User Profile Scenario Summaries

ID: Q174491

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0

SUMMARY

The following are typical user profile scenarios that you may encounter. Each of these scenarios includes a brief description of the situation, the current status of the profiles on the server, actions that you need to take to administer the profile properly, any required user action, references to sections of this guide that have more detailed information, and any applicable usage notes.

MORE INFORMATION

Existing Windows NT 3.5x Roaming Profile

A domain user has an existing Windows NT 3.5x roaming profile and will continue to log on to computers running Windows NT 3.5x only.

What currently exists: A Myuser.usr file exists in the folder \\MyServer\MyShare.

Administrator action: None.

User action: None.

Existing Windows NT 3.5x Roaming Profile

A domain user has an existing Windows NT 3.5x mandatory profile and will continue to log on to computers running Windows NT 3.5x only.

What currently exists: A Myuser.man file exists in the folder \\MyServer\MyShare.

Administrator action: None.

User action: None.

Migrating a Windows NT 3.5x Roaming Profile to a Windows NT 4.0 Roaming Profile

A domain user has an existing Windows NT 3.5x roaming profile and moves to a computer running Windows NT 4.0.

What currently exists: A Myuser.usr file exists in the folder \\MyServer\MyShare.

Administrator action: None.

User action: To automatically upgrade the profile, log on to the computer running Windows NT 4.0 and then log off. The automatic upgrade creates a new folder with the name Myuser.pds in the existing directory \\MyServer\MyShare. Inside the new folder is the upgraded user profile for the domain user.

For more information, see the section "Upgrading 3.5x Server-Based Profiles to 4.0 Roaming Profiles" in the documentation mentioned in the REFERENCE section of this article.

Migrating a Windows NT 3.5x Mandatory Profile to a Windows NT 4.0 Mandatory Profile

A domain user has an existing Windows NT 3.5x mandatory profile and moves to a computer running Windows NT 4.0 where the user will have a mandatory profile.

What currently exists: A Myuser.man file exists in the folder \\MyServer\MyShare.

Administrator action: Create a folder with the name Myuser.pdm in the existing folder \\MyServer\MyShare, and then place the desired mandatory profile into the new folder.

User action: None.

NOTE: After this procedure is performed, the Windows NT 3.5x profile is still available to the user should he or she ever log on to a computer running Windows NT 3.5x again. The Windows NT 4.0 user profile is maintained separately. The administrator can remove the Windows NT 3.5x profile if the user will only be using computers running Windows NT 4.0.

For more information, see the section "Upgrading 3.5x Mandatory Profiles to 4.0 Mandatory Profiles" in the documentation mentioned in the REFERENCE section of this article.

Migrating a Windows NT 3.5x Mandatory Profile to a Windows NT 4.0 Roaming Profile

A domain user has an existing Windows NT 3.5x mandatory profile and moves to a computer running Windows NT 4.0 where they will have a roaming profile.

What currently exists: A Myuser.man file exists in the folder \\MyServer\MyShare.

Administrator action: Change the user's profile path to \\MyServer\MyShare\Myuser, and then allow the user to log on and log off the computer.

User action: When instructed to do so, log on to the computer running Windows NT 4.0 and then log off. This creates the folder \\MyServer\MyShare\Myuser on the server containing the user's new roaming profile.

For more information, see the section "Creating a New Roaming User Profile for Windows NT 4.0" in the documentation mentioned in the REFERNCE section of this article.

Creating a New Windows NT 4.0 Roaming Profile

A new user will be logging on to a computer running Windows NT 4.0 only, and will be using a roaming profile.

What currently exists: Nothing currently exists for the user in \\MyServer\MyShare.

Administrator action: In User Manager, specify the user profile path without an extension. For example, use \\MyServer\MyShare\Myuser.

User action: Log on and then log off the computer. This creates the folder on the server \\MyServer\MyShare\Myuser that contains the user's new roaming profile.

For more information, see the section "Creating a New Roaming User Profile for Windows NT 4.0" in the documentation mentioned in the REFERENCE section of this article.

Creating a New Windows NT 4.0 Mandatory Profile

A new user will be logging on to a computer running Windows NT 4.0 only, and will be using a mandatory profile.

What currently exists: Nothing currently exists for the user in \\MyServer\MyShare.

Administrator action: In User Manager, specify the user profile path with the extension .man. For example, use \\MyServer\MyShare\Myuser.man. Then, manually create the Myuser.man folder manually in the \\MyServer\MyShare directory. Place the mandatory profile for the user in this new folder.

User action: None.

For more information, see the section "Creating a New Mandatory User Profile for Windows NT 4.0" in the documentation mentioned in the REFERENCE section of this article.

Updating and Changing a Roaming Profile to a Mandatory Profile

A domain user has an existing Windows NT 4.0 roaming user profile that was not upgraded from Windows NT 3.5x, and the administrator is going to mandate that the profile be read or the log on attempt will be denied.

What currently exists: A Myuser folder containing the user's roaming profile exists in \\MyServer\MyShare.

Administrator action: Use User Manager to add the .man extension to the user profile path, thus changing the path to \\MyServer\MyShare\Myuser.man. Then, rename the existing folder that contains the user's roaming profile from Myuser to Myuser.man. Finally, rename the NTuser.dat file, which is located in the root of the user's profile folder, to NTuser.man.

User action: None.

For more information, see the section "Making a Roaming Profile Mandatory in Windows NT 4.0" in the documentation mentioned in the REFERENCE section of this article.

Changing a Roaming Profile to a Mandatory Profile

A domain user has an existing Windows NT 4.0 roaming User Profile that was upgraded from Windows NT 3.5x, and the administrator is going to mandate that the profile be read or the log on attempt will be denied.

What currently exists: A Myuser.pds folder containing the user's roaming profile exists in \\MyServer\MyShare.

Administrator action: Use User Manager to change the extension of the user profile path to .man, changing the path to \\MyServer\MyShare\myuser.man. Then, rename the existing folder that contains the user's roaming profile from Myuser.pds to Myuser.pdm. Finally, rename the NTuser.dat file, which is located in the root of the user's profile folder, to NTuser.man.

User action: None.

For more information, see the section "Making a Roaming Profile Mandatory in Windows NT 4.0" in the documentation mentioned in the REFERENCE section of this article.

REFERENCE

The "Guide to Windows NT 4.0 Profiles and Policies" is a whitepaper available for download from the Microsoft Web site and provides information and procedures for implementing Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 profiles and policies on client workstations and servers. You can download this document from:

http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/management/deployment/planguide/prof_policies.asp

Additional query words: wpaper spe config ntconfig poledit

Keywords : ntdomain ntgeneral NTSrvWkst
Version : winnt:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbinfo