Roaming Profile Folder Redirection Logic..

  • Thread starter Thread starter HbooGz
  • Start date Start date
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HbooGz

Hey All -

I was called on site to repair a slow login issue where the customer
has roaming profiles set and the My documents folder redirecting.

Unfortunately, the users' my documents folder is about 1 to 2GB in size
and it's taking forever to loging and logoff. There is also an issue
with responsiveness from the server when viewing thumbnails of the
images using paperport.

The local copy of my documents has less amount of files than the remote
copy of my documents. Also User's indicate when they delete documents
they reappear as well.

How is folder rediction suppose to be setup with roaming profiles ? If
the profile is raoming in nature, the my documents folder moves with
it..

since i'm using roaming profiles, that roams the "my documents folder"
-- so i should have that as an exlusion ? where ?

I've noticed that the Group Policy is attached to OU and within this OU
is the Group Rprofiles and the members of this rprofiles group, so when
i run a grpresult /v it shows that folder redirection twice -- is this
a cause for concern ?

In essence i'm trying to further understand an implementation of
roaming profiles using folder redirection that actually reduces
overhead.

or should i convince the management to start using private home
directories ?



This is setup on a Windows 2003 SP 1 standard server with Windows XP
SP2 Clients.


Thanks,
 
Hi

- You can use Folder redirection to redirect the My documents folder, as you
would do under the My documents folder properties. The problems that you
migh have are generally permissions related. If you're doing this
configuration only to 1 user with would be better to manually change the
default path of the My documents Folder, right clic on it and change the
path -> to the new path folder.



--
I hope that the information above helps you

Good Luck
Jorge Silva
MCSA
Systems Administrator
 
what i'm trying to understand is if roaming profile has the profile
roaming, which is inclusive to my documents, why redirect the my
documents ?

doesn't cause redundancy ?

in contrast -- how do you guys effectively setup folder redirection
with roaming profiles implemented ?

several users' my documents folders are 2gb! and in some cases files
reappear after they are deleted.

just trying to understand and see how folder redirection is benefical
when roaming profiles is implemented -- asides from a terminal server
envrionment.
 
You can exclude folders from the Roaming Profile via the domain GPO...

Regards,
Hank Arnold
 
why redirect the my documents ?
Click to expand...

The big advantage of this is that you don't have to wait for your
downloading your My Docs Folder. for example - If you have 2gb in my docs
folder and you have roaming profile, every time that the users logs on a new
machine he'll have to wait until the profile including my docs folder to
download to that new macjine. If you have redirection enabled, YOU DON'T
WAIT for the Downloading of My Docs folder, because the folder is in another
location, you can thing of redirection in this case as a shortcut pointing
to your folder in the network.
doesn't cause redundancy ?
Click to expand...

The folder is redirected normally to a server in network, you can have
BAckups of that folder, or you can use DFS.
in contrast -- how do you guys effectively setup folder redirection
with roaming profiles implemented ?
Click to expand...

You only have one user, in this case you can do it manually as I already
mentioned. But you can do this usin GPO.
just trying to understand and see how folder redirection is benefical
when roaming profiles is implemented -- asides from a terminal server
envrionment.
Click to expand...

roaming profiles just give you a local copy plus a roaming copy in the
server.

--
I hope that the information above helps you

Good Luck
Jorge Silva
MCSA
Systems Administrator
 
Hey Jorge -

Thanks for the reply.

I actually have more than one user and the redirection is already
implemented via GPO. it was done prior to my arrival.

The issue is that even though the my documents folder is being
redirected, it's downloading a local copy of the 2gb my documents from
the roaming profile -- how can i stop this from happening ?

Also, i'm sure that's related to the user's indicating they are seeing
documents reappear when they delete them.
 
The issue is that even though the my documents folder is being
redirected, it's downloading a local copy of the 2gb my documents from
the roaming profile -- how can i stop this from happening ?
Click to expand...

Were it's going the redirection path? check under my docs properties.

You can also use RSoP.msc and check if the policies are being applied



--
I hope that the information above helps you

Good Luck
Jorge Silva
MCSA
Systems Administrator
 
It's going to a different share on the same server where the roaming
profilles are being held.

I ran a gpupdate on the machine and noticed that the group policy is
being applied and folder redirection has two instances. Because the GPO
is applied at the OU that consists of the Group and the members of the
Group.

+-Ou
+----Rprofiles ( universal group )
+-----User accounts

I plan on creating an OU for the Group and OU for the Users under this
OU and apply the GPO link to the OU for the Group and block policy
inhertitance on the OU of the Users.

But i can't see why the my documents folder is still downloading the
entire folder and why items reappear after they are deleted.
 
But i can't see why the my documents folder is still downloading the
entire folder and why items reappear after they are deleted.
Click to expand...

- With a large profile like this, maybe the changes aren't being recorded to
the server, so you'll end up with the same profile every time.
- Did you tried to make a change to a document (instead of delete) and
logoff and logon, and check if the change was recorded?


--
I hope that the information above helps you

Good Luck
Jorge Silva
MCSA
Systems Administrator
 
Hiya

We run roaming profile too. I have also noticed that roaming profile is not
always reliable. Sometimes when you delete shortcuts on your desktop, you
logoff then log back in, the shortcut is back. For some reason the
synchronisation process at logoff/logon is not working properly.
But i can't see why the my documents folder is still downloading the
entire folder and why items reappear after they are deleted.
Click to expand...

If your folder redirection is working, then nothing gets downloaded.
Redirected folders are always on the network.
So what you are saying is, files are being downloaded to "C:\Documents and
Settings\username\My documents" at logon? If this is true, something must not
be set correctly with Folder redirection. You sure its not something on the
DESKTOP? We have had users who copied tonnes of files onto their DESKTOPS
(which is part of roaming profile).

Kory
 
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