local profile directory not created on new PC

[TimRegester]

The Network consists of a Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium with 15 PCs running Windows XP Pro.

After much troubleshooting on one of the PCs with many Blue Screens and no solution, we decided to replace a PC with a new one. This made sense since the user also needed a more powerful PC.

The new PC was built in the normal way and all applications installed, then the problems started. After joining the PC to the domain and adding the user to the local Administrators group I logged in as the user and went to set up the mail in Outlook 2003 (via the mail icon in Control Panel). This is when the fun started. I input the correct server name and the user name and went to check names only to be told by a dialog that "There was an error locating one of the items needed to complete this operation. It might have been deleted"

So I checked the PC out and found that under documents and settings there was no local profile folder for the user.

I tried everything I could, took the PC off the domain and back on again. But no local profile folder, yet the user has all i.e. favourites and user settings for applications.

Has anyone seen this before?

PC has all hotfixes for XP and office.

 

[IllogicallyLogical]

What does Control Panel> System> Advanced> User Profiles> Settings show?

Joey
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[TimRegester]

That is an oddity it showed the user profile being present but with a large 775MB profile. This would mostly be accounted for by her .pst file which was 771MB.the type and status were both local, the AD default is for folder redirection not roaming profiles.

Does this sound like a corrupt profile or a permissions issue?

All programs installed ok, only outlook refused to play ball. It also has this program called HP Protect/Credentials manager but I assume that is an 802.1X or biometric security, could this be enabled in some way as to defy the creation of local profiles? I logged in three seperate users, none had a profile created, the domain admin account did create a profile. Which would suggest a permissions issue.

It is entirely outside my experience, I have done several XP rollouts and migrated hundreds of users and never seen this happen before. I just read my library of XP and 2003 books and notes to no avail.

 

[IllogicallyLogical]

Any policy settings on the computer that might be causing this? Go Run> gpedit.msc and check Local Computer Policy\ Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\User Profiles. Anything configured in there like 'Delete cached copies of roaming profiles'? Also, what about Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options\Interactive logon:Number of previous logons to cache(in case domain controller is not available). This value is not set to 0 is it?

Joey
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[TimRegester]

I will check the GPOs, but when I logged that user into another PC it created a local profile ok, so it would tend to suggest the GPOs are ok. I have GPMC loaded so will try some modelling.

I am still open to other suggestions.