Hi, I originally posted this question in the Windows 7 forum (seemed reasonable to me!) but it was recommended that I post it here instead, so please don't shoot me if you think this is not an appropriate forum for this issue... I've been trying (without success) to work out why the 'Slow network connection timeout for user profiles' isn't working, and I need help! Our situation is this: Windows 7 Enterprise clientsActive Directory in 2008 R2 Native ModeRoaming profiles stored on Windows 2008 R2 file serverRemote offices connected via slow to medium speed WAN linksRoaming profiles are being downloaded from the server even when computer is connected via a slow link I've increased the 'Slow network connection timeout for user profiles' connection speed and it still loads the roaming profile. From what I've read there doesn't appear to be a way to produce log files that us mere mortals can understand, so I've been experimenting with the 'Group Policy slow link detection' settings as there's far more information available for Group Policy processing and I assume that it uses a similar method for calculating slow links. I've set the connection speed setting for the 'Group Policy slow link detection' policy to the same value as I was using for the equivalent Roaming Profile setting (10000) and if I run GPResult /R I can see 'Connected over slow link?: Yes'. I've also enabled GPSVC logging and can see entries such as 'Estimated bandwidth on one of the connections : 490 kbps'. So everything appears to be working correctly for Group Policies, but not for roaming profiles. Is there something I'm missing here that's causing the profiles to be loaded regardless? Thanks in advance Robin

Am I assuming correctly, that if you have 'Slow network connection timeout for user profiles' defined, that you do NOT have 'Do not detect slow network connections' policy enabled? AND, that you do not have the 'Delete cached copies of roaming profiles' enabled? If you do have the 'Delete cached copies of roaming profiles' enabled, well...uhhh.... there isn't a local copy of profile to load if the system did detect a slow network connection.

All of your assumptions are correct :o) Regards, Robin

Hi, Do you mean computer always load roaming user profile regardless slow network connection? Whats your Slow network connection timeout for user profiles policy setting, default value? Have you configured Wait for remote user profile policy? On your computer run rsop.msc to check applied policy settings. For test reason, you may also enable Prompt user when slow link is detected group policy. Check whether you can get prompt message to make sure whether you are using slow network connection. For more information please refer to following MS articles: Prompt user when slow link is detected http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc975897.aspx Wait for remote user profile http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc975886.aspx Slow network connection timeout for user profiles http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc975877.aspx Hope this helps! TechNet Subscriber Support If you areTechNet Subscription user and have any feedback on our support quality, please send your feedback here.Lawrence TechNet Community Support

Hi Lawrence, Yes, the computer is always loading the roaming profile regardless of a slow network connect. In asnwer to your other questions: > Whats your Slow network connection timeout for user profiles policy setting, default value? It is currently set to 10000. I set it right up to the maximum (4,294,967,200) for testing but it made no difference. > Have you configured Wait for remote user profile policy? No, this setting is not configured. > On your computer run rsop.msc to check applied policy settings. I have confirmed that the GPO settings are being applied correctly >For test reason, you may also enable Prompt user when slow link is detected group policy. Check whether you can get prompt message to make sure whether >you are using slow network connection. I have tried this also. I see the check box 'Download my profile on a slow connection'. But as I'm using Windows 7 this checkbox will appear regardless of network speed, so it doesn't help to test whether or not Windows has detected a slow link. Regards, Robin

Hi, Please use Group Policy Management Console to generate a Group Policy report for user in that computer and send that report to me. You can contact me here. Slow link detection mechanism takes the form of measuring the response time form a sequence of TCP/IP pings form the client computer to the server to determine the average transfer rate. The result of slow network detection mechanism is recorded in the Userenv.log file. So please enable debug logging to check the result. Enable debug logging: Use Registry Editor to add or to modify the following registry entry: Subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon Entry: UserEnvDebugLevel Type: REG_DWORD Value data: 10002 (Hexadecimal) UserEnvDebugLevel can have the following values: NONE 0x00000000 NORMAL 0x00000001 VERBOSE 0x00000002 LOGFILE 0x00010000 DEBUGGER 0x00020000 You can find the log file at %Systemroot%\Debug\UserMode\Userenv.log, please collect and send the file to me also. For more information please refer to following MS articles: Group Policy Recommendations for Roaming User Profiles http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc781862(v=WS.10).aspx How a slow link is detected for processing user profiles and Group Policy http://support.microsoft.com/kb/227260 How to enable user environment debug logging in retail builds of Windows http://support.microsoft.com/kb/221833 Hope this helps! TechNet Subscriber Support If you areTechNet Subscription user and have any feedback on our support quality, please send your feedback here. Lawrence TechNet Community Support

Hi Lawrence, From my research prior to posting this question I found several sources confirming that the UserEnvDebugLevel registry value to enable logging of profile events was removed in Windows Vista and this functionallity was never really replaced. I have tried using it anyway and have confirmed that the Userenv.log file is not created. I will send you the group policy report as requested. Regards, Robin

Please see; http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944043/ Check the last section about gpsvc.log to enable the debugging for Vista/Windows 7MCP | MCTS 70-236: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring

I've already enabled the GPO debugging via the gpsvc.log (I mentioned this in my original post) and it has enabled me to see what's going on with the group policies slow link detection (which seems to be working correctly), but doesn't appear to give me any information about the slow link detection for roaming profiles. Regards, Robin

