New files copied, old files not deleted during roaming profile login

Question

Hello,

We have an environment with Win 10 clients and Win 2016 server. Have been using roaming profiles for years with minor issues. Today I hit a problem that I can't find an immediate solution or reason for:

• User logged on and off from client A during the first days of last week
• User logged on and off from client B during the last days of last week
• Roaming profile successfully synced to server for all these sessions
• User logs in to client C this morning, a client that has an existing profile from earlier but not recent logins
• New files from last week are successfully copied from the server, but old files that are no longer present on the server are not deleted
• Event logs on client and server show no issues, this includes the User Profile Service operational log.
• Advanced system properties -> User profiles shows the user is using a central profile
• Plenty of space on the device
• Permissions on the old files are the same as for any file in their profile

Anyone has any hint on what to look out for? Perhaps some incompatibility between the windows version used for the old vs the new profile? LastUploadTime of the profile from this client is March 2022(!), even though I don't see how this would impact something as simple as deleting files. It feels like there is something that should be picked up by the logs that isn't right now.

Answer 1

Hello Alexander Lindberg,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft customer support. Based on the information you provided, it seems that the issue you are experiencing is related to the synchronization of the roaming profile. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot the issue:

1. Check the synchronization settings: Make sure that the synchronization settings for the roaming profile are configured correctly. You can do this by going to the Group Policy Editor and navigating to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\User Profiles. Check the settings for "Delete cached copies of roaming profiles" and "Wait for remote user profile".
2. Check the network connectivity: Ensure that the network connectivity between the client and the server is stable and reliable. You can do this by running a network diagnostic tool or by checking the event logs for any network-related errors.
3. Check the permissions: Verify that the user has the necessary permissions to access and modify the roaming profile. You can do this by checking the permissions on the profile folder on the server.
4. Check the profile version: Verify that the profile version on the client is the same as the one on the server. You can do this by checking the version number in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList.

If none of these steps resolve the issue, you may need to further investigate the event logs on both the client and the server to identify any errors or warnings related to the roaming profile synchronization.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions.

Best regards

Bblythe Xiao

Answer 2

Hello Bblythe,

Thank you for the tips, unfortunately these were all knowns to me and already checked. I did however find the likely cause, it was a bit of an oddball one.

We had replaced our firewall a few months earlier. It doubles as DHCP server and this in our case it is configured to set the connection specific DNS-suffix to the same as the firewall if not manually specified. As the firewall itself was registered with our external domain, this was also pushed to all clients on the LAN. We use a different domain internally, and windows apparently gives some precedence to the connection specific suffix, rather than the registered domain of the clients(!) So for a lot of communication with the domain controller, the clients identified themselves as belonging to the wrong domain.

How this allowed login, and sync one way, but not deleting files is beyond me, but unless it was a complete coincidence, setting the correct suffix on the DHCP server and restarting NICs/rebooting clients seem to have solved it.

Best regards

Alexander

Answer 3

Hello Alexander Lindberg,

Sorry for the delayed response.

If configuring the DHCP server and restarting the client after restarting the NIC does not affect your use, you can ignore this problem. If other problems arise later, you can continue to explore permanent solutions to the problem.

Best regards

Bblythe Xiao

Answer 4

Hello again Bblythe,

Unfortunately, my theory did not hold. I again had a user who tried to log in to a computer with an older (but still new enough to be the same V6 version) profile present, and again new files were synced down but files not in the server copy was not removed.

Logs are clean

Permissions are clean

This is atrocious. Any further tips are welcome!

Best regards

Alexander

Answer 5

Hello Alexander Lindberg,

Thank you for supplementing. Based on the existing information, it's possible that there is an issue with the user's configuration profile. I suggest posting a request for help on Windows server > Directory Services > User logon and profiles. Maybe you can get an accurate resolution.

Best regards

Bblythe Xiao