Size of User Profiles in Google Enterprise

[DavR]

Actually, I think the reason for our Chromebooks not clearing out old profiles is that the setting to erase local user data instructs the device to erase the profile when that user is signing out. All the other profiles created on the device when the setting was to not erase local data will remain in place until each of those users next signs in and then out of the device. I guess a powerwash reset is going to be the quickest way to clear out the dozens of older profiles on there.

 

You can do a "soft" reset of devices that deletes profiles from the Google Admin console in bulk, as discussed here - https://www.schooledintech.com/how-to-remove-profiles-from-a-chromebook/ - which should be a better option than powerwashing each one.

 

I've successfully used this to clear the storage on an online device, I haven't tried it on offline devices, but I assume it will queue the actions for when they're next online. Beware this may log off any active users on the device.

[jthompson]

You can do a "soft" reset of devices that deletes profiles from the Google Admin console in bulk, as discussed here - https://www.schooledintech.com/how-to-remove-profiles-from-a-chromebook/ - which should be a better option than powerwashing each one.

 

I've successfully used this to clear the storage on an online device, I haven't tried it on offline devices, but I assume it will queue the actions for when they're next online. Beware this may log off any active users on the device.

 

Thanks. Yes, I spotted after posting that there is a reset option in Google Admin which specifically clears all the profiles. You're right in that it will instantly sign out any currently signed in user on the device, so not something to be done if there's any chance of the device being in use at the time. It worked almost instantly when I tried it ealier. I'm testing it also with a device that's not online, and the task in Google Admin has been circling around for hours without timing out (which I'm assuming it will do eventually).

 

I'm just going to visit each trolley and get all the devices online to then perform the remote profiles wipe on them.

[Primus]

Thanks. Yes, I spotted after posting that there is a reset option in Google Admin which specifically clears all the profiles. You're right in that it will instantly sign out any currently signed in user on the device, so not something to be done if there's any chance of the device being in use at the time. It worked almost instantly when I tried it ealier. I'm testing it also with a device that's not online, and the task in Google Admin has been circling around for hours without timing out (which I'm assuming it will do eventually).

 

I'm just going to visit each trolley and get all the devices online to then perform the remote profiles wipe on them.

 

Careful - we have hundreds of Chromebooks and our task queue in the admin console got full and stayed full for months.

[jthompson]

Okay, so, I've just had about 10 Chromebooks out to test this with. Most of them showing as 100% full in Google Admin, with storage warnings when signing into them.

 

Doing the "Reset - Clear User Profiles" task on them from Google Admin only appeared to work, but didn't actually clear any storage. The Admin task shows as successful, and the devices themselves reboot within a few seconds, but the storage is still 100% full, with storage warnings still when signing into them.

 

I wonder if the profile clearance clears Chrome profile data, but doesn't do anything with that users' Play Store or Android stuff, and leaves all that behind. Or maybe when they're so short of free space, the clean-up routine can't work as it's meant to. I'm suspecting the former, somehow.

 

A Powerwash and automatic re-enrol did clear out the storage, though, so I think I'll just work therough the trolleys doing that.

[DavR]

Okay, so, I've just had about 10 Chromebooks out to test this with. Most of them showing as 100% full in Google Admin, with storage warnings when signing into them.

 

Doing the "Reset - Clear User Profiles" task on them from Google Admin only appeared to work, but didn't actually clear any storage. The Admin task shows as successful, and the devices themselves reboot within a few seconds, but the storage is still 100% full, with storage warnings still when signing into them.

 

I wonder if the profile clearance clears Chrome profile data, but doesn't do anything with that users' Play Store or Android stuff, and leaves all that behind. Or maybe when they're so short of free space, the clean-up routine can't work as it's meant to. I'm suspecting the former, somehow.

 

A Powerwash and automatic re-enrol did clear out the storage, though, so I think I'll just work therough the trolleys doing that.

 

I will probably be testing this one myself soon, so that's definitely something to look out for. I think for us, we're not actually using much Play Store stuff, so be interesting to see what it does to ours.

[DavR]

Update - frustratingly, same experience as @jthompson!

 

Ran the reset profiles routine, which causes the screen to flash on and off, or if you're logged in, kicks you out. But, on a device with 100% storage, this does nothing to clear disk space. Works just fine in testing if the device has medium amount of storage, but my suspicion is it just doesn't have the space to run the clean-up routine.

 

Sigh. Looks like that's half a day of the hols next week powerwashing those devices then. Luckily I think it's only one trolley of thirty to do.

[jthompson]

In fairness, I powerwashed a trolley of 15 Chromebooks inside of about 5 minutes this morning, sending the command to the selected devices from Google Admin. Auto-reenrollment FTW. That got them all back to about 5% storage used.

[DavR]

Oh? How did you deal with re-joining the wireless network?

 

I've got auto-re-enrolment setup, it's just the wireless step that still requires intervention here.

[jthompson]

Oh? How did you deal with re-joining the wireless network?

 

I've got auto-re-enrolment setup, it's just the wireless step that still requires intervention here.

 

I did have to do that bit manually. That's what took most of the 5 minutes. That obviously becomes more complicated if you're not able to just get your hands on the devices easily, but this issue is probably unlikely to be affecting user-assigned devices anyway.

[Primus]

I did have to do that bit manually. That's what took most of the 5 minutes. That obviously becomes more complicated if you're not able to just get your hands on the devices easily, but this issue is probably unlikely to be affecting user-assigned devices anyway.

 

I've news on that front - we're seeing user-assigned devices with the issue too!

 

We also don't use the Play Store or any apps and only a very small number of extensions.

[DavR]

I've news on that front - we're seeing user-assigned devices with the issue too!

 

We also don't use the Play Store or any apps and only a very small number of extensions.

 

When you say user-assigned, I assume you mean a single user?

 

That's pretty good going, for a single user profile to fill up an entire Chromebook. Especially when, conceptually, all of your storage is supposed to be online

 

I've noticed that the Camera app now stores it's pictures and recordings locally by default, as are screenshots and captures, so maybe that could be doing it. I'd also check where your Downloads folder is pointing to, local storage or Google Drive.

[Primus]

When you say user-assigned, I assume you mean a single user?

 

That's pretty good going, for a single user profile to fill up an entire Chromebook. Especially when, conceptually, all of your storage is supposed to be online

 

I've noticed that the Camera app now stores it's pictures and recordings locally by default, as are screenshots and captures, so maybe that could be doing it. I'd also check where your Downloads folder is pointing to, local storage or Google Drive.

 

Yup - and these are not exactly power users, it's really quite amazing!

 

And yes that change to move to local storage for screenshots etc is barking mad, Google have completely lost the plot with that one.