Roaming User Profiles

This technology was introduced by Microsoft more than 20 years ago. With Roaming User Profiles, the local profile is transferred to a network location so that a user can access it on multiple machines. The disadvantages of this approach are:

• Slow login. Large roaming profiles take a long time to download, and sometimes users may need to wait more than a minute, depending on the profile size.

• Slow logoff. A roaming profile needs to be uploaded back at logoff, and if this process is interrupted (for example, due to a network failure or power outage) the profile can be corrupted. This results in the creation of a temporary profile and the help of an IT specialist may be required to address the issue for the affected user.

• Folder redirection creates a large amount of SMB traffic between the desktop and the file server. Each request to a file is treated as a new connection.

• Every issue described above will also result in increased consumption of network resources.