Cleanup Local saved user profiles

[bondbill2k2]

Having looked at some of our workstations stored user profiles I have noticed many have several dozen users mandatory profiles saved, shouldn't these be removed at users logoff or is there a purpose to this? Is there a quick way to clean this up or would peopel recommend using a logoff script?

 

Thanks!

Tom

[mthomas08]

The googling I have done, apparently the GPO setting removes inactive profiles but virus scanners can change that inactive to active.

 

I am having the exact same issue, as a result we have to manually remove them but because we have been imaging our PCs with FOG we are going to look in to setting this up to clean profiles often.

 

Not tested a logoff script though, Windows 7 will do it quickly - if Access level permits?

Windows XP though could take a while, luckily enough here Windows 7 can remove profiles within a few minutes. If any one has added the Del Prof as a log off script and it works - even as a student and no additional settings required? do say. I might implement it

[Jollity]

Local copies of roaming profiles are supposed to be removed on logoff if you have the "Delete cached copies of roaming profiles" group policy set, however this does not always happen - this has always been a problem, with XP and probably earlier too, though I think it did get a bit better with Vista. I have noticed the problem get worse with our 64-bit machines.

 

I believe that the root cause is programs keeping files open in the profile after the user has logged off - the prevents the profile from being deleted. If this is the case, a log off script to delete the profile will not help, because the delete script will run into the same locked files. I would look into a startup script, because a restart ought to have unlocked the files.

 

I would be cautious about just deleting the files from the "users" folder, because, since Vista, if Windows still has the deleted profile in its list of profiles, the user with that profile will get an error and a temporary profile next time they log on. You can avoid this by deleting the profile from the list in system properties -> advanced. I am not sure what the equivalent way to script this would be: possibly you just need to delete the right registry key in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList" as well as the files. If the profile that is hanging around in the users folder, is not in the list of profiles, then it is apparently safe just to delete the files in users.

[steve]

If you're using windows 7, I think profiles are only deleted if they are super mandatory

[plexer]

I use delprof2 as a shutdown script.

 

Ben

[Jollity]

If you're using windows 7, I think profiles are only deleted if they are super mandatory

Am I right that you mean local copies of mandatory profiles are only deleted if they are super mandatory? Local copies of non-mandatory profiles are surely supposed to be deleted, and usually seem to be for us.

 

I use delprof2 as a shutdown script.

That looks like a very handy tool.

[steve]

Yep, local cached mandatory profiles are not deleted. If the domain isn't available, the user can still login and use that profile.

 

A super-mandatory profile will be deleted on log-off. This prevents the user logging in if the domain isn't available.

 

Super-Mandatory User Profiles - Windows 7 Tutorial

[mm3]

I use delprof2 as a shutdown script.

 

Ben

 

nice find

[carvjo]

add your users to the group 'Domain Guests' - members of this group don't leave any local profiles on machines.. It works..

[Jollity]

add your users to the group 'Domain Guests' - members of this group don't leave any local profiles on machines.. It works..

This is an interesting idea. Here is a Microsoft article discussing the issue. They confirm what you say, that profiles of guests should be deleted, but also say:

Guest accounts are not meant for users who have data and need to log on and off domains often. By intent, guests are people who may need to log to on a domain for a specific reason and then log off, but they do not stay or use the system for an extended time.

 

If users log on to a domain frequently enough that they would want to customize a desktop and keep data on it, they are not guests; they should be considered users, and should no longer be part of the Guests group.

I would be nervous that marking our regular users as guests has other consequences. For a start, the MS article suggests to me that profiles of users in the Domain Guests group do not get uploaded back to the server to roam. Do you know if this is the case, or do you only use your trick with mandatory profiles?