Server 2008 and W7 local computers, very SLOW login

[talksr]

Hi not sure what the issue is here but staff are complaining it can take them up to 30 minutes to log in.

 

Have seen it for myself and log in is very slow.

School does have one 100mbps switch, and the rest are 1000, not sure if this would cause a difference.

 

I noticed in C:\Users that many accounts are duplicated. One user account is duplicated six times, each folder with a different name:

userx

userx.domainname

userx.domainname.000

userx.domainname.001

userx.domainname.002

userx.domainname.003

 

 

The folders are all empty, however the C:\Users folder on this specific machine is over 48gb which seems huge.

 

What can I do to sort this issue?

[Michael]

If Folder Redirection hasn't been applied correctly, it's no surprise you're seeing 48GB+ profiles - the main culprit will probably be Documents, Music or Pictures which aren't been re-directed and are roaming with the user.

[talksr]

If Folder Redirection hasn't been applied correctly, it's no surprise you're seeing 48GB+ profiles - the main culprit will probably be Documents, Music or Pictures which aren't been re-directed and are roaming with the user.

 

Did check folder redirection and I am sure it was ok. Not my site, so not sure who set it up. Will connect over to it on the VPN later and see. I am sure it had a home drive set for users in active directory, but didn't check Group Policy.

[Michael]

It's Group Policy you need to check.

[talksr]

If Folder Redirection hasn't been applied correctly, it's no surprise you're seeing 48GB+ profiles - the main culprit will probably be Documents, Music or Pictures which aren't been re-directed and are roaming with the user.

 

 

Does anyone have a copy of the respective part of Group Policy which deals with this area? I can't seem to find any records of it ever being configured.

[mowgli82]

User Config > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection

[talksr]

User Config > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection

 

Thanks for your helpful post.

Hmmmm, ok well that is odd.

 

I have the server in question, whereby the network logons are very, very slow.

 

I then have another school with perfectly quick longons, and no issues, however neither of them appear to have had Folder Redirection enabled.

Both servers have Not Configured set for every name in this section of GPO.

The server on site two which runs very reliably has Server 2012 with Ranger 8.0.0.1.

 

The server with very slow network logons and tons of user profiles on C:\ has Server 2008, a much older server and Ranger 7.3.3.1015

 

I presume that Ranger is taking care of this redirection, but must be failing to do so on the older server.

 

Is there anything else I could check?

[mowgli82]

Ah Ranger!! I'm not that familiar with it to be honest, I used to look after a school than had Ranger but we had issues similar to you - because no one was that familiar with it we rebuilt the domain with a vanilla Server 2012 R2 setup. Does the school have Support Contract with Ranger? It may be worth giving them a bell.

 

The folder redirection could be set in any GPO on the system it might be worth checking them all.

Have you run RSOP or GPResult on the affected users? it might point you in the right direction.

Slow logons can be caused by a number of issues - DNS for example or trying to map a drive that no longer exists, there could be a logon script causing the issue.

Have you tried creating a brand new user with no folder redirection, drive maps or logon scripts? If this user logs in quickly then gradually introduce the mapped drives and folder redirection etc.

 

Hopefully there are some pointers here for you.

[Michael]

I suppose (thinking about it) not implementing Folder Redirection is an option, but I can't see the justification why you wouldn't. It's the perfect way to make sure all end user data sits on your server and not the local workstation.

 

From what you're describing, the configurations sound very similar using Ranger. I'd be more inclined to agree with the above, possible DNS issues or network issues/bottlenecks causing the slowdown. Have you tried doing basic tests such as file transfers? On a 100Mbps network, you should see a maximum of 11MB/s.

[themightymrp]

Have you tried running something like WinDirStat on the c:\users folder of that machine? You should be able to see what is taking up that much space, I'm thinking possibly the AppData folder.

 

Does the school use roaming profiles?