XP pro "user profile" problem - networked vs. not networked

[Tara Schulke]

Hello, I hope this is the right forum for this...

I upgraded to a new laptop with XP pro, and migrated my
data from my old Windows Me laptop with no problem.

My problem now is this:

When at work, I plug in my laptop, and log in to my work
domain with no problem. But, when I go on the road, where
I can't connect to the work domain, I can't get past the
login screen to access my local files. In Me, it would
let me in, but inform me that I may not have access to
network resources... but at least I could access my local
word docs, etc.

Is there a way for me to emulate this behavior in XP? Do
I have to set up another user profile to do this, with my
same desktop settings, etc.?

Thank you for any help on this matter...

Tara Schulke

 

[Mike Kolitz]

There are a couple reasons why this might happen.
With all of these, I'm guessing that your IT Department set these policies
for the domain, and did so for a reason. You may want to discuss your
problems with them, and see if you can work out a solution together.

Here's what could be going on. Group Policy could be set to do one or all
of the following:

1. Delete Cached profiles at logoff.
2. Require a domain controller to unlock workstation (would be the same for
logging on)
3. Set the number of cached logons to 0 - so you don't have any cached
credentials.

There may be other reasons, too, but this is all I could think of. Again, I
would strongly recommend that you run your problem by your company's IT
Department. They would have better knowledge of their network and policy
settings than anyone else.

 

[Tara Schulke]

Hi

Thanks for the response, I really appreciate it.

I did contact the admin, and 4 days later they came and
set up a VPN to connect to the office from home. So, now
when I log in, I select 'using dialup connection' and
select the VPN, and it works fine. But this doesn't solve
how I access my files, desktop, etc. when I'm in my car,
or on the train, and have no internet or network
connection to attach to... and that's my real problem.
I'm still awaiting a response from them on that! ;-(

Someone at work said to log in as administrator, and
create a new LOCAL user with the same username (so I would
have TSCHULKE/Domain01 and TSCHULKE/Tslaptop). But is
that a good idea? Wouldn't that still be two unique
profiles with separate My Documents and desktop, etc.?

Sorry, I wish I understood this better.

Thanks... Tara

 

[Mike Kolitz]

Hi Tara,
Yes, that would create two separate profiles, so unless you explicitly gave
yourself permission to your files in one profile, you wouldn't be able to
access them from another (generally speaking).

If I were to make any recommendation, it would be to go back to your IT
department and make it painfully obvious what isn't working for you. If you
can find a way to show them, that would make it even better. After they
understand exactly what you need, they should either be able to come up with
something that would get you going, or tell you that they can't/won't get
you going.

Sometimes IT people just have a hard time "getting" what the end user is
saying - being really specific helps (speaking tongue firmly in cheek, as an
IT guy who doesn't always "get" it myself ). When it comes right down to
it, we often speak different languages.