Roaming Profiles Opinions

[RSR]

Hi Chaps,

I just wanted to get a idea of what you think of Roaming Profiles? Or are you GPOs enforced polices?

I currently use them here but i am looking in to other methods to have the same effect as they are causing more problems then they are worth.

Thanks

Andy

 

[timking]

What kind of problems are you getting? How are things currently setup? Depending on your environment roaming profiles/TS Profiles can be a necessity, especially if you are using a centralised solution and manage (via GP) the profile folders. We run roaming profiles for 750+ staff in a Citrix-based environment, though I've done similar setups using roamings on LANs with plenty of users too with very few issues. I like them a lot, can save no end of time with users having varying setups if they swap machines regularly. As long as they are managed well it's all good.

 

[RSR]

What kind of problems are you getting? How are things currently setup? Depending on your environment roaming profiles/TS Profiles can be a necessity, especially if you are using a centralised solution and manage (via GP) the profile folders. We run roaming profiles for 750+ staff in a Citrix-based environment, though I've done similar setups using roamings on LANs with plenty of users too with very few issues. I like them a lot, can save no end of time with users having varying setups if they swap machines regularly. As long as they are managed well it's all good.

We are getting quiet a few users, having problems with deleted files returning to there desktop.

Ive narrowed this down to the GPOs that are attached to that groups OU. However, move the user to a different OU and GPO and it solves the problem. haha.

However, as i am currently reviewing the whole system and trying to make it more streamlined. I have been looking in to other methods for doing this. As we have quiet a few users that use large files and all the normal stuff Adobe suites dump in the application data.

 

[daztrouk]

We are getting quiet a few users, having problems with deleted files returning to there desktop.

Ive narrowed this down to the GPOs that are attached to that groups OU. However, move the user to a different OU and GPO and it solves the problem. haha.

However, as i am currently reviewing the whole system and trying to make it more streamlined. I have been looking in to other methods for doing this. As we have quiet a few users that use large files and all the normal stuff Adobe suites dump in the application data.

same issue we've been having here, haven't had time to look into it too deeply yet

 

[Dewotter]

Roaming profile in itself are easy to configure and setup, however unless someone has a script it can be difficult updating them should say a new application be deployed without manually copying in an updated profile. I assume you will couple Roaming Profiles with Folder Redirection to lighten the load on the network and to allow speedier login times as the server does not have to download all of the users documents each time they login to a workstation.
I have implemente this as a student on a test virtual network and setup the profile to be unrestricted, but with first run screens etc. all pre-made. I then use Group Policy to enfore restrictions on my "users".

 

[svbooga]

same issue we've been having here, haven't had time to look into it too deeply yet

We had this problem on a small citrix network we took over a while back, profiles were roaming but the profile changes wouldnt be copied down every time so depending on which server the user got it would appear that deleted files had been restored. In reality the changes were never copied back to the roaming profile folder.

We have since dumped roaming profiles and instead use flex profiles. All user have a standard mandatory profile, but any changes they make to the registry or settings are saved on logoff and restored on login. With folder redirection means that logins are much quicker than roaming profiles.