Corrupt roaming profiles - getting worse

[cheaptonersucks]

Hi, I am seeing more corrupt roaming profiles on the network. Running 2008R2 on the DC and Windows 7 x64 on all of the school machines. Deleting the local profile NEVER fixes the issue. Always have to delete the Network profile. It occurs on random machines and the same image is used throughout the school. Sophos AV and the same software on all machines. Static IP addresses used on all machines, printers etc.

 

Any ideas what could be causing these corrupted profiles. One PC wouldn't even detect the students memory stick recently as they didn't realise that they had a temporary profile when they first logged in..

 

Any ideas on what to look at please?

Edited December 10, 2017 by cheaptonersucks

[3s-gtech]

Ughhh, roaming profiles. Are they hosted on a DFS-R share? Is DNS in perfect order? Are root permissions spot-on? I ditched the things years back as I didn't like them one bit, never regretted it. Thought about the alternatives, as their days are numbered?

[witch]

I hesitate to say this - but I have always had roaming profiles and very very few problems over the years - have to delete a corrupt profile now and again but it takes seconds

[3s-gtech]

I think they do work fundamentally, but they seem to highlight underlying flaws that may not matter otherwise. In Windows 10 they're not supported (but do work for some).

[cheaptonersucks]

Hi, thanks for responding, I am a technician and unfortunately don't have the rights/permissions to access the servers to check the DNS and the root permissions etc. I will pass the information onto the NM though, as I am called to IT rooms to resolve these corrupt profiles on a weekly basis. I can delete the local profile but that never fixes the problem.

[cheaptonersucks]

I didn't know that roaming profiles weren't supported in Windows 10! I am aware that DFS has been configured, but unfortunately I don't know if there are any DNS or root permission issues as I don't have server access.

 

Are DNS and root permission issues the main causes of corrupt profiles then? Also, if roaming profiles are hosted on a DFS-R share, can that causes issues?

[3s-gtech]

If there are replication issues or faulty/missing DFS targets it could be problematic. Have a look at https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/askds/2010/10/20/mythical-creatures-corrupt-user-profiles/

I think your static IP configuration, while it can work fine, is a difficult beast to maintain and I wonder if your have DNS issues as a result (e.g. some clients have the wrong server addresses configured).

[ITGURU]

Always used roaming profiles here, still do with windows 10 and had no issues. Every now and again reset a profile but is very rare need to.

[witch]

@cheaptonersucks

Do you run a script to delete profiles on log off? We do on fixed PCs and rarely have any issues on them. It is teacher laptops that have the corruption

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks 3s-gtech, whenever I ask a student who has no files showing in their documents folder to login to a different machine, their documents are always there. Do you know what could be causing that kind of behaviour? I will have a look at the technet link as the profile situation seems to be getting worse. One thing for sure is that deleting the local profile never resolves the issue! Don't have much access so I can't check DNS errors or replication issues etc. Edited December 13, 2017 by cheaptonersucks

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks witch, we don't run a script that deletes profiles on log off. Does your script work ok with server 2008r2/Windows 7 please? If so,would it be possible to send me a copy of the script please?

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks ITGURU, interesting to hear that roaming profiles do work with Windows 10. What server OS are you using?

[siuko]

Do you have offline caching of the shares turned off?

 

It has been so long since we set this up I cannot remember the exact reason why we do it (but there is something to do with profile corruption)

 

But we have a batch file in each folder of profiles (we have a folder for each year group)

 

It contains the code below

 

FOR /D %%G IN (*.*) DO NET SHARE %%G /CACHE:None

 

And we schedule it each evening to run

 

This will turn all caching off for all folders within the specific directory

 

PS this is on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7

Edited December 13, 2017 by siuko

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks siuko, I will find out if offline caching of the shares is turned off. Thanks for the batch file, I will pass it on to the NM. Why dont NMs give techs more user rights and permissions??

[MkII]

I can delete the local profile but that never fixes the problem.

 

So are you saying that the profile is not successfully deleted, as the problem still exists on the machine?

 

How are you deleting it?

[cheaptonersucks]

I delete the local profile via advanced system settings, then select the user profile from the list. The local profile is then removed but after a reboot the problem still exists.

[MkII]

Have you tried looking in the registry for remnants? I used to remotely wipe them with a script. My remote access is down until after the weekend sadly.

[AlanD]

For us a corrupt profile is usually because the user has interrupted the logoff process in some way - possibly by pressing the reset button - sometimes because they can't be bothered to wait for some process to complete, and don't realise the consequence. Wiping the local cached profiles is not much help, because the resulting corrupt profile fails to load from the server, and worse still then makes the local profile match that corrupted one. We minimize what is stored in the local profile to make it load/save as quickly as possible, but like to offer some customisation (pined task bar items, bookmarks, recent files etc) because that can add significantly to usability. So you will need to do more than wipe the local copy....such as restore the server copy from a backup - or wipe it (much to the chagrin of the user - who will lose what they regard as important bits).

[witch]

I delete the local profile via advanced system settings, then select the user profile from the list. The local profile is then removed but after a reboot the problem still exists.

 

I would do it by regedit - and you need to delete the corrupt profile from the server or it will just be pulled down again the next time the person logs on

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks I will try all suggestions. Edited December 18, 2017 by cheaptonersucks

[strawberry]

Could also use delprof to delete the profile. Is super useful.

[JATSO]

I would do it by regedit - and you need to delete the corrupt profile from the server or it will just be pulled down again the next time the person logs on

 

That's what I do most of the time but it would be a pain in a large environment.

[JATSO]

Could also use delprof to delete the profile. Is super useful.

 

Does it work on Windows 10 Edu? because I stopped using it as it didn't seem to function like it did on Win 7.

[AlanD]

Do you get a particular error - or is just that the user doesn't get the profile they expect ...perhaps non working internet...or not the correct start menu items?

[cheaptonersucks]

No errors just missing documents or missing desktop shortcuts. Removing the network profile seems to fix it guys so thanks for the suggestions. Edited December 19, 2017 by cheaptonersucks