Local/Roaming Profiles can not be updated

[pmurphy]

NT 4.0 server with Workstations using XP

Some of my roaming profiles are not being updated when the users are logging off. Does anyone know why this happens and is there a fix?

Also, when some users try to access Outlook they get 'Outlook can not start'. This does not happen to all users on the same machine, it just certain users. Is there a fix for this with out having to make a new profile?

 

[needcoffee]

For your NT problem, what SP level are you at? Do you have network printer connections stored in the profile? Is it only on one particular machine? How do you know that roaming profiles are not updating?

For outlook, how are you configuring their outlook profile when they log in?


needcoffee

 

[pmurphy]

NT sp1
Yes, we have network printer connectins stored in profile. It's not the machine, because other users log on and can work as normal, while the users having problems the problem follows them where ever they go. 2 messages pop up on the screen 1 for the local profile and the 2nd for the roaming profile.

Outlook - we use MS Exchange Server 5.5.

Hope I gave you the info you were looking for.

 

[needcoffee]

Not quite. There is a known issue with storing network printer connection values in a roaming profile. MS has a knowledgebase artice for NT 4.0 pertaining to this. I would try applying SP4 or later to see if it will fix the problem. You may still have to delete the profile .dat file to correct the issue. XP also tends to cache the profile even if set to roaming. Corruption could have started on one host and adversely effected the profile. Check the XP KB for any support issues with roaming profiles.

On to Outlook/Exchange. How are you configuring the outlook profile for your roaming users when they log into a workstation? Exchange 5.5 does not push an outlook profile to a workstation with a roaming profile (or any other profile for that matter). A login script should be doing this and local policies should deleted the entire profile (both network and outlook) when logging off. XP should have a REG key to do this. Check the XP knowledge base.

Hope this sheds some light.
needcoffee

 

[Windexx]

Check the permissions on the roaming profile stored upon the server. If the user does not have Full Control it will need to be added (sorry it is M$). If this is happening to multiple users check the parent profiles directory to confirm that the perms have not changed.

Latency in the network can cause many an issue with roaming profiles. Most of the time it will result in ntuser.dat file to become corrupted. Corruption can cause many a weird problems with applications.

Restoring a profile may work. Just remember that you must confirm the user is logged out on every box on the domain. Do a full restore of the profile to the server. Re-perm it if necessary and then have the user login. Many an office product settings are held within the ntuser.dat file as this is basically just a registry hive. This could affect the Outlook settings. As a precaution you can delete the local profile of the user while logged in as an admin.

Just always remember...users pull down the profile from the server to the local profile....upon logout local profile is copied up to server with new settings. Larger profiles are much more prone to corruption. Error files will pop-up in the root of the profiles and are easy to spot. Its been a long time so I forgot the names of the files.

Cheers