Roaming Profile Load Times Slow on LAN

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bernie
  • Start date Start date
B

Bernie

I need some feedback on what should be expected for roaming profile
load times:

Environment:
-XP Desktops, Windows 2003 Server, AD
-100 Mbps Switched LAN

Problem: Roaming profiles in the 9MB range take approximately 90
seconds to load. Copying this same profile from the file server to
the workstation takes about 8 seconds (simple SMB file copy). The
profile load (at login) is simply copying the same data to different
locations, but it takes much longer.

AD Group Policies Applied:
Computer - Administrative - System - User Profile -
Delete Cached :: Enabled
Don not detect slow Network :: Enabled
Add the Administrators Group to ... :: Enabled

There are obvious benefits to having the profile copied to and from
the server at logon/logoff (and deleting the local copy of the
profile), so I am hesitant to keep a local copy of the profile. I am
trying to understand why the copy of the profile at logon time is so
disproportionate to the network file transfer speed of the same data
after login (since the protocol used to accomplish both tasks is the
same). Are there ways (beyond limiting profile size) to optimize
roaming profiles?

Any personal experiences, technical details or advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

Bernie
Crestwood, NY
 
Honestly, those times are to be expected, especially with anything over 2 MB.
There isn't anything you can do about it.

We have problems with users loading their profile across the network onto a
different LAN and I can honestly say it can take 2-10 minutes to load some
profiles depending on the size.

You can redirect folders, especially the my docs. Don't let users store any
files on the desktop. Shortcuts are fine.

If you redirect folders correctly the profile size should not be exceeding 4
MB.

I could go into more detail, but post a message in the server 2003 group
policy group.

Keep those profiles as tiny as possible and that's where folder redirection
comes into place.
 
Back
Top