samba - Oct 2004 - Roaming Profile & Folder Redirection Problems

I'm running Samba 3.0.7 on SuSE 9.1 with OpenLDAP for auth.

I've been mostly following along Terpstra's Book "Samba 3 By
Example", as lots
of other people here have been. 

The three big problems I'm having are:
1) After a Windows XP user logs out for the first time, upon next login they 
get an error message saying "Windows cannot log you in because your profile
cannot be loaded." Deleting the NTUSER.DAT file for that user allows that 
user to log in again.

2) It doesn't appear like the default user profile (located 
in /var/lib/samba/netlogon/Default User/) is getting used for anything, as 
when I log in for the first time and view the registry any changes that I 
made for the default user are not there!

3) This one will probably be solved by #2 above, but whenever a user logs out, 
there is that stupid 'synchronizing' window, even though all profile
folders
have been redirected to a network drive. Why?

Any help or suggestions on these would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Rich Edelman

Rich,

I have seen a number of reports of problems with the procedure I outlined in 
the book. Rest assured that this was well tested prior to publication. 
Additionally, there are some large sites in Europe that use roaming profiles 
in precisely this fashion.

That leaves us with the problem of the need to identify what you have done 
that is different, or to identify what is different in your client Windows 
configuration.

I regret that at this time I do not have time to assist you further, however I 
am keen to hear of any progress you make in solving the issue and would much 
appreciate any comments that can be added to the chapter to help others to 
avoid your pain.

Cheers,
John T.

On Sunday 10 October 2004 13:19, Rich Edelman wrote:
> I'm running Samba 3.0.7 on SuSE 9.1 with OpenLDAP for auth.
>
> I've been mostly following along Terpstra's Book "Samba 3 By
Example", as
> lots of other people here have been.
>
> The three big problems I'm having are:
> 1) After a Windows XP user logs out for the first time, upon next login
> they get an error message saying "Windows cannot log you in because
your
> profile cannot be loaded." Deleting the NTUSER.DAT file for that user
> allows that user to log in again.
>
> 2) It doesn't appear like the default user profile (located
> in /var/lib/samba/netlogon/Default User/) is getting used for anything, as
> when I log in for the first time and view the registry any changes that I
> made for the default user are not there!
>
> 3) This one will probably be solved by #2 above, but whenever a user logs
> out, there is that stupid 'synchronizing' window, even though all
profile
> folders have been redirected to a network drive. Why?
>
> Any help or suggestions on these would be greatly appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rich Edelman
-- 
John H Terpstra
Samba-Team Member
Phone: +1 (650) 580-8668

Author:
The Official Samba-3 HOWTO & Reference Guide, ISBN: 0131453556
Samba-3 by Example, ISBN: 0131472216
Hardening Linux, ISBN: 0072254971
OpenLDAP by Example, ISBN: 0131488732
Other books in production.

Hi Rich,

I have also built my XP clients w/ RP+FolderRedir.

I haven't seen all the problems you've described, but am having my own
share of difficulties.  I'd be interested if you encounter them, see my
earlier post (a few days back) if you're curious.
> 1) After a Windows XP user logs out for the first time, upon next
> login they get an error message saying "Windows cannot log you in
> because your profile cannot be loaded." Deleting the NTUSER.DAT file
> for that user allows that user to log in again.
I haven't seen this, but have read notes about the accumulation of .tmp
in the profile (Windows creates them) files possibly causing this
problem.  Are you seeing .tmp files if you look at the profile, during
or after logoff (but prior to the next logon)?
> 2) It doesn't appear like the default user profile (located in
> /var/lib/samba/netlogon/Default User/) is getting used for anything,
> as when I log in for the first time and view the registry any changes
> that I made for the default user are not there!
What profile is used for the new user?  For example, is XP copying the
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User profile?  Perhaps it's not
finding your [netlogon] share?  You've verified all permissions on the
Unix side and in the smb.conf file?  Can you see the profile being
copied if you sniff smb or read the logs?

Also, you can turn on quite a bit of logging in XP by setting this reg
key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
  = [REG_DWORD] UserEnvDebugLevel = 0x30002

The log file is in C:\Windows\Debug\UserMode .. (if memory serves..)

I can compare perms and settings with you if it helps, my [netlogon]
profile is used properly.

Also, are you doing anything with Group Policy items on the XP side that
would altered your expected Default User environment?  (The logging
above will show you this..)

Evidently, XP wants client side caching on the profile location
disabled (I saw complaints in the Event Log).  Perhaps this is causing
problems?  To do so, add to the [profiles] section of smb.conf:

  csc policy = disabled

I don't think Terpstra's book mentions this but it's in the smb.conf
man
page.
> 3) This one will probably be solved by #2 above, but whenever a user
> logs out, there is that stupid 'synchronizing' window, even though
all
> profile folders have been redirected to a network drive. Why?
Isn't this Offline Files on the XP side?  I have disabled this at the
system level, because I didn't want user's dealing with any sync
problems.  Have you disabled Offline File Caching for at least the
folders you have redirected?  Try disabling it altogether; set this GP:

  Computer configuration
    Admin templates
      Network
        Offline files
          Allow or disallow use of offline files = Disabled


Let me know if any of this helps.  We compare configs more closely if it
will help.

Cheers,
Richard