Roaming Profiles Loading over Slow Links
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
May 25th, 2012 12:36pm
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.
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May 25th, 2012 12:50pm
All of your assumptions are correct :o)
Regards,
Robin
May 25th, 2012 12:52pm
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!
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May 28th, 2012 3:10am
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
May 28th, 2012 4:27am
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
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May 29th, 2012 12:43pm
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
May 30th, 2012 3:52am
I've removed the Wait for remote user profile setting but unfortunately the problem remains!
Regards,
Robin
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May 30th, 2012 6:18am
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
May 30th, 2012 10:51am
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
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May 30th, 2012 10:58am
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
May 30th, 2012 12:00pm
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
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May 30th, 2012 12:35pm
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.
May 30th, 2012 12:39pm
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
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May 30th, 2012 9:29pm
Sure, I'll give that a go just to be sure.
Thanks,
Robin
May 31st, 2012 3:35am
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!
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May 31st, 2012 5:34am
Just to confirm for anyone reading this with the same issue, the problem all along seems to be that my original slow link threshold of 10,000kbps was just too low, and for some unknown reason the stated maximum of 4,294,967,200 didn't work. The
setting of 7,654,321kbps suggested by Lawrence did trigger the slow link detect. I eventually settled on a slow link threshold setting of 40,000 which seems to meet my requirements.
Thanks to Lawrence for all of his help on this.
Regards,
Robin
July 16th, 2012 5:40am
Just to confirm for anyone reading this with the same issue, the problem all along seems to be that my original slow link threshold of 10,000kbps was just too low, and for some unknown reason the stated maximum of 4,294,967,200 didn't work. The
setting of 7,654,321kbps suggested by Lawrence did trigger the slow link detect. I eventually settled on a slow link threshold setting of 40,000 which seems to meet my requirements.
Thanks to Lawrence for all of his help on this.
Regards,
Robin
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
July 16th, 2012 5:53am