[Samba] Windows 2K/XP Profile/Homedir replication issue?

[Morgan Toal]

K. Hawkes wrote:
> Hey there,
> 
> Just a question for you Samba 2.2.x gurus out there :)
> 
> We have a contingent (a steadily increasing contingent) of Win2K and WinXP
> workstations.
> Does anyone here know how to stop the profiles from replicating?
> If we create a file in the profile dir, say \\PDC\UserHome\profile.doc.
> It will replicate that to the profile directory, while one file or two files
> are not a problem, we use classroom based logins, so they all login at once
> and it's transferring the whole \\PDC\UserHome dir around everywhere it
> goes, it does it when you login and logout, so if everyone saves work there,
> as you can imagine, login/logout times take a long long time.
> 
> Anyone got a work-around for this or is it just us who are having this
> problem?

I have not addressed the issue of leftover profiles myself - though I probably should - but these may be of use to you:
http://www.jsifaq.com/suba/tip0100/rh0106.htm
http://www.jsifaq.com/suba/tip0300/rh0368.htm

IMO it is a design flaw on Microsoft's part with regards to how they designed their system of user profiles. Even in an all-windows network, unless you deal with this the users still have the problem of sucking down huge profile folders because they have a bunch of crap in My Documents or wherever.

Microsoft's solution to this is to do this thing called "Folder Redirection" which is implemented in Group Policy:
http://www.jsifaq.com/sube/tip2200/rh2206.htm

This sucks because the registry keys for folder redirection can apparently only be applied at login time, so they have to come in as a policy, you can't just regedit them in.

Here's what I think you need to do. Create a policy file with a custom policy template in the NT System Policy Editor and use this to push the keys relating to folder redirection. I just redirect "My Documents" to Z: which is where the user's home folder is mapped to on our systems.

Get the policy editor with NT SP6a, download the self extracting .EXE version. It's 35 MB, but all you need out of this is POLEDIT.EXE and the two .ADM files.
http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/downloads/recommended/SP6/128bitX86/default.asp

Here is a custom policy template I've used. Cut it out and call it custom.adm. Load it with the two stock ones in the NT policy editor. Create and save a policy called NTCONFIG.POL in your netlogon share.

Let me know if this works for you.
 
Morgan Toal

--- cut here ---
CLASS USER
 CATEGORY "(Custom) W2K Folder Redirection"
 KEYNAME "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders"
		POLICY "Redirect Application Data"
			PART "Application Data" EDITTEXT
			VALUENAME "AppData"
			END PART
		END POLICY
		POLICY "Redirect Desktop"
			PART "Desktop" EDITTEXT
			VALUENAME "Desktop"
			END PART
		END POLICY
		POLICY "Redirect My Documents"
			PART "My Documents" EDITTEXT
			VALUENAME "Personal"
			END PART
		END POLICY
		POLICY "Redirect My Pictures"
			PART "My Pictures" EDITTEXT
			VALUENAME "My Pictures"
			END PART
		END POLICY
		POLICY "Redirect Start Menu"
			PART "Start Menu" EDITTEXT
			VALUENAME "Start Menu"
			END PART
		END POLICY
	END CATEGORY
--- cut here ---