What is your roaming profile?

By Ralph McCallister

Every time you log onto an ECN supported PC running Windows 2000 or Windows XP, a Profile is created or activated. If this is the first time you have logged on to a PC it will create a new profile with the name of that login name and if you have logged in before it will activate the Profile all ready on that PC. So, what does this Profile do? A Profile holds all the information for your desktop session. This means that every time you login your icons, toolbar, and background are the same as the last time you successfully logged off of your PC. It also holds preference information of many of the programs that you have on your PC such as Word, Photoshop, or Mozilla to name a few. These will also be loaded from the last successful logout from you PC.

In order to keep all those changes you make on your PC you must log out so that all these changes can be written out to your profile and make registry changes, so the next time you login everything will be the same as your last session. If you have made changes to your desktop, added software, or changed program preferences and your PC crashes, or your PC hangs and you rebooted, shut off your PC using the on/off switch on the front of your PC, or lost power, most of your changes will not be saved. When you log onto your PC the next time your new background, new e-mail setting, or programs may not be there and you will have to redo them again and then do a soft reboot, going through the Start\Shut Down\restart menus.

I have talked about how your Profile works on a PC, so what is a Roaming Profile? This is a profile that is not stored on your local PC. Rather it is stored on another computer (usually on your ECN Unix home directory) and loaded each time you login. What is the advantage you might ask? One advantage is that you are no longer tied to one PC. If your PC stops and you need to get work done you can log onto any ECN domain PC and your profile follows you and is loaded onto that PC. When you log off your Roaming Profile is written back to the remote computer so it is ready to reload the next time you log in. Your Roaming Profile is backed up every night, so if you were to lose changes it might be possible to reload your old profile from a backup tape. If you are having problems with your profile it is easier for your site specialist to trouble shoot.

Let's take a look at some for the boundaries for a Roaming Profile. First, in order to have one you need to be on a PC that is connected to the Engineering Computer Network. This PC must be deployed as an ECN domain PC. You must also log into the ECN domain and not as a local user. Another boundary is the size of your Roaming Profile. Typically the maximum size is 15Mbs. Currently my Roaming Profile size is under 3Mbs. You can find out how big your Roaming Profile is by putting the cursor on the icon on your taskbar that looks like blue monitor. If you are getting close to exceeding your Roaming Profile maximum limit this icon will change to a yield sign and if you exceed you limit it shows as a red circle with a red "X" in it. If you are over your Roaming quota limit you will get a message on your PC every 5 minutes. This message will give you instructions for reducing the size of your Roaming Profile.

Windows will not let you log off if you are over your Roaming Profile quota. This is a safety feature. Do not turn your PC off as all the changes you have made to your Profile will be lost. In addition this action can create other problems such as with you mail, browser, or other software that you were running at the time. As a first response, you can remove all documents (Word, excel, powerpoint, etc) from your desktop to your network drive, and you can go to your Start Menu, to ECN Help, and click on "Clean My Profile". If this does not work, or you cannot locate this, seek help from your Site Specialist or contact the ECN HelpDesk and they will be able to help you reduce your Roaming Profile quota so that you can safely log off.

This has just been an introduction to your Roaming Profile. Future articles will deal with how to get help for many of your PC needs. Please feel free to contact your Site Specialist or contact the ECN HelpDesk if you have any questions or tips on your Roaming Profile.