Managing your Roaming Profile

What is a profile?

A Microsoft Windows User Profile describes the Windows configuration for a specific user, including the user's environment and preference settings. For example, those settings and configuration options specific to the user - such as installed applications, desktop icons, colour options, etc. - are contained in a User Profile. A profile also stores data like your email settings, shortcuts and/or files on your Desktop, files cached by Internet Explorer, custom screen backgrounds that you use, some application settings, drive mappings that you want reconnected every time you log-on, and so forth.

What is a roaming profile?

A roaming profile is a profile stored on a network share (as opposed to on the local machine) which can thus be accessed from any computer. A user who has a roaming profile can log on to any computer for which that profile is valid and access that profile. Roaming user profiles provide the user with a consistent working environment from machine to machine (appearance, settings, preferences, data files, and the like). Once the user logs off and his profile has been uploaded back to the server, the local copy of his roaming profile is deleted.
 

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Where is my roaming profile stored?

User's profiles are created in each user's home directory in a folder called .NTProfile.

The .NTProfile directory contains the following subdirectories:

• ntuser.dat - a binary file that is used to populate the HKCU registry hive on the client workstation
• ntuser.pol - another file containing registry information
• ntuser.ini - an ini file
• Templates - a directory containing shortcuts to template items
• Start Menu - a directory containing the files and folders that create the user's menus
• SendTo - a directory that contains shortcut files that create the "SendTo" menu for the user
• Recent - a directory that contains shortcuts to the most recently accessed files
• PrintHood - a directory that contains shortcuts to items in the user's Printers folder
• NetHood - a directory that contains shortcuts to items in the user's My Network Places folder
• Desktop - a directory that contains the items that make up the user's desktop
• Cookies - a directory that contains the browser cookies that the user has acquired while traversing the web
• Favorites - a directory that contains the user's Internet Explorer Favorites (Bookmarks)
• My Documents - the user's default data directory. It exists on the user's desktop and tends to be the default location for Save As
• Application Data - a directory that contains configuration data saved by applications run by the user

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How can I avoid a long log-on time?

Large .NTProfile directory = Long Log-in Time!
The most common items to watch when trying to keep your profile down to size are:

• The Desktop (the shortcut icons and such that come up when you start Windows) is part of your profile. Therefore...
  • Don't store documents (or a large background image) on your desktop.
  • Save your documents to your H:\ folder instead. For easy access, create a shortcut to the file and store that on your Desktop - shortcuts are small and will not affect your log-in time.
     
• Internet Explorer Cache Files Internet Explorer will save information about websites you have viewed in its cache. Your cache is stored in your profile and can become hundreds of megabytes in size. To eliminate this problem, change Internet Explorer's default setting of saving Temporary Internet Files in your profile.
   
  • Go to: Tools | Internet Options | Settings button for Temporary Internet Files
  • The Current Location should point to the local profile directory (C:\Temp)
  • Click 'Move Folder' and browse to another location outside your profile (C:\temp) as the location for saving Temporary Internet Files
     
• Other Temporary Files Make sure that temporary files are not saved in your profile. Sometimes when programs crash they can leave files floating in this temporary file space. To set the location for your temporary file space:
   
  • Go to: Settings | Control Panel | System | Environment
  • In the user variables section there should be a temp variable.
  • Change this to a location outside your profile, C:\Temp. The directory needs to exist, so make sure that it is created first.
     
• Incomplete Downloads Some downloads that don't complete may be saved in your profile in a folder called Incomplete. Check and remove such a folder if it exists.

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What else should I know about my roaming profile?

If you are logged on to more than one machine at a time, both machines will update your roaming profile when you log out of them. This means that the last machine you log out of will write it's changes last and thus will be the profile you see on your next login.

If you have icons on your desktop or in your start menu that point to files or other programs on the local machine, those items will not function when you're logged in to some other machine unless those programs are part of the standard machine set up, e.g.: Excel, Word, etc.

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How do I know if my roaming profile has become corrupted?

Your know your profile is corrupt when

• You see a small dialog box indicating that your profile is corrupt, while logging in to a Windows 2000 machine. (or)
• You are able to login to a machine but do not see your customized desktop or application settings. This means that the files that contain your customized profile information have become corrupt and cannot be read by the system.

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What should I do if my roaming profile becomes corrupted?

You will need to reset your profile. Please keep in mind that resetting your profile will cause all Desktop shortcuts and other preferences to be lost. If you are having an issue that you believe is caused by a corrupt roaming profile, please follow the Resetting Windows Roaming Profile documentation.

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What are the leading causes of roaming profile corruption?

Anything that interrupts the process while your profile is being uploaded to the server on logoff can potentially corrupt your profile. Common causes are:

• Going over quota
• Machine crash requiring reboot or otherwise rebooting while logged on
• Simultaneously logging off two machines
• Network connectivity interrupted while logging off
• Act of God

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Suggestions on using your Desktop

Your Profile

Most Desktop problems are caused by profile issues. A user's profile describes his work environment, the colour of his desktop, the last window(s) he had opened, his screen saver, settings for some applications, and so forth. Athena Windows users use a roaming profile as opposed to a local profile.

A roaming profile is stored not locally on the machine one is sitting at, but on our network file system. When you log on to a certain machine, your profile is downloaded to that machine. Any changes you make to your work environment are made to this local profile copy. When you log out, the local copy is then copied back to the central fileserver.

Normally, the download and upload of your profile only takes a few seconds to complete. However, it is possible to inadvertently cause problems with this process by storing large files or folders on your Desktop.

Overloaded Desktops

Your Desktop is represented in your roaming profile by directory .NTProfile\Desktop. This directory, when downloaded to the local machine, is temporarily stored in the local directory C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Desktop. Any shortcuts or files you copy to the desktop are actually copied here. Problems start when you copy a large folder to your desktop. This large folder is copied to the previously mentioned directory, and when you log out, is copied up to the central fileserver. During each subsequent login, the folder is copied down, and then copied back as you log out. This will add considerable time to each login or logout and may cause timeouts or errors in the login process.

To prevent this problem, it is best to use shortcuts to files and folders instead of placing the actual file/folder on the Desktop. When saving documents, save them into your H:\ drive - this is a network drive designed to store your data files. Files stored in H:\ will not adversely affect your logon time.

Creating a Shortcut on your Desktop

• Right click on any clear area of your desktop. This should bring up a menu.
• On that menu select New, then select Shortcut.
• A dialog box will open asking for a command line. If you just want to create a shortcut to a folder or file, just type the path for the command line, or use the Browse button to find the file you want. For example, to create a shortcut to H:\foo, type H:\foo as the command line.
• Click Next.
• The next dialog asks for a name for the shortcut. This will be the name displayed under the icon on your desktop. You can put anything you wish here.
• Click Finish.
• Alternately, you can right-click on the file or folder to which you want a shortcut and choose Send to | Desktop (create shortcut) from the menu that appears.

Shortcuts are generally so small that you could have several of them on your desktop without causing problems.

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