Hi, According to the Group Policy Report, I found you enabled policy Wait for remote user profile, this setting directs the system to wait for the remote copy of the roaming user profile to load, even when loading is slow. Also, the system waits for the remote copy when the user is notified about a slow connection, but does not respond in the time allowed. So you may disable this policy setting and check the result. For more information please refer to following MS articles: Wait for remote user profile http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc975886.aspx Hope this helps! TechNet Subscriber Support If you areTechNet Subscription user and have any feedback on our support quality, please send your feedback here. Lawrence TechNet Community Support

I've removed the Wait for remote user profile setting but unfortunately the problem remains! Regards, Robin

With all the testing, Im posing myselft one question; Does your user will always be in the remote site ? As the link will always be slow, the user profile will never load from the server. It will load the first time, but after it would never load again (unless they are in the domain guest account, and thus the profile got erased at the logoff). I would make them work locally in that case. (or I would put a small NAS that support NTFS to store the profile locally in that site)MCP | MCTS 70-236: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring

With all the testing, Im posing myselft one question; Does your user will always be in the remote site ? As the link will always be slow, the user profile will never load from the server. It will load the first time, but after it would never load again (unless they are in the domain guest account, and thus the profile got erased at the logoff). I would make them work locally in that case. (or I would put a small NAS that support NTFS to store the profile locally in that site) MCP | MCTS 70-236: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring Hi, The users spend most of their site in the same location as the server where there profile is stored, but occasionally roam to other sites which only have slow connections back to their home site

Ah ok!, Then maybe a loopback GPO on those remote computer with those user configured to make it that way; Disabling Roaming User Profiles on Certain Computers You can prevent computers from receiving roaming profiles by enabling the Only allow local user profiles policy setting, which blocks roaming profiles from being used on a computer. (from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc738596(v=ws.10).aspx) That would prevent that the user change something in it's profile, and will not get it back in is store (I told a loopback GPO because I assumed local user of that remote site might have roaming profile on thoses remote computer, if not just make a normal computer GPO) MCP | MCTS 70-236: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring

I appreciate that I could tackle it that way, but then I have to manage which computers should or shouldn't use roaming profiles, and it makes life more difficult for my support guys to know whether they should have to manually migrate profiles when issuing users with new computers. I rather like the way it's designed to work, and just wish it would work that way for me! :o) Regards, Robin

I agree ! It was more a workaround I told :) Only thing I can think of is that the value in the GPO 'Slow network connection timeout for user profiles' is not used to way they mark it. I would put a 'Connection speed' in that GPO to a really low setting, like the minium to see if it work, and I would guess the corrcet value afterMCP | MCTS 70-236: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring

I have the connection speed set to 10,000 kbps currently and I can see from the GPSVC log that it's calculating the speed as just under 500 kbps.

Sorry, Can't help further then. My point was more to filter all GPO that you apply on a test computer, and check to be sure no local policy are set too. It just seem to me something block your GPO threehold from triggering.MCP | MCTS 70-236: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring

Sure, I'll give that a go just to be sure. Thanks, Robin

Hi, Please help to collect below log files and send them to me for further troubleshooting. gpsvc.log Remove old gpsvc.log file form %windir%\debug\usermode folder, then run gpupdate /force to generate a new one. Launch Event Viewer: Event Viewer\Windows Logs\Application\right click\clear log\Save and clear Event Viewer\Applications and Services logs\Microsoft\Windows\User Profile Services\Operational\right click\Clear log\Save and clear Event Viewer\Applications and Services logs\Microsoft\Windows\Group Policy\Operational\right click\Clear log\Save and clear Restart computer and re-login, then launch Event Viewer, export above events. Collect above events and send them to me. You may also run rsop.msc on your computer and check whether computer applied these Group Policy settings. Hope this helps! TechNet Subscriber Support If you areTechNet Subscription user and have any feedback on our support quality, please send your feedback here.Lawrence TechNet Community Support

Hi, According to attachments, we dont find the root reason, everything looks correct, and we cant reproduce your issue in our test environment. Group Policy event log record two estimated bandwidth 895kpbs and 4187kpbs, but User Profile log still record finished synchronize profile form server. I recommend remove that Slow Link Testing GPO, create a new one with slow link threshold 7654321kbps (this data can be easily check by rsop.msc). Restart PC to apply new GPO, and logon to check the result. Run rsop.msc on client computer to make sure slow link detection policy has been applied. Please have a try and give us feedback for further troubleshooting. Hope this helps! TechNet Subscriber Support If you areTechNet Subscription user and have any feedback on our support quality, please send your feedback here.Lawrence TechNet Community Support

Hi, According to attachments, we dont find the root reason, everything looks correct, and we cant reproduce your issue in our test environment. Group Policy event log record two estimated bandwidth 895kpbs and 4187kpbs, but User Profile log still record finished synchronize profile form server. I recommend remove that Slow Link Testing GPO, create a new one with slow link threshold 7654321kbps (this data can be easily check by rsop.msc). Restart PC to apply new GPO, and logon to check the result. Run rsop.msc on client computer to make sure slow link detection policy has been applied. Please have a try and give us feedback for further troubleshooting. Hope this helps! TechNet Subscriber Support If you areTechNet Subscription user and have any feedback on our support quality, please send your feedback here.Lawrence TechNet Community Support