[Samba] local/roaming profile default - different behavior

[Chris Smith]

On Wed, 2002-05-15 at 07:52, Markus A. Madlener wrote:
> i have exact the same behavior !
> if a new user logons on to a samba domain, the profile IS roaming, you can
> easily check by starting NT user manager and connect to the samba PDC, the 
> path to the user profile is always set to the samba PDC
> 
> you also mentioned that this is the  opposite behavior on a NT/2k server, which
> i can only confirm, on my NT and 2k server new users (for example when adding
> users using "User Manager for Domains" for NT or the mmc in win2k) the profile
> path is empty by default which automatically means that profiles also local by
> default, i tried with samba 2.2.3a and 2.2.4 
> 
> even if delete the the home and profile options in the smb.conf file and i
> try to logon to the samba domain with a win2k box,  win2k will bringup an error
> message saying that it cannot find the profile 
> so in order to add a new user to a samba domain with a local user profile i
> always have to add the home and/or profile path option to smb.conf, change the
> profile on the client to local and then delete these options again

Deleting the options in smb.conf doesn't work because the default
service definitions for those parameters become active; one must
actively set them to null ("logon path=" for example).
 
> > The selection of local vs. roaming profile is done on the client,
> > not the domain controller. AFAIK, Samba correctly reproduces the
> > behavior of a Windows NT or 2000 PDC.
> 
> -> IMHO the selection of local vs. roaming CAN be done on the client (after the
> user has been created), but the initial decision (at least with NT/2k server) is
> done on the server, when the user is being created (there i can specify if the
> profile is local or roaming (by entering a path))

Actually this is the crux of the issue.
With NT the roaming profile path is null by default and activated on a
per user basis. With Samba the profile path exists by default and is
activated domain wide.
 
> when adding a user to a samba domain a path to the roaming profile always gets
> created (as seen when using usrmgr.exe to connect to the samba pdc)
> 
> i wonder why samba behaves differently in this matter

Apparently a design decision. Would be nice to see it fixed.

Chris