Windows user profiles disappears after reboot when logged onto on-prem domain

unslog 26 Reputation points
2021-11-30T08:36:21.837+00:00

Hi.

Today we have had several reports of users that their Windows profile was deleted and temporary profile created when they logged onto their device. I have been able to replicate this issue on Windows 10 and Windows 2008 R2 terminal services.

On closer inspection their recycling bin items have remained, but everything else has disappeared! Including desktop files /folders / documents folders / photos , pretty much everything.

When inspecting c:\users there is no backup of the users profile.

This appears to happen when the user is logging onto the domain. In fact each time they restart , nothing is being saved to their profile, so the temporary profile isn't saving either! I cannot replicate this user when logging into local profile.

Troubleshooting steps performed

  • windows updates are all up to date.
  • no roaming profile configured against AD account
  • executed gpresults command to analyse gp policy and nothing untoward found.
  • checked registry for cleanupprofiles entry
  • Eset AV scan found nothing malicious
  • disabled domain login scripts

-disjoined the pc from the domain and readded.

-Removed all linked group policy objects

No changes have been recently made to our domain controller so not sure if client related.

Please help

Windows 10
Windows 10
A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.
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Active Directory
Active Directory
A set of directory-based technologies included in Windows Server.
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5 answers

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  1. unslog 26 Reputation points
    2021-11-30T17:26:04.283+00:00

    We have discovered that restarting the system and logging on as a domain user will change the Profile List "State" to 284 ( temporary profile) from 0 . We cannot figure out what could be causing this change.

    Any help would be much appreciated.

    0 comments
  2. Limitless Technology 39,376 Reputation points
    2021-12-02T10:06:47.9+00:00

    Hi there,

    Try adding the user to the local workstation Users group and see if that is helpful

    1. Press WIN+R, type lusrmgr.msc.
    2. Click Group in the left navigate pane, click Users group, click Add to add the Domain Users group into the local Users group.

    After that, restart the computer and log in with the domain user and see if the temporary profiles are not created.

    You can also check this discussion which relates to the same issue.
    https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/f7228ab1-8715-4a73-93b1-4ee9d48f344f/every-time-domain-users-log-off-or-reboot-win10-pc-profile-data-is-lost?forum=w7itproui

    --If the reply is helpful, please Upvote and Accept it as an answer--

    0 comments
  3. nmw748 1 Reputation point
    2022-07-28T15:01:30.393+00:00

    Were you ever able to fix this? I am currently having the same issue

    0 comments
  4. Rhythm Pandya 1 Reputation point
    2022-08-16T16:25:14.953+00:00

    Has Anyone Solved it yet, Im Having the same problem !!

  5. Mark Rocka 0 Reputation points
    2023-05-19T12:21:59.9933333+00:00

    I just fought this issue for way longer than I care to admit. Long story short, someone had gained admin access to the domain controller and put the Domain Users group in to the Domain Guests group. So every user was being treated as a guest on their own PCs. Windows apparently doesn't keep guest user profiles.

    I could see in the EventVwr that each user profile was being programmatically deleted as the users logged off, but the only corresponding entry was the user logoff event itself. I just happened to stumble across an article talking about putting the Domain Users group inside the PC's local Guests group and thought "HHhhhmmmm... could it be?"

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