
and look for the %userprofile% path. ....


Meaning, your domain user logs in, the roaming profile is downloaded once,
and then you change the type from roaming to local? That's what I often do
if I've got a user who has a laptop & a desktop - you know you've got at
least some backup of their profile settings. If they don't use both a
laptop and a desktop, just leave it roaming (why not)?



Ah. Do not use folder redirection to send anything over to the user's
roaming profile folder- it kinda defeats the purpose of having folder
redirection at all. By default, those folders *would* roam as part of the
profile - and you don't want that, as you want your profiles to stay
*tiny*.

Doesn't matter at all on a local profile - it doesn't roam. On a laptop,
they expect their files to be on the local hard drive - not on the network.