Roaming profiles DO NOT work

[DonChino]

Well, I have spent the past FOUR days trying to get my roaming profiles to work and NOTHING. I have read hundreds of posts and it seems roaming profiles have all sorts of problems but at least SOME people get somewhere...
If the folder does not exist, the folder gets created but then when the user logs off, NOTHING gets copied to the folder...
I have clients with Windows XP SP1 and Windows Server 2003 as the Domain controller. All roaming profiles are created locally and NEVER deleted although I have it set in the GPO as well, so basically NOTHING that has to do with Roaming Profiles is working...

\\server\profiles$
Sharing is set to FULL ACCESS for all "Authenticated Users"
Security is set to FULL ACCESS for all "Authenticated Users"

\\server\profiles$\username
Profile folder is created SUCCESSFULLY with the Original User and Administrators group as the only ones with FULL ACCESS.

Finally, notice that the profiles folder is hidden so it cannot be seen on the network which is something I worried about since a user could technically look for it and start using the profiles folder to upload "junk"...

I can actually FIND and WRITE to the user profile´s folder on the network share.. So if I log in with Sally, I go to \\server\profiles$\sally and I can read, write, etc but there is nothing there anyway but permissions are not incorrect...

User account has exactly this for profile path: \\server\profiles$\username
Do I have to put something in the HOME folder field?

When I log out I check the logs, and NOTHING... No errors being reported or warnings... I used to get the "offline caching is set on profile share" warning but I removed that... I also used to get the "cannot find profile on server" error but I fixed that with the permissions...

So once again, roaming profiles SEEMS to be creating the folder, communicating with it, setting the right permissions, etc but NOTHING gets uploaded to it... Everything is stored LOCALLY...

Any BASIC help? Ideas? Am I the only one having this problem? I saw some other people in other places with the same problem but they never post a solution...

 

[MarkLappin]

What happens if you don't use profiles$...i.e. unhide the share ? I don't know why it would make a difference though.

Make a brand new user and give them a roaming profile thing, then logon to a machine as that user and let it get created then see if something exists. I'm wondering if maybe since htey have a local profile its just using that. What happens to a new user?

Are you sure that your users are logging into the domain?


if you do net user username /domain from a workstation, does it show you the roaming profile?

at a workstation if you goto System Properties and wherever the profiles are there, does it show it as a local or roaming profile?

MAL

 

[mlichstein]

I replied on your thread in minasi's forum. You need to add SYSTEM full control.

 

[DonChino]

Well, I am FINALLY back. I have been fighting with my network for ALMOST A WEEK now just trying to get Roaming Profiles to work. I appreciate those who responded and I also "feel the pain" for those in the same boat as I, but it seems I found the solution to my problem MYSELF...

It was grueling, tough work, but I basically did a reinstall, and tested each program installation, windows update, and configuration until I found the problem. Was it worth it? Sometimes I think NOT, since I wasted a WEEK to find out that it was a DRIVER PROBLEM... Yep, some DRIVERS seem to knock ROAMING PROFILES OUT OF WHACK...

So my advice, STICK TO THE WINDOWS DRIVERS on WindowsUpdate and do not install Manufacturer´s Drivers, because GRANTED they make things work BETTER but they seem to have adverse effects on Microsoft´s BLACK BOX system. So which driver exactly?

How many people OWN NVidia video cards?! Raise your hand REAL HIGH, but it seems the NVidia NForce drivers seem to knock profiles out of whack. I specifically installed the latest 56.64 NForce drivers and they killed Roaming Profiles for me, it all works until I install this bad boy. Is it possible that another drivers series works? Possible but that means installing and uninstalling until you find one... So stick to the Windows Default One unless you are willing to "test" driver sets but I KNOW THIS WILL HELP someone else...

CHECK YOUR DRIVERS IF YOU ARE HAVING ROAMING PROFILE PROBLEMS... My LAN is PERFECT now, everything gets copied UP AND DOWN from Windows XP and Windows 2003 clients... So anyone out there in my shoes, remove all Manufacturer drivers, put Windows default, and test again...

HOPE THIS HELPS... MY HELLISH NIGHTMARE IS FINALLY OVER!!!

YEAH!!!

 

[MarkLappin]

I've met the person who is the head of the driver development team for nVidia and he's a nice guy along with most people at nVidia (took an all day tour of nVidia last year). My advice, contact nVidia and ask them to look into the issue.

MAL