Enable Logging for Core Group Policy

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To troubleshoot problems with user profiles and Group Policy processing, you can enable userenv logging.

Warning

This section contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, see Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry on the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=35500).

To enable userenv logging on the client

  1. Log on to the client computer as the administrator.

  2. Click Start, Run, and then run Regedit to add the following registry value (or, if the value already exists, modify it):

    Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

  3. Enter the following:

    Value: UserEnvDebugLevel

    Value Type: REG_DWORD

    Value Data: 10002 (Hexadecimal)

UserEnvDebugLevel can have the following values:

  • NONE 0x00000000

  • NORMAL 0x00000001

  • VERBOSE 0x00000002

  • LOGFILE 0x00010000

  • DEBUGGER 0x00020000

The default value is NORMAL|LOGFILE (0x00010001).

To disable logging, select NONE (0X00000000).

You can also combine the UserEnvDebugLevel values. For example, you can combine VERBOSE 0x00000002 and LOGFILE 0x00010000 to get 0x00010002. If you set UserEnvDebugLevel to 0x00010002, you turn on both LOGFILE and VERBOSE. By combining these values, you achieve the same effect as using an OR statement as follows:

0x00010000 OR 0x00000002 = 0x00010002

The log file is written to the Userenv.log file in the %Systemroot%\Debug\UserMode\ folder. If the Userenv.log file exists and is greater than 300 KB, the existing file is renamed to Userenv.bak, and a new log file created.

See Also

Concepts

Fixing Group Policy problems by using log files