Diappearing profiles 1

[tpulley]

Anyone ever heard or seen why users roamin profiles keep diappearing? It appears at random to different users on the system. I just picked this client up and their only complaint with Citrix is the "lost profiles".

In the AD properties there is a location for terminal server profiles for each user for example: \\servername\profiles\username . They have active directory in place. The Citrix server is a member server. The users on citrix are almost all anonymous users. They are on the latest service packs on all and have several hotfixes applied too. I suspect that when they logon using their username and password they grab an anonymous account and somehow that messes with their profiles. To see if this is true I created a user account on the Citrix server (same username and PW asin ad) and the profile loaded fine. I did have to set the user up in outlook again no biggie though. Any ideas about profile issues?

Thanks

 

[ahalecitrix]

When you say the profile disappears, do you mean the entire profile folder in the roaming profile path disappears or are the users logging on and losing their profile settings?

 

[tpulley]

It appears that they lose their profile settings.

 

[ahalecitrix]

If the users are logging into Citrix as anonymous users there won't be a specific profile related to each user logging in.

I would highly recommend disabling all of the anonymous user accounts and force the users to login using their domain username and password.

If the users continue to have problems with their profile settings not sticking it would indicate to me that the roaming profiles are not working correctly. The users may have a different local profile on each MetaFrame server, so depending on which server they attach to they could have different profile settings. This can also be caused by the roaming profiles not being deleted from the MetaFrame servers when the users log off.

 

[tpulley]

Hmmmm I have to admit I am not too familar with the anonymous users. I can disable those (anonymous) accounts and their domain usernames will be sufficient? That is what I want to happen. I will disable the anonymous accounts and see what happens from there.

 

[tpulley]

BTW thanks a lot....

 

[ahalecitrix]

No problem. Just FYI here is my philosophy on access to a MetaFrame server. Keep in mind there are always unique situations, but here's the general rules I go by:

1. Disable the anonymous accounts.
2. Secure access to the farm by modifying the permissions to connect via ICA with a Domain Global Security and disable RDP.
3. Lock down the server with Group Policy. Give users access to only the things they will need to do their job. Lock the server down with GP so that if the user isn't in a group that receives a permissive GP, they are completely locked out from doing anything on the server other than logoff. Deny the GP's to Citrix Administrators.
4. Always use roaming profiles and remote home directories. Make sure the profile and home directories are in separate directories.

Hope that helps.