Windows 7 Pro won't save user profiles once connected to Windows Server 2003 SBE domain controller
Hello Technet members, My problem is as stated. Windows 7 Pro won't save user profiles once connected to Windows Server 2003 SBE domain controller My Clients Server is Windows 2003 SBE R2 They have 5 PC's with Vista Business connected to the Domain Controler Which is the 2003 SBE R2 The server controls DHCP, etc… My client has just purchased a new PC this Windows 7 Pro It connects to the domain without a problem. But when an existing user or a new fictitious user is created on the Servers Active Directory The users can logon to the PC successfully (Creating User Desktop) Make adjustments to there profile but once they logout. (Does not say saving settings) And log back in it says (Creating User Desktop) again and every thing is back to default. Nothing is saved. This happens with all users. We have formatted the PC. Oh wow same problem. On searching the net I have found a number of users with the same problem but no fix. My client is less than happy as you can imagine. Because he wanted to upgrade all PC’s to Windows 7 Any thought on this would be much appreciated. Kind Regards Troy
January 10th, 2010 3:46pm

Hello Technet members,I have managed to work around the problem. (kind of) The client is not very happy with the roaming profile option and neither am I, but it is running. He wants this to only be a temporary solution though. Even though Windows 7 is much more stable than Vista. Vista is very compatible when connected to a domain controller on a Windows 2003 SBS and Windows Server 2008 domain controller. Vista does not require roaming profiles path when connected to 2003 or 2008 Server’s As opposed to Windows 7 which works like a dream when connected to Windows Server 2008 domain controller But not Windows 2003 SBE domain controller. Which in this case required roaming profile paths to get the OS to save the profile. Process in the last 24hours Install new temp 500Gb drive Install OS = Windows 7 Pro Install drivers. Connect to network. Connect to Domain controller. Log in to domain using a std user. Change desktop. Logout Login (Oh wow the settings did not save) (What a interesting wast of time) Disconnect new temp drive, put original drive back into the PC. Go to server Open Active Directory Users and Computers Go to Users Right click on the “users” User Properties Click on “Profile tab”. To “Profile Path” and enter the path. I.e. \\servername\users\%username% Apply then ok Login to workstation. Change desktop etc. Logout Login Wow its working. (yay) Now this is stupid because the Outlook, which is connected to the Exchange server Has to update from the roaming profile rather than store a local copy which it just updates Normally very fast. But running of a roaming profile it takes 7 minutes to update with a 1000 Gbps network connection. WHY WON’T WINDOWS 7 ALLOW A PROFILE TO SAVE LOACALY? When connected to MS W2003 SBS When I was on the workstation I hade a look at the profiles stored on it, and the user account I had logged in with said its status was temporary rather than what it should have said which is “Status is local” All my other clients that have moved over to Windows Server 2008 SBS and windows 7 Without a single problem, but they chose to do that. If windows 7 is not compatible with Windows 2003 Server please tell me. At this time I have advised my other clients that have Windows 2003 Server, that want to upgrade to Windows 7 workstations just to hold of for a week or two until some technical issues are resolved.Any thought on this would be much appreciated. Kind Regards Troy
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January 12th, 2010 9:05am

Can't say if it is or isn't compatible. Experiencing Same issue with 2003 SB Server. Actually tested windows 7 RTM, never thought to test roaming profiles.....who would have thought.I am entertaining the idea of running adprep from 2008 R2 on the domain to see if this resolves the issue. ADPrep must run from a 32 bit version 2k8 r2 (not available on 2008 SBS since it is only 64 bit) unless you have a 64 bit domain controller. Why this issue with Win 7 wasn't disclosed EMPHATICALLY is beyond comprehension. Two thumbs down!!
January 12th, 2010 3:02pm

