Configuring Roaming User Profiles
Updated: March 28, 2003
Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2
Before you create a roaming user profile, you need to create each user account. Then, log on to a server as an administrator to create a network share to store the roaming user profiles, designate the groups of users to receive the roaming user profiles, and grant all users Full Control permissions.
Use the following procedures when you create and manage roaming user profiles.
Creating Roaming User Profiles
To perform the following procedure, you must be a member of the Account Operators group, Domain Admins group, or the Enterprise Admins group in Active Directory, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. For enhanced security, consider using the
Runas command to perform this procedure.
To create a roaming user profile
- Open Active Directory Users and Computers.
- Click the domain and the OU where the user account resides.
- Right-click the user account for which to set a roaming profile, and then click Properties.
- Click the Profile tab, and then type the profile path information in Profile path. (Use the full path in each user account. For example, type \\Server\ShareName\UserName.)
Another way to populate the profile path is to use an Active Directory® Service Interfaces (ADSI) script. ADSI provides a single set of interfaces for managing resources on the network. You can use ADSI in combination with Microsoft® Visual Basic® Scripting Edition (VBScript) or JScript scripts to manage Active Directory resources such as users and services.
For information about ADSI and ADSI scripts, see the Microsoft Platform SDK link on the
Web Resources page at
Windows Resource Kits - Web Resources.
Changing User Profile Type from Local to Roaming
Typically, a large organization has many users with local profiles. For ease of management, you might want to change many of the local profiles to roaming profiles. Moving user’s data and settings from the workstation to a server reduces the user’s dependence on the workstation’s availability, simplifies user data management, and allows centralized account management.
To create a roaming user profile for a user that has a local profile
- Open Active Directory Users and Computers.
- Click the domain and the OU where the user account resides.
- Right-click the appropriate user account for which to set a roaming profile, and then click Properties.
- Click the Profile tab, and type the profile path information in Profile path (for example, type \\Server\ShareName\UserName).
Note
To change a user’s local profile to a roaming profile for a user who uses multiple computers simultaneously, the user must log off last from the computer that has the profile that the user wants to use.