2

I'm trying to troubleshoot an issue with a user's My Documents not being mapped to a network location as it should be. Most of the user have their AD account set to have H as their home folder and it's mapped to a network location. This works fine for everyone except a single user who's been here a long time and his My Documents keeps getting uploaded with his roaming profile to the server. He has a few hundred megs in here and although he only uses one machine this is obviously not desirable. I've searched around HKEY_CURRENT_USER and compared it with a working user but it all seems fine and I can't see it using a GPO.

My question is, what exactly does Server 2003 do to set up this folder and how is the setting passed to the machine?

Thanks.

1 Answer 1

1

There is a quite impressive guide which can be found here. Please check the following:

  • Whether the user already have a healthy local profile. A profile which is not corrupt.
  • User's profile is configured as a roaming profile. Please check the profile properties in the AD DS user management console. You should use a GPO or Extensions in order to achieve this with best results.
  • How to prevent folders from roaming with a profile in Windows Server 2003: Read the KB from here.
4
  • The user's homeDirectory and the user's profilePath are not the same thing. I believe OP is asking specifically about the automatic mapping of homeDirectory as the homeDrive at logon.
    – jscott
    Jan 30, 2013 at 14:04
  • That is true, but he is also mentioning about a roaming profile so there could be a mixed configuration. So the profile properties has to be evaluated. By just setting the home folder does not create any redirection. It maps the shared drive when user profile is loaded and when it is loaded, user profile settings automatically do the job. I am curious about his configuration. Its good to use HDs for reliability. Using just the home folder property does not do other things such as my documents redirection unless configured.
    – Lasith
    Jan 30, 2013 at 14:38
  • Thanks guys. What I'm specifically talking about is the Home Folder section under the Profile tab in the users account in AD Users & Computers. I don't know how this setting finds it's way into ntuser.dat or if there's something else involved. I've deleted the registry entry in ntuser.dat to see if the profile would rebuild mapping to the network drive but it hasn't, it's just mapped to exactly the same location on the C: again. Is it something to do with either Shell Folders or User Shell Folders in HKCU?
    – user962023
    Feb 1, 2013 at 12:03
  • Have you tried to clear the saved credentials? As an example, by clearing the local credential cache by checking with Control keymgr.dll (this has to be run with a command prompt). After that, you should try to clear credentials of the user from AD DS user management console. This will force to re initiate the targeting. Also check, AppData\Roaming area and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders. For the specific users, also check wininit under winlogon. Network shortcuts: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts.
    – Lasith
    Feb 5, 2013 at 7:26

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .