Slow User Login

[Twearden]

Hi guys,

 

I'm running Windows Server 2016 and one of my users is experiencing up to half an hour loading times on every computer in the network, including those which she has used before (so with cached settings).

 

I'm pretty new to network admin, so I'm not even sure where to begin with troubleshooting this particular issue.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Best,

 

Tim

[bezzoh]

Check the applications log in event viewer, also run a RSOP from Group Policy Management Console to see if that gives indications as to whether a particular policy is causing the delays.

 

From my experience the main culprits for slow logins in the past have been roaming profiles (if the user has a big one, theres your winner right there!,) or its login scripts, or bad configuration with folder redirection trying to map to a location that's potentially unavailable. Start Menu redirection in general knocks login times significantly, I removed this and just kept desktop redirection (to a local shared folder on the C: drive.) All my users now share the default user start menu folder and I have a script that removes anything from there I dont want them to see.

[Twearden]

Hi thanks for your helpful reply - I was able to speed up this users login with your help as above (turned out her profile was quite large!) however about a month later, the same user's profile now won't log in at all. I get the "Preparing Windows" loading page followed by "We've logged you in with a temporary profile". Any ideas? I'm a bit stumped!

[FN-GM]

2 things to look at.

 

1. Check your clients are pointing to the DC for DNS.

 

2. Check the creation of desktop.ini files are not being blocked on your file server.

[Twearden]

Thanks. Couple of follow ups:

 

1. Does this apply to individual users or machines? As other user accounts work fine on every computer, on which I've had problems with the "faulty" user.

2. Could you point me in the right direction for this? Is there a specific GPO to change?

[Sydders01]

Hello @Twearden

 

I believe this user has got a roaming profile, please disable that. Please go on your AD /search for the user/right click on their name/properties/profile... check the details on their. This will give you an ideal of the issues

 

Thanks

 

Thanks. Couple of follow ups:

 

1. Does this apply to individual users or machines? As other user accounts work fine on every computer, on which I've had problems with the "faulty" user.

2. Could you point me in the right direction for this? Is there a specific GPO to change?

[Twearden]

Thanks for your reply. I've had a play with these settings and compared them to other, working profiles and had no joy. I need her to have a roaming profile, though it seems to definitely be a problem with the "Home Folder", as when I remove this, the profile will login, albeit without the users docs & desktop connected.

 

Hello @Twearden

 

I believe this user has got a roaming profile, please disable that. Please go on your AD /search for the user/right click on their name/properties/profile... check the details on their. This will give you an ideal of the issues

 

Thanks

[psydii]

I need her to have a roaming profile,

 

Not helpful to your immediate predicament, but you should be aware that Roaming Profiles are depreciated and some modern part of the Windows/Microsoft ecosystem do not work with them.

 

I'd been a roaming profiles advocate (and the rest of the 'InteliMirror' family since 1999. Leaving them behind when we moved to Windows 10/OneDrive was tough for me.

 

 

In your case more immediately: I wonder if they have either some *huge* files in their home folder or profile folder, or perhaps thousands of small files . Both can really mess with the Offline Files system and Loading Profiles.

 

Another possibility is that this user is trying to map to network resources (file or print shares) that either no longer exist or that they don't have appropriate access to.

 

If you get to the point where you are willing to sink a lot of time into this, you can use WPT and WPA to see what *exactly* their computer is doing for the entire boot/logon cycle. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/test/wpt/

[Twearden]

Not helpful to your immediate predicament, but you should be aware that Roaming Profiles are depreciated and some modern part of the Windows/Microsoft ecosystem do not work with them.

 

I actually didn't know that, my only network experience is this school's janky setup that I inherited when joining in December. We still had about 20 Windows 7 machines around the school at that point! It's one of those things where what we really need is a full overhaul, but don't have the money. The server itself crashes on a daily basis (on further reading, I believe the roaming profiles may well be a cause of this!). We also have a server running 2008r2 which I'm desperate to get rid of. We also currently manage our user accounts through LGFL.

 

Anyway, slightly back on topic: how do you guys have your user profiles set up? Do you have any recommendations if I were to do a budget friendly overhaul of our current system?

[psydii]

I have thoughts, but not the time right now to properly articulate them.

 

Quickly: lean into the LGFL USOAutUpdate, LGFL offer is a big money saver so make the most of it. It is way better than manually managing your accounts.

 

Local Profiles need to be recreated at first logon. Fast SSDs are required to make this not painful. Seating plans also help as students use the same computer each time they visit the room.

You can strip lots out of Windows 10 to make the logon fast, but then you break lots of other things and fight with MS each time they release an update.

 

Windows Shared PC config has been surprisingly good this year. Previously we had too many legacy apps that just wouldn't work - but most people have moved to web based resources, so the Chromebook-like (kinda) set up works well.

 

Storage Sense does a good job if you have OneDrive client app in use. You should have it switched on regardless.

 

Set old profiles to be deleted (via group policy)

 

Move to Intune for device management - it is different to group policy but if you are putting the work in, better to build to the future than playing where the ball was ten years ago.

[Twearden]

I have thoughts, but not the time right now to properly articulate them.

 

Quickly: lean into the LGFL USOAutUpdate, LGFL offer is a big money saver so make the most of it. It is way better than manually managing your accounts.

 

Local Profiles need to be recreated at first logon. Fast SSDs are required to make this not painful. Seating plans also help as students use the same computer each time they visit the room.

You can strip lots out of Windows 10 to make the logon fast, but then you break lots of other things and fight with MS each time they release an update.

 

Windows Shared PC config has been surprisingly good this year. Previously we had too many legacy apps that just wouldn't work - but most people have moved to web based resources, so the Chromebook-like (kinda) set up works well.

 

Storage Sense does a good job if you have OneDrive client app in use. You should have it switched on regardless.

 

Set old profiles to be deleted (via group policy)

 

Move to Intune for device management - it is different to group policy but if you are putting the work in, better to build to the future than playing where the ball was ten years ago.

Really appreciate this, thank you so much.

[ultimatepie]

how many DC's do you have ?

[dazza007]

There is a tool that can tell you what is the holdup on login it will get you right to the problem

Analyzing a Slow Boot with Windows Performance Recorder & Analyzer • Helge Klein

[Sydders01]

Hi @Twearden,

 

Rename the current folder of the individual, map a new folder, then test. If all is fine ,copy documents and files from the old folder to the new one then test again.

 

 

 

Thanks for your reply. I've had a play with these settings and compared them to other, working profiles and had no joy. I need her to have a roaming profile, though it seems to definitely be a problem with the "Home Folder", as when I remove this, the profile will login, albeit without the users docs & desktop connected.

[Twearden]

This did it! Thanks so much. I'll take some time to explore the windows tools and alternatives to Roaming Profiles that I can implement in future - thanks everybody.

 

Hi @Twearden,

 

Rename the current folder of the individual, map a new folder, then test. If all is fine ,copy documents and files from the old folder to the new one then test again.