Windows 7 / Getting Started

Understanding Roaming User Profiles in Earlier Versions of Windows

Because of how it was implemented in Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, RUP originally had the following drawbacks as a corporate roaming technology:

  • User profiles can grow very large over time For example, the Documents folder for a user might contain numerous spreadsheets, Microsoft Office Word documents, and other user-managed data files. Because the entire profile for the user is downloaded from the profile server during logon and uploaded again during logoff, the logon/ logoff experience for the user can become very slow during profile synchronization, particularly over slow WAN links or over dial-up connections for mobile users.
  • Roaming profiles are saved only at logoff. This means that although administrators can easily back up profiles stored on the central profile server, the contents of these profiles (including user data within them) may not be up to date. Roaming profiles therefore present challenges in terms of providing real-time access to usermanaged data and ensuring the integrity of this data.
  • Roaming profiles cause all settings for a user to be roamed, even for applications that do not have roaming capabilities and even for data and settings that have not changed. If a user has a shortcut on his desktop to an application installed on one computer and then roams to a second computer where that application has not been installed, the shortcut will roam, but it will not work on the second computer, which can cause frustration for users.
  • Roaming profiles do not support multiple simultaneous logons by a user across several computers. For example, if a user is logged on to two computers simultaneously and modifies the desktop background differently on each computer, the conflict will be resolved on a last-writer-wins basis.
  • Roaming profiles take some effort to configure and manage on the part of administrators. Specifically, a profile file server must be deployed, roaming profiles must be created and stored on the server, and user accounts must be configured to use these roaming profiles. You can also use Group Policy to manage different aspects of roaming profiles.

Roaming User Profiles and Terminal Services

There are four different ways to configure roaming profiles for users. Windows 7 reads these roaming profile configuration settings in the following order and uses the first configured setting that it finds:

  1. The Remote Desktop Services roaming profile path as specified by Remote Desktop Services policy setting
  2. The Remote Desktop Services roaming profile path as specified on the Remote Desktop Services Profile tab of the properties sheet for the user account in Active Directory Users And Computers
  3. The per-computer roaming profile path as specified using the policy setting Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\User Profiles \Set Roaming Profile Path For All Users Logging Onto This Computer
  4. The per-user roaming profile path as specified on the Profile tab of the properties sheet for the user account in Active Directory Users And Computers

Note that Remote Desktop connections to a Windows 7 computer do not support the Remote Desktop Server Profile path or Group Policy settings regarding Remote Desktop Services. Even though both use the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Remote Desktop Services policies do not apply to Windows 7 Remote Desktop.

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In this tutorial:

  1. Managing Users and User Data
  2. Understanding User Profiles in Windows 7
  3. Types of User Profiles
  4. User Profile Namespace
  5. User Profile Namespace in Windows XP
  6. User Profile Namespace in Windows Vista and Windows 7
  7. Application Compatibility Issue
  8. Disabling Known Folders
  9. Windows 7 Understanding Libraries
  10. Working with Libraries
  11. Including Indexed Folders in a Library
  12. Adding Nonindexed Remote Locations to a Library
  13. Creating Additional Libraries
  14. Managing Libraries
  15. Implementing Corporate Roaming
  16. Understanding Roaming User Profiles and Folder Redirection
  17. Understanding Roaming User Profiles in Earlier Versions of Windows
  18. Understanding Folder Redirection in Earlier Versions of Windows
  19. Enhancements to Roaming User Profiles and Folder Redirection Previously Introduced in Windows Vista
  20. Additional Enhancements to Roaming User Profiles and Folder Redirection Introduced in Windows 7
  21. Improved First Logon Performance With Folder Redirection
  22. Implementing Folder Redirection
  23. Configuring the Redirection Method
  24. Configuring Target Folder Location
  25. Configuring Redirection Options
  26. Configuring Policy Removal Options
  27. Folder Redirection and Sync Center
  28. Considerations for Mixed Environments
  29. Additional Group Policy Settings for Folder Redirection
  30. Troubleshooting Folder Redirection
  31. Implementing Roaming User Profiles
  32. Creating a Default Network Profile
  33. Configuring a User Account to Use a Roaming Profile
  34. Implementing Mandatory Profiles
  35. Implementing Super-Mandatory Profiles
  36. Managing User Profiles Using Group Policy
  37. Working with Offline Files
  38. Enhancements to Offline Files Introduced Previously in Windows Vista
  39. Additional Enhancements to Offline Files Introduced in Windows 7
  40. Understanding Offline File Sync
  41. Modes of Operation in Offline Files
  42. Managing Offline Files
  43. Managing Offline Files Using Windows Explorer
  44. Managing Offline Files Using the Offline Files Control Panel
  45. Managing Offline Files Using Sync Center
  46. Configuring Offline Files on the Server
  47. Managing Offline Files Using Group Policy
  48. Offline Files Policy Settings Introduced in Windows Vista
  49. Additional Offline Files Policy Settings for Windows 7