Roaming profile problem corrupt

[localzuk]

I have a whole list of users whose profiles are corrupt - they seem to be completely inaccessible to anyone, including the administrator. If I try and view the security tab for them I am told I don't have permission! This seems to be happening for any new users with roaming profiles (our kids use mandatory profiles).

 

I've had a search around but understandably 'windows 2003 profile corrupt' or 'windows 2003 profiles inaccessible' etc... don't turn up anything which helps really.

 

Anyone got any ideas? It is causing some real problems with some users.

[markj_metcalfe]

Have you tried taking ownership of the profiles from the parent folder. You can tell it to replace permissions on subcontainers.

[localzuk]

Have you tried taking ownership of the profiles from the parent folder. You can tell it to replace permissions on subcontainers.

 

Yep, I have indeed tried that - it goes through and flags up each profile that is problematic and tells me that I don't have permissions to them.

 

EDIT: Stupid me... I had tried to replace permissions, but not take ownership. Duh. It works when I take ownership of it.

 

Now, the question remains - why is it happening?

Edited January 28, 2008 by localzuk

[cookie_monster]

Windows XP only adds the user and system to profiles that it creates, there is a policy that you can use to add the administrator.

 

"Add the Administrator security group to the roaming user profile share" It's a 2003 server policy.

 

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/8623052e-c21f-4fd9-a9a1-056779c2758f1033.mspx?mfr=true

 

Sorry first link didn't work.

Edited January 28, 2008 by cookie_monster

[localzuk]

Windows XP only adds the user and system to profiles that it creates, there is a policy that you can use to add the administrator.

 

Any idea where this policy is?

 

EDIT: That was quick. Thanks, I'll have a look!

[DMcCoy]

Any idea where this policy is?

 

EDIT: That was quick. Thanks, I'll have a look!

 

Although it only applies during the *creation* of the profile folder, not if it already exists. And yes, exclusive permissions on profiles is windows normal if unhelpful behaviour.

[GlennT]

Do you mean that the profiles are corrupting when they are trying to load on the XP machines but are OK on the server?

If so, have you tried renaming the profiles on XP [i.e. user.bak]to see if they will automatically re-create?

I have had this before where emptying the temp files from within the profile on the server corrects the problem.

[JamesC]

I've had profiles corrupt before because of antivirus software running on the server. I was using Symantec AV at the time, and it occurred because I had upgraded to the latest version. Subsequently Symantec promptly released another new version of their product which fixed the problem. Needless to say I had to create a few new profiles for people!

[Guest frankybaloney]

We had the same problem last week and we checked everthing from file permissions to group policy etc. We banged our heads against the wall for weeks to get this solved.

 

Then we decided to recreate the profile share and try again. Lo and behold! it worked!. The actual share had become corrupted.

 

Since then we had no problems.

 

Try this out and see if it solves your problems

[danrhodes]

We had the same problem last week and we checked everthing from file permissions to group policy etc. We banged our heads against the wall for weeks to get this solved.

 

Then we decided to recreate the profile share and try again. Lo and behold! it worked!. The actual share had become corrupted.

 

Since then we had no problems.

 

Try this out and see if it solves your problems

 

Good ideas I have never thought about that, our profiles are fine but ill keep that on file for future ref.

 

Thanks +1 :-)

[Michael]

I would highly recommend you run a Scandisk wherever your Profiles$ share is located. It's not normal so many profiles become corrupted at once.

 

I've never had a Profiles$ share corrupt before, but I can imagine it would create lots of weird and wonderful problems. Restoring from a backup should also be an option (as a final solution).

[Reaper]

We have the problem that random profiles will corrupt for no apparent reason. The user can logon but they lose certain settings like keyboard language and theme.

 

A deletion of the profile on the server fixes it for a while but then that profile ends up doing the same. Did wonder if it was the Default Profile on the server.

[p858snake]

We have the problem that random profiles will corrupt for no apparent reason. The user can logon but they lose certain settings like keyboard language and theme.

 

A deletion of the profile on the server fixes it for a while but then that profile ends up doing the same. Did wonder if it was the Default Profile on the server.

Could it be finding a cached version of it on a local workstation somewhere and reusing that replacing the new one?

Edited February 15, 2009 by p858snake

[shathaway]

We are having a similar problem where roaming profiles are corrupting for no reason. I will delete them from the server and local workstation, let them recreate and all will be good for a while, but this is getting worse and annoying.

 

Have you found any solutions or causes yet?

 

 

 

We have the problem that random profiles will corrupt for no apparent reason. The user can logon but they lose certain settings like keyboard language and theme.

 

A deletion of the profile on the server fixes it for a while but then that profile ends up doing the same. Did wonder if it was the Default Profile on the server.

[Reaper]

I think a few people have said in other threads that the Hive Cleanup program from Microsoft tends to calm the issue down. Download details: User Profile Hive Cleanup Service

 

 

You install it on every machine or atleast ones that you know are problematic and it attempts to stop registry corruption as the user logs off. We haven't tried it yet but it is going on our next image.

[Azhibberd]

I think a few people have said in other threads that the Hive Cleanup program from Microsoft tends to calm the issue down. Download details: User Profile Hive Cleanup Service

 

 

You install it on every machine or atleast ones that you know are problematic and it attempts to stop registry corruption as the user logs off. We haven't tried it yet but it is going on our next image.

 

Ye we had some really really weird corrupting profile problems at one point and just couldn't figure it out, although we installed the hive cleanup program (we deployed it as an MSI threw GPO so no need to do any real work as such) and seemed to sort that out not had any problems since then really.

[finnertyd]

Hi James

What version of Symantec AV was the problem with?

What version fixes this issue?

 

[rob101]

Sorry to dig up this old thread but I'm having the exact same problem now, did any one ever work out what was happening?

 

The profiles im having problems with have just been moved to a new share, and its not all the profiles, had 4 go out of 34 so far, they were all fine to start with.