jbridgman-qds
asked on
Corrupt Internet Explorer shortcuts on Server 2003 roaming profiles
I've got an interesting situation with one of my clients. They have about 35 users, and most of them have roaming profiles that are stored on one of their Windows 2003 servers. We've recently been seeing an issue where Internet shortcuts that are on some of these roaming profiles are becoming corrupted, such that the roaming profile no longer can load. Only Internet shortcuts are becoming corrupted...there are no other files being corrupted, and this is confirmed by several users who have had this problem as they relay to me the error message they receive when trying to logon to Windows (the error always talks about not being able to copy a specific Internet shortcut from the server, and is followed up by not being able to load the roaming profile, and the user will be logged on with a temporary profile).
The symptoms of the corruption include not being able to delete the Internet shortcuts, and they no longer have any security tab on their properties, which means access is denied for everybody (hence, not being able to load the roaming profiles that have these Internet shortcuts).
I have been moving my users to a different roaming profile scheme, where they still have a roaming profile but Favorites are no longer a part of that profile (through a setting in Group Policy), and they now have redirected folders for App Data, Desktop, Start Menu, and My Documents. Once this happens, corrupt Internet shortcuts no longer prevent them from logging onto their desktops with their roaming profiles (because Favorites are no longer a part of the roaming profiles, and if they had any Internet shortcuts on their desktop, the desktop is a redirected folder, not a part of their roaming profile). However, I still need to find out what is causing this corruption on the server of only Internet shortcuts.
The server is Windows Server 2003 Standard edition, SP2. It is currently a domain controller, DNS server, and DHCP server. There is a second domain controller as well, but that second DC does not have any roaming profiles on it.
The symptoms of the corruption include not being able to delete the Internet shortcuts, and they no longer have any security tab on their properties, which means access is denied for everybody (hence, not being able to load the roaming profiles that have these Internet shortcuts).
I have been moving my users to a different roaming profile scheme, where they still have a roaming profile but Favorites are no longer a part of that profile (through a setting in Group Policy), and they now have redirected folders for App Data, Desktop, Start Menu, and My Documents. Once this happens, corrupt Internet shortcuts no longer prevent them from logging onto their desktops with their roaming profiles (because Favorites are no longer a part of the roaming profiles, and if they had any Internet shortcuts on their desktop, the desktop is a redirected folder, not a part of their roaming profile). However, I still need to find out what is causing this corruption on the server of only Internet shortcuts.
The server is Windows Server 2003 Standard edition, SP2. It is currently a domain controller, DNS server, and DHCP server. There is a second domain controller as well, but that second DC does not have any roaming profiles on it.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Did you install the User Profile hive cleanup service?
http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?FamilyID=1b286e6d-8912-4e18-b570-42470e2f3582&displaylang=en
Since that is a standard on our workstations we haven't had that much problems with roaming profiles anymore.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?FamilyID=1b286e6d-8912-4e18-b570-42470e2f3582&displaylang=en
Since that is a standard on our workstations we haven't had that much problems with roaming profiles anymore.
ASKER
I don't think I've tried that, but it's weird that only Internet shortcuts are corrupted...I wonder if that would help prevent the corruption of those files...unfortunately there's not a way to test right away, as I would have to wait for corruption to occur after installing the UPHCS.
AFAIK Internet shortcuts are the only files in a roaming profile that have an Alternate Data Stream (ADS), which is the favicon. Your problem has probably something to do with that...
ASKER
Just to clarify...disabling the ADS would disable specialized icons for Internet shortcuts? Is that what I'm gathering by "favicon"?
Yes, thats right. You can find Alternative Data Streams with a tool called LADS, found here:
http://www.heysoft.de/en/software/lads.php
http://www.heysoft.de/en/software/lads.php
ASKER
We're moving profiles to a different server, so I've made sure that Favorites is not going to be a part of the roaming profile from now on, and I've also made .url files to be recognized as lower risk through Group Policy using the link you posted, so I'll assign you all the points.
Thanks!
Thanks!
ASKER
Running CHKDSK only seems to be a temporary solution, because even after it is run it is inevitable that a user will have the same problem some days after CHKDSK has been run.