Roaming Profiles
This page describes Windows Roaming Profiles as implemented the summer of 2002 in the CLC rollout of Windows XP. Also see the page Clearing Profiles.
Summary
A Profile is a collection of files and registry settings that are unique for the Windows account you are using on Windows NT, 2000, or XP. A Roaming Profile "follows you" from computer to computer by being copied from a server to the local disk at logon. Changes are uploaded to the server at logoff. The profile contains information about application settings and preferences, user-defined shortcuts and desktop settings, and other files.
Some folders normally associated with the profile, such as "My Documents" and "Desktop", are redirected on a lab machine by the UserSetup program to the "U-drive" or the PASS space. This is recommended since the profile quota is smaller than the other two services, and it can take a long time to copy large files to the local machine at every logon.
Tips
You are strongly urged to not use the profile for data storage. The space is limited and because all files are copied to the local computer at logon, a lot of files will slow down logons.
Cookies
Internet Explorer saves a file for every "cookie" (information saved by certain web sites). Some people accumulate many thousands of cookie files causing a slowdown for logging on if they have not selected the UDrive or PASS space for the home folder. Starting 11/16/04, cookies will be excluded from being saved with the profile, so if you want your cookies, you have to specify the UDrive or PASS space for your home folder, using the UserSetup program.
Details
The server location for your profile is defined when your account is created, but it may be change from time to time; you generally do not need to know what it is. When you log onto a lab computer, the files are copied from the server to the local hard disk. When you log off, new and changed files are copied back to the file server. Some files are excluded from being saved, such as "Temporary Internet Files".
When you exceed your profile storage space, you should immediately get a message saying so, and telling you that you'll have to move some items before you log off.
When you log on with a Windows account that has a Roaming Profile defined, and the machine you log onto is also set to use your Roaming Profile (the default), the files are copied from a server to a folder on the local hard disk, e.g., "C:\Documents and Settings\xyz123". The location of the copy on the local machine is set by the operating system and can't be changed (or at least not easily).
If you are an administrator on a personal machine that you log onto with your WIN\xyz123 account, you can set your profile to be local any time you wish. Thereafter, changes will not be save back to the central file server, but nor will you have such settings if you log onto another machine.
The server location of your profile is managed centrally and may change from time to time. Space is limited to 20MB.
Roaming Profiles is a feature of the Windows operating system. We have not modified the feature except in redirecting My Documents, Favorites and Cookies folders to the UDrive or PASS space, and the Desktop folder to the UDrive. The location of your profile is specified in Active Directory (AD). Various profile "stores" are managed by CLC staff. The central service is a 4-node server cluster with 26 "shares", one for each letter of the alphabet. A third of them are typically hosted on each of 3 nodes and the UDrive is hosted on the fourth.
Short Term Access Accounts (STAAs)
When STAAs expire, their profile contents are erased. The data is not archived and is not restorable.
Problems
Occasionally the network path to a profile server is broken and you might get a message that you were logged on with a temporary profile. You might try logging off and on again, or try a different computer.
If all lab computers fail to load your profile, report the problem to the CLC Hotline or contact an ITS Help desk or lab consultant.
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This page was last modified: 9/24/2008 10:43:14 AM.