Microsoft Windows NT Server White Paper 23
the User Profile (local or roaming) is read when he or she logs on. (Note that
the user can do this interactively while logged on.) Users do not need adminis-
trative privileges to change which profile is used if the profile is not a
mandatory profile.
Valid profile types are:
• Local Profile—A local profile is maintained on the local computer.
This option allows the user to specify that the once “roaming” profile is
now “local” to this machine. Although the remote profile is still avail-
able, if the Local Profile option is selected, the locally cached profile
will be used instead. The user should be aware that if he or she
makes changes to the profile, those changes will be saved in the lo-
cally cached version only and will not be replicated in the server-
based profile. Note that the system can choose this selection auto-
matically if the server-based profile is unavailable.
• Roaming Profile—If the user selects the roaming profile and the
roaming profile is available, Windows NT determines whether the
server or local copy is newer. If the local copy is newer, the user is
asked to choose which copy he or she would like to use. Note that if
the system detects a slow network link, the user will be given this
same choice of profiles. The Roaming Profile selection is available if:
• There is a valid path specified in the User Profile path portion of
the user account properties, and
• The User Profile path is accessible at the time of logon.
• Roaming Profile with “Use cached profile on slow connec-
tions”—If a user selects this option, he or she is not asked which
copy to use with a slow connection. Instead, the system uses the lo-
cally cached copy automatically.
If a user has a roaming profile, it is possible for that user to change the
mode to Local and have Windows NT use the local version always, even
though the roaming profile is still available. However, a user cannot do this if
the system administrator assigns that user a mandatory profile and has added
the .man extension to the user’s profile path.
Determining Which Profile Is Displayed
There may be cases where users who have identical names but are from dif-
ferent domains will log on to the same machine. If this occurs, you will notice
several directories that start with the same prefix in the %systemroot%\Profiles
directory tree. You can use the User Profiles property page to determine which
file is associated with which user, as follows:
1. Compare the Modified and Size properties to those of the actual directo-
ries. The Size property displayed in User Profiles is the total size of the
directory residing in the profiles tree, not the size of the NTuser.xxx file
alone. Match the directory sizes in the profiles tree to the number dis-
played on the User Profiles property page.
2. If the user is currently logged on, right-click the Start button. If context
menus have not been disabled, select the option to Explore and Explorer
