Win 7 roaming profile includes AppData\Local ???

[royalmail]

Environment:

Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 domain
Windows 7 Enterprise client
Roaming profile configured for the account in question

For some reason, when the Win 7 client logs off the user's AppData\Local folder is ALSO copied to the server. This folder alone is close to 100 MB in size and this is causing storage\network bandwidth issues.

I've spent all day searching the Internet for similar cases but cannot seem to find any. Everything I have found says that only the AppData\Roaming folder is copied to the server as part of the roaming profile configuration.

For what it is worth, the AppData\LocalLow folder also gets copied to the server, but this doesn't cause an issue as the size is tiny if not zero.

Can anyone shed any light on this, or explain how to prevent the AppData\Local folder from being copied to the server as part of the roaming profile configuration?

 

[royalmail]

Additional information:

After doing a bunch of testing I confirm that this issue does NOT affect Vista in the same environment.

Using the same user account and a clean (empty) roaming profile folder on the server, I confirm that after successfully logging in and out as that user on a Vista PC, the client copies the AppData\Roaming folder ONLY. It does not copy the AppData\Local or AppData\LocalLow folders to the file server.

So why does Windows 7 copy all three folders to the server??

 

[linney]

When you right-click on the Local folder and select Properties, where does the Location Tab point to? Is it the Default -

C:\Users\Usernamexxxx\AppData\Local


You could also ask your question in the Server Forum.

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=931

 

[royalmail]

Yes, the local folder is stored in the default location along with the other two.

C:\Users\Usernamexxxx\AppData\

Local
LocalLow
Roaming

All three are getting copied to the file server.

 

[linney]

If you change the location of the Local folder does it still end up getting copied?

Are there any logon/logoff scripts, or Scheduled Tasks, that are copying this folder.

If the user and the computer are removed from the Domain, via both Workstation and Server, and then rejoined, would that help solve it?

Is this the only Windows 7 machine in the Domain?

 

[royalmail]

If you change the location of the Local folder does it still end up getting copied?

Change it to where? Under the same user folder structure, or in a totally separate location? As this would require a registry hack I'm not sure it's worth trying. Still, I'm in the process of setting up a test environment with Win 2008 server and a HyperV Win 7 Client so depending on how that goes, maybe I'll try this.

Are there any logon/logoff scripts, or Scheduled Tasks, that are copying this folder.

No.

If the user and the computer are removed from the Domain, via both Workstation and Server, and then rejoined, would that help solve it?

Possibly, but I doubt it. It's a lot of effort to try that too due to tight domain security settings so it would be one of the last things I try.

Is this the only Windows 7 machine in the Domain?

No, we have quite a few now, but some users have standard profiles and some roaming profiles. We have noticed this issue when migrating users with roaming profiles to Win 7.

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll post results of my testing later.

 

[linney]

What does the "Move" button do on the location tab of the Local Folder? What is the Registry Hack involved? I was just thinking along the lines of moving that one folder (any where you like) to see if it breaks (wrong word) the saving of that part of the users profile?

 

[BadBigBen]

What Linney is referring to is to relocate the Folder either localy, on a different partition or to leave it on the server and have the clients access them there...

see the following for info:

Folder Redirection Overview

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732275.aspx

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[Lantastic]

Royalmail,

Did you ever find a solution to this problem?