Hi, Please also try the following steps. 1. Log on the system with the domain user account. 2. Copy some information on Desktop. 3. Restart the machine in Safe Mode with the administrator account. 4. Open the Control Panel and click "User Accounts" 5. Click "Manage another account" and click the problematic account. 6. Click "Delete the account" and click "Delete Files" button, and then select "Delete Account" button. Then, the problematic account will be removed. 7. Please locate the C:\Users and check whether the problematic user folder exists or not. If still lists, please remove it. 8. Click Start Menu and type Regedit in the open box, and then press Enter. If prompted, click on Yes in the UAC prompt. 9. In the Registry Editor, on the left pane, navigate to the following key by expanding the plus sign (+): HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList 10. There will be several long SIDs in the left panel, select one of them and look at the right panel. There will be a ProfileImagePath key. 11. Double click ProfileImagePath key and see if the value data is the same as problematic user account that you deleted in step 1 above. If not, please click another long SIDs until you locate the same one and move on the next steps. 12. Right click on the SID key, and click on Export. 13. Type in a name and save the REG file to a safe location. NOTE: This is a backup. To Restore the Backup, please double click on the REG backup file. 14. Right click on the SID key and then click delete. 15. Restart the computer to Normal Mode. What's the result? Thanks, Novak
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January 15th, 2010 11:27am

Well No Go!!If the user is not configured with a roaming profile, a user profile is created.If the user is configured with a roaming profile, the whether or not there is data in that flder, a TEMP user Local file is created and deleted at logoff.I have on user "Win7" that created a roaming profile in the RTM Version. However, subsequent users added to that machine get the TEMP local profile.Here are the results of the futility test Hi, Please also try the following steps. 1. Log on the system with the domain user account. Done "You have been logged on with a temporary profile. Files you create wiil not be available......" 2. Copy some information on Desktop. Made a folder 3. Restart the machine in Safe Mode with the administrator account. Administrator is disabled by default. Enabled it. Need to change password aas password complexity takes precedance. Logged in. 4. Open the Control Panel and click "User Accounts" 5. Click "Manage another account" and click the problematic account. It's "Manage User Accounts". None of the domain accounts are available on the sheet. 6. Click "Delete the account" and click "Delete Files" button, and then select "Delete Account" button. Then, the problematic account will be removed. There's nothing to delete....Had to restart and select Safe Mode With Networking for network account to show. 7. Please locate the C:\Users and check whether the problematic user folder exists or not. If still lists, please remove it. Nothing there. There is a domain "administrator.seiulocal4hw" folder . No other domain users (i.e., win7a) 8. Click Start Menu and type Regedit in the open box, and then press Enter. If prompted, click on Yes in the UAC prompt. 9. In the Registry Editor, on the left pane, navigate to the following key by expanding the plus sign (+): HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList 10. There will be several long SIDs in the left panel, select one of them and look at the right panel. There will be a ProfileImagePath key. 11. Double click ProfileImagePath key and see if the value data is the same as problematic user account that you deleted in step 1 above. Nope. But that should be expected since no profile data was created in the first place! If not, please click another long SIDs until you locate the same one and move on the next steps. There's nothing else, my friend 12. Right click on the SID key, and click on Export. Which SID key. The one that doesn't exist? (sarcasm) 13. Type in a name and save the REG file to a safe location. NOTE: This is a backup. To Restore the Backup, please double click on the REG backup file. 14. Right click on the SID key and then click delete. 15. Restart the computer to Normal Mode. I'll go back and delete the domain ADMINISTRATOR account and profile. This is a non-roaming profile. It got recreated on login (no roaming profile set in ADUC) What's the result? There's no result cause there was nothing to delete in step 12! Thanks, Novak What else can we try?
January 21st, 2010 1:42am

I am running an HP xw8400 Workstation and have the same problem using Windows 7 Professional. The domain user profile goes in as a temporary instead of local type and i lose everything on logout. i have tried everything i can possible think of and no solution. So far I have 3 other HP laptops with Windows 7 Pro without problem. We are running Windows 2003 Server for the domain. Any solutions would be nice._dan
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February 5th, 2010 11:46pm

