Roaming Profiles

[ryan1982]

i configured my windows 2000 server for
roaming profile but everytime i went to check
in the user profiles tab it always show local profile
i know that the key to switch between roaming and local profile is the profile path

which i have typed it to be:

//servername/profiles/username

in the workstation
but i still only found local profile in the user profile tab

if it is successsful normally i can switch between roaming profile and user profile

i 've tried and done all that can be done in
the manuals i can ever find on the net but
the prob still arises

anyone has any idea or any helpful links?
thanks in advance


note:win 2000 server (server)
win 2000 Pro ( workstation)
connected by a domain

 

[Guest_imported]

Hi,
First you cannot activate user profiles on existing account to which a user has already logged into. So, if you have many users to change you will have to delete and re-create each account.

If this is the case you may want to create a Template account (never log on as Template for the reasons above) with the following information added:-

1. On the server create directories with paths \\profiles and \\home.
2. Having used Active Directory to create the Template account right click on it and select the Profile tab. In the Profile Path box type \\servername\profiles\%username%

3. In the home folder select a drive letter (I try to use Z as it is typically free) and in the box type \\servername\home\%username%

4. Now apply and ok your way back to active directory.

5. Right click on the Template account and copy it by selecting copy and filling in the user details, repeat this for all users.

6. When finished disable the Template account until needed again.

You will of course have to explain quite a lot to your users, they will of course have a reset password when they first try to log on.

It is worth noting that some people will create large profiles as time goes on, this will mean that time to log onto a system can be increased due to net traffic. This is particularly true when logging onto machines that the user has not used before. In general though, most of my users are very happy with roaming profiles.

Hope this helps.

 

[ryan1982]

thanks sgjr,

however i have a few doubts,

may i know that are all these steps done in the

win 2000 server?

or do i have to do some configurations in the workstation
(win 2000 pro) in order for roaming profile to work

and for //profiles and for //home

does that mean that i can just create a folder called profile and a folder called share in the win 2000 server
and share it out?

(cos my server does not have a network drive attached)

 

[AOD1]

Hi Ryan, I didn't log on when I replied earlier as sgjr but you can be assured you are talking to the same person.

All the steps I gave you are done on the server in Active Directory. No workstation configurationis required.

Profiles and Home as directories are created as shares on the server or any network drive that will be accessible to the users. Directories will be created below these each named after the user, so user name Fred will have a direcory with path \\profiles\Fred and \\home\Fred with Fred's security applied to it so other users are not able to access these areas.

If you have any further concerns please feel free to reply again. I will check back when I can.

 

[ryan1982]

thanks AOD1 i understand much better now

but i have 3 major doubts that i wish to know better

1. if i just configured win 2000 server will
the user be able to use the roaming profile when the
user logs in in the workstation?

what i mean is that im a bit mixed up with how
the process works when a user login a workstation

when a person login a workstation, does
the computer takes the profile from the local system
or is there any communication with the server? (maybe something to do with domain?)

for example if i create a user called test1 in the workstation
do i need to change the profile path of test1 to \\servername\profiles\test1
and the home folder to
map z: \\servername\home\test1

in order for that workstation to be able to use roaming profile of test1?

or ill just make some changes to the server like the steps u said earlier and all users in the workstations will be able to use roaming profiles?

2.izzit for every user i created, must 1 create a folder seperately in the //home and //profile folders?

for example if i create user test1,
must I add to the home folder test1 and profile folder test1
which ends up with //home/test1 and //profile/test1 for sharing?

3.While i was trying the roaming profiles,i encountered
some error messages called permission denied while updating roaming profiles,
may i know that what minimum user type must i set in order for the user to update their roaming profiles?

sorry for the lengthy messages

 

[AOD1]

Hi

1. You are right, when the user logs in to the workstation a copy of the profile will be copied from the server to the workstation and saved in the usual place (C:\WINNT\Profiles\username by default). When the user logs off a copy of the profile including any changes will be copied to the server \\servername\profiles\username

The home folder is purely a storage area on the server for that user (I didn't explain that very well earlier). This allows users to copy/backup important information to the server. I have this contents of the home directory backed up every night as part of the standard backup procedure.

2. When you create the user and then modify the contents of the profile tab (points 1 and 2 in my reply as sgjr) in active directory, you must do this for every user. That is one of the reasons I suggested using a Template.

The %username% in \\servername\profiles\%username% will cause the system to automatically replace %username% with the name of the account you are modifying, creating the username directory for you.

3. The error message may be caused by permissions on the share \\servername\profiles and \\servername\home these area's should be set so that everyone has access. The directories beneath these will pick up the users permissions. If you are still having problems with these error messages go to the server, log on as Administrator and right click a users folder, check to see if the inherit properties switch is miss-set. Other than that I can think of no reason why you would have any problems.

Hope that helps.

 

[ryan1982]

thanks aod1 once again

but im sad to say that the system admin has decided
to put the roaming profile implementation on hold

im not given a chance to test the steps which u
have taught mi

im actually just a helper to help
him implement roaming profiles


anyway thanks for helping mi that much
i really appreciate it

if my system admin is to continue the roaming profiles and
i encounter any probs,
i'll post a new thread cos its quite hard to find this
thread again

hope that u will continue to help mi
bye aod1 for now