Windows XP Roaming Profiles

When you log in to a Windows computer in an ITS Student Lab with you access name, you are logging on an Microsoft Windows XP operating system with your own profile and with your own file space on a server to store your documents. Your User Profile contains your customized desktop settings, Start Menu additions and application data configuration files.

Roaming Profiles in XP -- description of roaming profiles in our labs
Profile Storage Space -- how can you tell how much profile space you have left?
Clear User Application Data -- clean up files and registry keys from your profile
Removing Application Data Files -- clean up files in your profile
Clearing Your Profile -- clear your profile as a last resort
Your Desktop -- location to keep shortcuts, not documents

Profile Storage Space

The server location of your profile is managed centrally and may change from time to time. Space is limited to 30MB.

To check how much space you have left in your profile, hold the mouse over the profile quota icon in the System taskbar. Your available profile space will appear. You can double click the icon to see more detailed information on you profile storage space.

When you are approaching your quota limit, this profile storage space icon will change to a yellow triangle . This icon will change to a red circle and the detailed information will look like this when you exceed your profile storage quota:

Also this error window will appear when you exceeded your profile quota:

Clear User Application Data

If you are warned by the Profile Storage Space monitor that you are using too much space, first verify that you have not placed any files on your Desktop. You should move them to you HomeFolder (UDrive or PassSpace). Use your desktop only for shortcuts.

If you still to free up space, use the Clear User Application Data program to clean up files and registry keys in your profile . Choose applications which you no longer need or which are taking up much of your profile space. This application does NOT remove documents from the personal file space (UDrive or PassSpace).

Start | All Programs | Utilities | PSU Tools | Clear User Application Data
Check Box next to the Applications you wish to remove User Data
Press the Clear Data button

For example, to remove Trillian and Matlab profile data, you would check the following boxes, then press the Clear Data button:

Removing Application Data Files

If you still to free up space, use TreeSize to look at the folders and directory sizes in your profiles' Application Data. You should not delete the Microsoft Application Data directory. Choose applications which you no longer need or which are taking up much of your profile space.

Start | All Programs | Utilities | TreeSize | My Application Data
Press the + Check Box to expand to subdirectories:
Select the directory which you no longer need (in this example Adobe Photoshop), and right-click the mouse

Select Delete
Press the Yes button to confirm the removal of the directory and it files.

Your Desktop

The Desktop is part of your profile. Put shortcuts on the desktop, not folders and documents since many files and large files will slow down logon. To add a shortcut to the Desktop, follow these instructions from a Customize your Settings.

All documents should be created and stored in the My Documents folder. They reside on a server where they will be backed up, and they will not be copied to and from the local computer during the logon and logout process.

Use the UserSetup program to change your Home Folder, which contains your My Documents directory.

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This page was last modified: 5/1/2007 8:29:03 AM.