I found out that the problem is occuring because of my accounts membership on the W2003 Active Directory Server. I added other users to the windows 7 machine without problem and their profiles went in as Local, but mine kept going in as Temp only and would lose its settings. I went into Active Directory on the server and removed my membership from everything except a few internal distibution goups, domain users and Administrators and then the next time I logged into the Windows 7 machine with my credentials it put my profile in as Local and everything is working fine now...Im not exactly sure which membership was causing the problem, but that was the cause of the problem. Hope this helps._dan
February 8th, 2010 9:10pm

Thanks a lot for the solution. I had the same problem and i removed the user's membership and left it with only a few internal ones. It worked.
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February 10th, 2010 2:31pm

The solution proposed by Novak Wu worked great for me. Running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. I ended up ignoring the "hey dummy do you really want to do this...?" messages... and this time, I really should have paid attention. I think there was something still latched on to the profile that didn't allow it to be cleaned properly before I deleted it. Thanks Novak Wu :)
February 17th, 2010 8:45pm

Great work Dan,You are correct. I have just come from the customers site, I installed a new Windows 7 PC, Today.Before I logged it onto the domain I opened W2003 Active Directory on the Server, removed all user memberships except for Administrator, Domain Admin, Domain User.And then I removed the reference to the roaming profile path.I then joined the PC to the domain, restarted PC. I then successfully logged on to this new Windows 7 PC and the Previous Windows 7 PC checked user setting and "WOW" they are both local.You are a legend.Regards Troy
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February 21st, 2010 10:03am

Dan ... your solution worked for me as well!For me, I removed the "Domain Guest" membership from my login account.Now my settings are all saved after I log off from my Win 7 machine on a Win 2003 domain.Thanks for the tip .... john
March 11th, 2010 7:51pm

Thanks Dan, after searching for a fix for this yours was the best!! It solved the problem. @MS please have a look at this issue. Cheers.
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May 4th, 2010 12:26am

That worked great advice -Thanks
July 15th, 2010 8:03pm

Beautiful !!! thanx a lot !
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August 11th, 2010 4:50pm

I followed your instructions and it worked. I was ready to scrap everything and reinstall windows. I did not use the Safe Mode option, but did log in as administrator and after restarting I was able to log in with the problematic (not anymore) user account. THANKS!!! Nicki
December 15th, 2010 12:55am

I found out that the problem is occuring because of my accounts membership on the W2003 Active Directory Server. I added other users to the windows 7 machine without problem and their profiles went in as Local, but mine kept going in as Temp only and would lose its settings. I went into Active Directory on the server and removed my membership from everything except a few internal distibution goups, domain users and Administrators and then the next time I logged into the Windows 7 machine with my credentials it put my profile in as Local and everything is working fine now...Im not exactly sure which membership was causing the problem, but that was the cause of the problem. Hope this helps. _dan This worked perfectly for me as well.. removed user from the Domain Guests group and started working properly on the next login.
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January 15th, 2011 1:01am

Dan ... your solution worked for me as well! For me, I removed the "Domain Guest" membership from my login account. Now my settings are all saved after I log off from my Win 7 machine on a Win 2003 domain. Thanks for the tip .... john Dan/John - you guys saved me lots of headache. I spent the past hour changing local priveleges and scratching my head. I saw this post about removing Domain Guest membership, and that fixed it for me. This user is the president of the company and was in literally every AD group (probably been that way for years). -DerekSr System Engineer
January 24th, 2011 8:08pm

The whole problem with the AD is that for somereason guest accounts are mixed in with regular domain accounts I belive. So if you just go through the groups and remove the domain guest and other guest groups you probably dont need to remove all your memberships.
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March 18th, 2011 8:00am

Dan, Thanks, so simple, yet took a long time to find the problem. My domain had only XP clients, and no problem there, so added a WIN7 machine and it would not save profile. So after much time spent researching problem (my XP solution involved a Group Policy making everyone a local administrator, which was still in place) and NOT really wanting to go to roaming profiles, I found your solution. My Domain Guest object had 1 member, the Domain User object, so removed it, and problem solved. Thank you.-Mike
June 27th, 2011 5:29pm

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