Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 - Manual (Page 18)

10 Microsoft Windows NT Server White Paper
client needs is the correct path. Note that storing profiles on a Windows NT 4.0
Server makes it easier for the administrator to open a user’s NTuser.dat file to
make any necessary modifications. You can also store User Profiles on Novell
Servers provided that the client is configured correctly and can access the pro-
file path.
If a client is not receiving a User Profile at logon, use the Start menu Run
command to check the profile path. For example, to see if you can locate the
profile, type \\server\share\mydomainuser. If the path to the user’s profile con-
tains spaces, put quotation marks around the path when you type it in the Run
command box.
Except in the case of mandatory profiles or when a slow network is de-
tected, any changes to the user’s profile are saved to the central profile when
the user logs off. (Because users cannot modify mandatory profiles, changes
do not need to be written to the server.)
NOTE: In situations where the same user account logs on to multiple machines, the last user to log off
dictates the profile settings because that user was the last one to write data to the profile. Similarly, if a
group of users all point to the same profile, the final logoff settings are saved and will overwrite previous
settings.
If the User Profile is flagged as a local profile and is not mandatory, any
changes the user makes while logged on are written to the locally cached ver-
sion of the profile, but not to the server-based copy.
NOTE: You should not make the home directory and User Profile path the same. If the profile path encom-
passes the home directory path and the server-based profile is more recent than the local profile on the
workstation, all directories and files that exist in the user’s home directory will be copied to the user’s
workstation at logon. These files are then written back to the server (if modified) when the user logs off.
This process occurs at each logon. In addition, even if the user logs off and the administrator deletes all
of the unnecessary files from the home directory, the versions of these files that reside on the workstation
will not be deleted at logon and will be written back to the server again at log off. This file copy process is
avoided if you place the profile in a subdirectory of the home directory, as follows:
\\server\share\domainuser\profile.
Setting Persistent Connections
Persistent connections are stored in the User Profiles registry hive under the
Network subkey. If you create a template User Profile that includes persistent
connections and you have to supply credentials when making those connec-
tions, the credentials— with the exception of the password you used— are
stored in the User Profile. When the new user receives the template User Pro-
file, these saved credentials are passed (as opposed to the logged on user’s
credentials), and the connection may fail.
There are three methods to correct this:
1. You can recreate the profile without supplying alternate credentials when
connecting to network resources, or
2. Using Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe), use blank spaces to erase the
contents of the USERNAME value under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network\drive letter. (Do not delete the value—
just fill it with blank spaces.) Save the profile. For additional help, refer to
the section “Administering a User Profile Manually Through the Registry”
later in this document, or