I am gradually transitioning our users to redirected My Documents folders.



I came across a user today that has 6 gb of photos in her My Pictures
folder. She does desktop publishing, so it's stuff that she needs. But I
want it on the server.
I have heard that having a huge amount of files in the local profile causes
Windows to load slowly at startup. Is that going to still be the case if
the My Docs folder has been redirected to the server?
Should I put this pictures in a separate folder on the server to avoid that
problem?

Thanks.

JohnB <jbrigan@newsgroup> wrote:

> I am gradually transitioning our users to redirected My Documents
> folders.
> I came across a user today that has 6 gb of photos in her My Pictures
> folder. She does desktop publishing, so it's stuff that she needs. But I
> want it on the server.
> I have heard that having a huge amount of files in the local profile
> causes Windows to load slowly at startup. Is that going to still be
> the case if the My Docs folder has been redirected to the server?
> Should I put this pictures in a separate folder on the server to
> avoid that problem?
>
> Thanks.

Yes, humongous profiles are a problem. However, if you redirect the My
Documents folder (and don't exclude My Pictures) it will no longer be *in*
the profile - it will be outside in another path. I'd redirect My Docs and
Desktop - possibly also Application Data if you can get away with it (test
to see if that works).

Here's my boilerplate on roaming profiles (which you aren't using but could
be) and folder redirection (which you should use).

********************
General tips:

1. Set up a share on the server. For example - d:\profiles, shared as
profiles$ to make it hidden from browsing. Make sure this share is *not* set
to allow offline files/caching! (that's on by default - disable it)

2. Make sure the share permissions on profiles$ indicate everyone=full
control. Set the NTFS security to administrators, system, and users=full
control.

3. In the users' ADUC properties, specify \\server\profiles$\%username% in
the profiles field

4. Have each user log into the domain once - if this is an existing user
with a profile you wish to keep, have them log in at their usual
workstationand log out. The profile is now roaming.

5. If you want the administrators group to automatically have permissions to
the profiles folders, you'll need to make the appropriate change in group
policy. Look in computer configuration/administrative templates/system/user
profiles - there's an option to add administrators group to the roaming
profiles permissions. Do this *before* the users' roaming profile folders
are created - it isn't retroactive.

********************
Notes:

Make sure users understand that they should not log into multiple computers
at the same time when they have roaming profiles (unless you make the
profiles mandatory by renaming ntuser.dat to ntuser.man so they can't change
them, which has major disadvantages),. Explain that the 'last one out wins'
when it comes to uploading the final, changed copy of the profile. If you
want to restrict multiple simultaneous network logins, look at LimitLogon
(too much overhead for me), or this:
http://www.jsifaq.com/SF/Tips/Tip.aspx?id=8768

********************
Keep your profiles TINY. Via group policy, you should be redirecting My
Documents (at the very least) - to a subfolder of the user's home directory
or user folder. Also consider redirecting Desktop & Application Data
similarly..... so the user will end up with:

\\server\users\%username%\My Documents,
\\server\users\%username%\Desktop,
\\server\users\%username%\Application Data.

[Alternatively, just manually re-target My Documents to
\\server\users\%username% (this is not optimal, however!)]

You should use folder redirection even without roaming profiles, but it's
especially critical if you *are* using them.

If you aren't going to also redirect the desktop using policies, tell users
that they are not to store any files on the desktop or you will beat them
with a
stick. Big profile=slow login/logout, and possible profile corruption.

********************
Note that user profiles are not compatible between different OS versions,
even between W2k/XP. Keep all your computers. Keep your workstations as
identical as possible - meaning, OS version is the same, SP level is the
same, app load is (as much as possible) the same.

*********************
If you also have Terminal Services users, make sure you set up a different
TS profile path for them in their ADUC properties - e.g.,
\\server\tsprofiles$\%username%

********************
Do not let people store any data locally - all data belongs on the server.

********************
The User Profile Hive Cleanup Utility should be running on all your
computers. You can download it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

********************
Roaming profile & folder redirection article -
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/art...rver-2003.html

********************
Ace Fekay's article on folder redirection -
http://msmvps.com/blogs/acefekay/arc...direction.aspx

Hello JohnB,

If you redirect "My documents" to a server share the data is stored on the
server and is linked to the client machine. So slow startup shouldn't be
a problem this way. Think you mean a roaming profile which is stored on a
server and will be copied to the machine where the user logon to.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
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> I am gradually transitioning our users to redirected My Documents
> folders.
>
> I came across a user today that has 6 gb of photos in her My Pictures
> folder. She does desktop publishing, so it's stuff that she needs.
> But I
> want it on the server.
> I have heard that having a huge amount of files in the local profile
> causes
> Windows to load slowly at startup. Is that going to still be the case
> if
> the My Docs folder has been redirected to the server?
> Should I put this pictures in a separate folder on the server to avoid
> that
> problem?
> Thanks.
>

Folder redirection feature, including redirected My Documents folder solves
the large profile problem.
The problem is much more evident with large roaming profiles than local
profiles. When a user uses roaming profile, the "master" copy of the profile
files is kept on the server. Each time a user logs on and off, the profile
files get copied between server and the client computer. Folder redirection
excludes large folders like My Documents and Desktop from this copying
process. And, BTW, yes, you can redirect Desktop folder too.

And also, saving her pictures in a separate folder on a server is a very
good idea.


"JohnB" <jbrigan@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:ePMeUXqeKHA.4636@newsgroup

> I am gradually transitioning our users to redirected My Documents folders.
>
> I came across a user today that has 6 gb of photos in her My Pictures
> folder. She does desktop publishing, so it's stuff that she needs. But I
> want it on the server.
> I have heard that having a huge amount of files in the local profile
> causes Windows to load slowly at startup. Is that going to still be the
> case if the My Docs folder has been redirected to the server?
> Should I put this pictures in a separate folder on the server to avoid
> that problem?
>
> Thanks.
>

> Yes, humongous profiles are a problem. However, if you redirect the My

> Documents folder (and don't exclude My Pictures) it will no longer be *in*
> the profile - it will be outside in another path.

I was hoping that was the case. Thanks.