Debugging User Profiles and System Policies in Windows NT 4.0

ID: Q154120

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SUMMARY

The checked version of Userenv.dll, in conjunction with a registry entry, creates a log file useful in troubleshooting and debugging problems with roaming profiles and system policies on Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0 clients.

MORE INFORMATION

To enable the log file:

Rename the Userenv.dll file in the %Windir%\System32 directory to Usernv.orig or the unique name of your choice.

Copy the checked version of Userenv.dll to the %Windir%\System32 directory of the client computer that you want to debug. The checked version of the Userenv file must match the version of the operating system being used.

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

Start Regedt32 and locate the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
NOTE: The above registry key is one path; it has been wrapped for readability.

Create a new value called UserEnvDebugLevel as a reg_dword. Assign the value 10002 in hexadecimal format.

Restart the computer with the .dll and registry changes in place.

Log information will be recorded in the root directory of drive C as Userenv.log and can be viewed with Notepad, WordPad, or the text editor of your choice.

Information displayed in the log includes: profile path, profile type, system policy path (useful to determine which server the Ntconfig.pol file was pulled from), whether the profile was successfully loaded and unloaded at the client, and if the remote profile is newer than the local profile.

A sample Userenv.log based on the following information is shown below.


   Username = profile
   Profile path defined in User Manager =
      PDCServerName\Profiles\%username%
   Domain Controller = PDCServerName
   System Policy Path: PDCServerName\Netlogon

NOTE: The response to the seventeenth line


   Profile is not reachable, error = 2

is normal as a check is made for the existence of a mandatory profile path being defined in User Manager for Domains (Servername\Sharename\%Username%.man). Mandatory profiles were not used in this example, so the test fails.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
LoadUserProfile: Entering, hToken = <0xa8>, lpProfileInfo = 0x12f4e8
LoadUserProfile: lpProfileInfo->dwFlags = <0x2>
LoadUserProfile: lpProfileInfo->lpUserName = <profile>
LoadUserProfile: lpProfileInfo->lpProfilePath =
<\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile>
LoadUserProfile: lpProfileInfo->lpDefaultPath =
<\\PDCServerName\netlogon\Default User>
LoadUserProfile: lpProfileInfo->lpServerName = <\\PDCServerName>
LoadUserProfile: lpProfileInfo->lpPolicyPath =
<\\PDCServerName\netlogon\ntconfig.pol>
ParseProfilePath: Entering, lpProfilePath =
<\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile>
ParseProfilePath: Tick Count = 60
ParseProfilePath: FindFirstFile found something with attributes <0x10>
ParseProfilePath: Found a directory
LoadUserProfile: ParseProfilePath returned a directory of
<\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile>
RestoreUserProfile:  Entering
RestoreUserProfile:  Profile path = <\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile>
RestoreUserProfile:  User is a Admin
IsCentralProfileReachable:  Entering
IsCentralProfileReachable:  Testing
<\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile\ntuser.man>
IsCentralProfileReachable:  Profile is not reachable, error = 2
IsCentralProfileReachable:  Testing
<\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile\ntuser.dat>
IsCentralProfileReachable:  Found a user profile.
RestoreUserProfile:  Central Profile is reachable
RestoreUserProfile:  Central Profile is floating
GetLocalProfileImage:  Found entry in profile list for existing local
profile
GetLocalProfileImage:  Local profile image filename =
<%SystemRoot%\Profiles\profile>
GetLocalProfileImage:  Expanded local profile image filename =
<C:\WINNT\Profiles\profile>
GetLocalProfileImage:  Found local profile image file ok
<C:\WINNT\Profiles\profile\ntuser.dat>
Local profile is reachable
Local profile name is <C:\WINNT\Profiles\profile>
RestoreUserProfile:  About to call UpdateToLatestProfile
UpdateToLatestProfile: Entering.  Central =
<\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile>
Local = <C:\WINNT\Profiles\profile>
UpdateToLatestProfile:  Central and local profile times match.
RestoreUserProfile:  About to Leave.  Final Information follows:
Profile was successfully loaded.
lpProfile->szCentralProfile = <\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile>
lpProfile->szLocalProfile = <C:\WINNT\Profiles\profile>
lpProfile->dwInternalFlags = 0x112
RestoreUserProfile:  Leaving.
UpgradeProfile: Entering
UpgradeProfile: Build numbers match
UpgradeProfile: Leaving Successfully
ApplyPolicy: Entering
ApplyPolicy:  PolicyPath is: <\\PDCServerName\netlogon\ntconfig.pol>.
ReconcileFile: \\PDCServerName\netlogon\ntconfig.pol ==>
C:\WINNT\Profiles\Policy\ntconfig.pol  [OK]
ApplyPolicy:  Local PolicyPath is:
<C:\WINNT\Profiles\Policy\ntconfig.pol>.
ApplyPolicy:  Leaving succesfully.
LoadUserProfile: Leaving with a value of 1.  hProfile = <0x90>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below is a successful logoff and update by the client of the server-
based roaming profile.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
UnloadUserProfile: Entering, hProfile = <0xe0>
UnloadUserProfile:  Succesfully unloaded profile
UnloadUserProfile:  Copying profile back to
\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile
CopyProfileDirectory: Entering, lpSourceDir = <C:\WINNT\Profiles\profile>,
lpDestinationDir = <\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile>, dwFlags = 0x32
ReconcileFile: C:\WINNT\Profiles\profile\NTUSER.DAT ==>
\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile\NTUSER.DAT  [OK]
ReconcileFile: C:\WINNT\Profiles\profile\ntuser.dat.LOG ==>
\\PDCServerName\profiles\profile\ntuser.dat.LOG  [OK]
CopyProfileDirectory: Leaving with a return value of 1
UnloadUserProfile: Leaving with a return value of 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional query words: ntfaqdom

Keywords : nthowto NTSrv
Version : winnt:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbhowto