Roaming Profiles - XP on NT Domain

[scobley]

I am currently running an NT domain with roaming profiles which have been working fine with all my 98, NT and 2000 machines.. The problem I have is that we are upgrading to XP pro on the laptops and I cannot get the roaming profiles to work at all.

I have entered the machine in the domain and it logs on correctly, when I check the profile it is using it says it is using a roaming profile and all appears to be ok.
But when I logoff, disconnect from the network and logon I get the messages 1) cannot connect to server to see roaming profile (obviously) . 2) cannot connect to local copy of profile,, creating temporary one.

the logon then proceeds and creates a local profile, meaning that when I reconnect to the network no changes are replicated back..

Is there a way for XP pro to use roaming profiles on an NT domain?

 

[bcastner]

XP can use roaming profiles in your setting:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314478

The issue is not the roaming profile, per se, but that your laptops are finding it a little difficult to connect to the network.

Could you describe how they are connecting in more detail? Are the wired or wireless connections?

 

[scobley]

it is a wired network 100mps, the laptop connects fine, runs the login scripts, maps the drives, everything whilst on the network. The profile says it a roaming profile whilst on the network. But when offline it reverts to a temporary one.

I have built a desktop with XP, on a different part of the network, to test it but the same thing happens on that aswell !!?

I am at a loss..

 

[bcastner]

It is acting perfectly normal.

A roaming profile requires that the profile be stored on the server and not locally cached.

From your description you do not want a roaming profile, rather you want to profile preserved on the workstation hard disk drive for off-line work.

This link explains the four options available to you for profile types and where they are stored:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...et/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/XPUsrDat.asp

 

[scobley]

What I want is for the server side profiles that everyone has already (which work fine with 98, etc etc) which they use to be able to use different machines, to work with XP. The way it is setup for the laptop is the same and when offline they use a cached version of their server side profile (which replicates back any changes when reconnected).

Does it mean in XP I have to recreate everyone's profile locally and then copy to the server?

 

[bcastner]

Let me place some emphasis on some key points of my last link to you. I will bold the important sections:

Quote:

Best Practices for User Profiles

To get the best experience possible from roaming user profiles, it is important to read all the documentation and plan your implementation thoroughly. This section presents best practices for using roaming user profiles.

Let the System Create Profile Folders for Each User.
To ensure that Roaming user profiles work optimally, create only the root profile share on the server, and let the system create the folders for each user. If you must create folders for the users, ensure that you have the correct permissions set. For details on the required permissions see Security Considerations when Configuring Roaming User Profiles.

Do Not Use Offline Folders on Roaming Profile Shares.
Make sure that you turn off Offline Folders for shares where roaming user profiles are stored. If you do not turn off Offline Folders for a user’s profile, you may experience synchronization problems as both Offline Folders and Roaming Profiles try to synchronize the files in a user’s profile.

Note This does not affect using Offline Folders with redirected folders such as My Documents

Turn off the Fast Logon Enhancement
With the fast logon “enhancement” in Windows XP when users change from a local to a roaming profile, it will take two logons on each machine for profile changes to be registered. This is because the user always logs on with cached credentials; therefore it takes one logon for the network to notice that the user has become roaming and the second logon to apply these settings.

To ensure the best possible experience, enable the setting Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon, located at Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Logon.

Roaming Between Different Operating System Versions
Although roaming between Windows 2000 and Windows XP should be a smooth process, there are some precautions you can take to minimize possible issues:

If you can avoid roaming between versions of the operating system, then do so. There's nothing inherent in roaming that will cause problems, but the data that applications put in the profile may have unintended side effects on other versions of the operating system.
Make sure that you have the same application versions installed.
Make sure that applications are installed to the same path and drive.
Make sure that the different versions of the operating system are installed on the same %systemdrive% and in the same %windir%.
If Users roam between Windows NT 4.0-based clients and Windows XP- Windows 2000-based clients, consider setting the Profile Path during install on Windows XP or Windows 2000. Differences in the default profile path (%windir%\Profiles vs. %systemdrive%\Documents and Settings) may cause problems for users roaming between Windows NT 4.0-based clients and Windows XP- or Windows 2000-based clients. To minimize the chance of problems, make sure the path to the profile is the same on both clients.

Redirect the Location of the My Documents Folder Outside of the Users Roaming Profile.
To decrease initial logon time to a new computer, it is recommended that you redirect the location of the My Documents folder outside of the user’s roaming profile. The best way to do this is with Folder Redirection. If you don’t have Active Directory enabled, you can do this with a logon script or instruct the user to do so manually.

Do Not Use Encrypted File System (EFS) on Files in a Roaming User Profile.
The Encrypted File System is not compatible with files within Roaming User Profiles. If you encrypt profile folders or files using EFS the user’s profile will not roam.

Note This does not affect encrypting files on remote shares.
Do not Set Disk Quotas too Low for Users with Roaming Profiles.
If a user’s disk quotas are set too low, roaming profile synchronization may fail. Make sure enough disk space is allocated to allow the system to create a temporary duplicate copy of a user’s profile. Because the temporary profile is created in the user’s context as part of the synchronization process, it debits his or her quota.

Use Group Policy Loopback Policy Processing Sparingly if you Use Roaming Profiles.
Group Policy loopback processing enables a different set of user type Group Policies to be applied based on the computer being logged onto. This policy is useful when you need to have user type policies applied to users of specific computers. There are two methods for doing this. One allows for the policies applied to the user to be processed, but to also apply user policies based on the computer that the user has logged onto. The second method does not apply the user’s settings based on where the user object is, but only processes the policies based on the computer’s list of GPOs.

Use caution when using loopback policy processing and roaming profiles—especially when users may roam between Windows 2000 or Windows XP-based computers and Windows NT 4.0-based computers. You may see some “tattooing”— applications can store policy settings in HKCU\Software\Policies regardless of operating system version. Windows NT 4 also stored some explorer policy settings in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\windows\currentversion\explorer\policies. Windows 2000 and Windows XP clears these keys each time before re-applying current policy, but because Windows NT 4 does not clear them, you will get settings left if you roam from a Windows 2000-based machine.

 

[arlems]

Once you are disconnected from the network, could you verify (using a local administrator logon) that the roaming profile in question was actually saved in the laptop?

 

[scobley]

it is strange as the only roaming profiles it saves are ones that have a local account setup with the same logon name and with local admin rights.. shich defeats the object of it.

 

[bcastner]

As Administrator, be sure to check that you have not blocked the saving of profiles through Group Policy.

Start, Run, gpedit.msc

Look under the Policy object:

Computer Configuration
Administrative Templates
System
User Profiles