by Greg Shields

Although you can adjust the Terminal Services Roaming Profile configuration for users from within Active Directory Users & Computers, doing so from this location forces you to make adjustments individually for each user. As such, the much easier solution is to use Group Policy. Also, by using Group Policy, you can set a few additional parameters that improve how your Terminal Servers actually use those profiles.

Profile configuration in Group Policy is configured from the policy Computer Configuration | Policies | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Terminal Services | Terminal Server | Profiles. Two configurations should be minimally set. The first is Set path for TS Roaming User Profile. Here, you will enter in the server and share where profiles are located in the form servernamesharename. Do not enter in additional pathing information as the policy will automatically enter the username for the subfolder for that user. The second policy is Set TS User Home Directory. Here, you will be prompted to enter a local path or remote drive mapping for that user’s home drive.

This is, however, not the only Group Policy location where profile behaviors are configurable. Due to how roaming profiles are used by Terminal Servers, some additional configurations are commonly done in the location Computer Configuration | Policies | Administrative Templates | System | User Profiles. This location includes the settings for all profiles for a server where this Group Policy applies. Although all may have some configurations of interest, pay specific attention to the following:

• Add the Administrators security group to roaming user profiles. Enabling this policy ensures that you, the Administrator, can work with profiles once they’re created. If you don’t enable this policy, the profiles are created such that your Administrator account has no privileges to view them.
• Delete cached copies of roaming profiles. It is a good idea to enable this policy in environments with a large amount of bandwidth between roaming profile storage location and Terminal Server. Doing so ensures that old profiles don’t consume excess space on the Terminal Server’s hard drive. It also reduces the chance of profile corruption as the Terminal Server attempts to merge profile information between the local and remote profiles versions during the logon process.
• Wait for remote user profile. In environments with plenty of bandwidth, enabling this policy ensures that the logon process doesn’t return control to the user until after the profile is completely copied. Although this will increase the time required for a login, it will ensure that all user resources are at the target Terminal Server before they attempt to work with their session.

Seventeen settings are available in this location for other profile configurations, with many of them having to do with environments with slower network connections. You may find additional configurations that make sense for your environment. Remember that these settings are all stored in Computer Configuration, enabling you to create these settings specific to just your Terminal Servers. As such, it is a good idea to pull your Terminal Servers into their own separate OU that is below your Servers OU. Doing so allows you to create special Group Policies for just these servers and their needs.

Part 28 will talk in a bit more detail about the issues of profiles and profile sizes. However, be aware that profile sizes are a major source of user problems in Terminal Servers. They increase the time to login and logout and can cause corruption problems as they grow too big. Keep an eye on your users and their profile sizes, and work with your users-or configure other Group Policies-that prevent them from storing too much data in their profile.

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.