by Greg Shields

Depending on how you use user profiles in your environment, they can either be a non-event or a major pain in the neck. Environments that leverage roaming profiles-or have attempted to do so in the past-know that traditional roaming profiles are challenging, most especially when users roam from computer to computer. Traditional roaming profiles tend to pick up “artifacts” of the individual systems they download to as the user moves from computer to computer. As a result, users often find themselves with broken links, apps that don’t work, and other profile inconsistencies as these artifacts accumulate over time.

It is for this reason that most Windows environments have shied away from using traditional roaming profiles, electing to use the much-easier-but-not-portable local profiles. Terminal Server environments that are comprised of only a single server can also enjoy this very easy setup. Users will always be connected to the same server, so they’re sure to get the same profile every time. The game changes, however, when your number of Terminal Servers jumps from one to any number greater than one.

For environments with multiple Terminal Servers-most specifically those that have been aggregated into a load-balancing farm-the best practice is to use roaming profiles. But before you groan, be aware that the roaming profiles used by Terminal Services in this architecture are a special kind of roaming profile called Terminal Services Roaming Profiles. Although Terminal Services Roaming Profiles functionally operate in the exact same way as traditional roaming profiles (in that they’re stored on a separate server and downloaded to the local computer during the logon process), these special roaming profiles are invoked only when the user logs into a Terminal Server.

You can directly manipulate a user’s Terminal Services Roaming Profile from Active Directory Users & Computers. However, be aware that the correct tabs for administering these profiles only exist when you launch this tool from a Terminal Server directly. Once there, view the properties of any user account, and navigate to the Terminal Services Profile tab. There, you’ll see entries for the user’s Profile Path and Terminal Services Home Folder. Entering a path here will instruct the Terminal Server to look to that location during the user’s next logon for their profile information.

As with traditional roaming profiles, you will need to create a folder and share on a file server somewhere on your LAN for the storage of these profiles. That location must be granted the correct level of permissions as well so that the user logon process can download the profile and later upload the changes once a user logs out.

About the Author

Greg Shields is an independent author, speaker, and IT consultant, as well as a Partner and Principal Technologist with Concentrated Technology. With 15 years in information technology, Greg has developed extensive experience in systems administration, engineering, and architecture specializing in Microsoft OS, remote application, systems management, and virtualization technologies. He is a Contributing Editor and columnist for TechNet Magazine and Redmond Magazine, and serves as the Series Editor for Realtime Publishers, the world’s leading provider of high-quality content for the IT market. Greg is a highly sought-after and top-ranked speaker for both live and recorded events, and is seen regularly at conferences like TechMentor Events, Microsoft Tech Ed, VMworld, and more. He is a multiple recipient of Microsoft “Most Valuable Professional” award.