Windows 7 login issue

[todarsey]

I am haveing some problems with my Win 7 RC 32 and 64 bit machine on a domain. I have the computer joined to the domain but when I have to reboot and login, nothing I had saved to the desktop is there any more. I can save something to the desktop, reboot and it is gone. It also is not remembering my IE settings either. Could this possibly be a RC issue and I need to download the enterprise versions (which I am downloading as I type this)?

[Mr Snrub]

Are you using a roaming profile for yor domain user?

If you log off, wait 30 seconds, then log back on again, are the changes still lost? (Or only specifically after rebooting?)

If you logon as a local user account, are the changes saved?

If you check in %systemdrive%\Users, do you see a whole load of profiles for the same user, ending with .000, .001, .002, etc.?

[DigeratiPrime]

I bet you're logging into a Temporary Profile every time. I think I remember having this problem with the RC and roaming profiles as well.

[todarsey]

I am not using a roaming profile and yes I do see a bunch of other profiles for the same user.

[Mr Snrub]

I am not using a roaming profile and yes I do see a bunch of other profiles for the same user.

What about the other 2 questions?

Also, is this domain user able to drill down into each of those profile folders, or do they get access denied?

If you check the Security tab on one of the profiles, who is listed (users & groups), and what type of access do they have?

[todarsey]

Sorry,

"If you log off, wait 30 seconds, then log back on again, are the changes still lost? (Or only specifically after rebooting?)" - Yes, they are getting lost either way.

"If you logon as a local user account, are the changes saved?" Yes, local account settings are saved.

I have deleted all of the other user profiles that were getting created. Now I an noticing when I lod in with the domain login, the profile is there. When I log off and lig in locally, the domain profile is gone. It looks like the profile is being deleted. Also, I am doing everything with full admin rights.

[Mr Snrub]

So now you have different symptoms?

First you had a new profile being created every time you logged on, and it was being left on disk but not used for subsequent logons.

Now you have a profile created for the domain user logging on, but after logging off it is deleted every time?

I've only heard of deletion of locally cached profiles when used in association with roaming profiles, typically on TS servers to stop their disks filling up with stale user profiles...

When you are logged on as a domain user, what is the folder created under C:\Users?

username?

username.domainname?

username.temp?

I would expect a temporary profile to get deleted at logoff, but you should get a balloon popup presented in the notification area to let you know when you have one immediately after logon, it's far from subtle...

Create a brand new domain user called TEST and log on for the first time - look at what profile is created, make a small change like desktop wallpaper, then log off.

Log on as a local user account, check in the C:\Users folder - is TEST still there? (if yes, named as what?)

Log back on as TEST - is the wallpaper change reverted? What profiles exist for TEST under C:\Users now?

[todarsey]

When you are logged on as a domain user, what is the folder created under C:\Users?

username.domainname

Create a brand new domain user called TEST and log on for the first time - look at what profile is created, make a small change like desktop wallpaper, then log off.

Log on as a local user account, check in the C:\Users folder - is TEST still there? (if yes, named as what?)

(if yes, named as what?)

Yes, test - it does not show as test.domainname

Log back on as TEST - is the wallpaper change reverted? What profiles exist for TEST under C:\Users now?

Settings were saved for the "Test" account.

[Mr Snrub]

Right, here's what I would do:

1. Logon with a local administrative user account

2. Delete all profiles through the UI, except the current user and the Default Profile:

Right-click Computer, click Properties

Click Advanced system settings

Click Settings under User Profiles

Highlight each profile in turn and click the Delete button

3. Open the Registry Editor and check under the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

There will be keys under here for each profile that has been loaded previously - if you delete the folder from disk manually, these registry keys get orphaned and can cause issues when the user logs on, as the query "does this user have a locally cached profile?" gives different answers depending on where you look.

Pay attention to the ProfileImagePath value under each key present under ProfileList

* Do not touch S-1-5-18, S-1-5-19 or S-1-5-20 *

One of the (longer named) profile keys will be your currently-logged-on user, so don't delete this one - but if there are others then I would export the ProfileList key for safety, then delete the sub-key in which the value is present.

e.g. on my system I have:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

S-1-5-18

S-1-5-19

S-1-5-20

S-1-5-21-143999014-727696240-3471678432-1112 (domain, user account: ProfileImagePath==C:\Users\Paul.domain)

S-1-5-21-143999014-727696240-3471678432-500 (domain Administrator account: ProfileImagePath==C:\Users\administrator)

S-1-5-21-686400301-924511773-2860567096-1001 (local user account: ProfileImagePath==C:\Users\Paul)

You can see that profile paths default to just "username" if there is no collision (see the domain administrator path), but the domain is appended if there is (see Paul.domain for the domain user, because Paul already exists as a local account which was logged on previously).

(If the name collision occurs in the opposite direction, %computername% is appended to the profile instead.)