Profiles

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

Policy settings in this node control roaming profile and home directory settings for Remote Desktop Services sessions.

The full path of this node in the Group Policy Management Console is Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop Services\Remote Desktop Session Host\Profiles.

Note

If you are using the Local Group Policy Editor, Policies is not part of the node path.

Available policy settings

Name Explanation Requirements

Limit the size of the entire roaming user profile cache

This policy setting allows you to limit the size of the entire roaming user profile cache on the local drive. This policy setting only applies to a computer on which the Remote Desktop Session Host role service is installed.

Note
If you want to limit the size of an individual user profile, use the Limit profile size policy setting located in User Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\User Profiles.

If you enable this policy setting, you must specify a monitoring interval (in minutes) and a maximum size (in gigabytes) for the entire roaming user profile cache. The monitoring interval determines how often the size of the entire roaming user profile cache is checked. When the size of the entire roaming user profile cache exceeds the maximum size that you have specified, the oldest (least recently used) roaming user profiles will be deleted until the size of the entire roaming user profile cache is less than the maximum size specified.

If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, no restriction is placed on the size of the entire roaming user profile cache on the local drive.

Note

This policy setting is ignored if the Prevent Roaming Profile changes from propagating to the server policy setting located in Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\System\User Profiles is enabled.

Set Remote Desktop Services User Home Directory

Specifies whether Remote Desktop Services uses the specified network share or local directory path as the root of the user's home directory for a Remote Desktop Services session.

To use this setting, select the location for the home directory (network or local) from the Location drop-down list. If you choose to place the directory on a network share, type the Home Dir Root Path in the form \\Computername\Sharename, and then select the drive letter to which you want the network share to be mapped.

If you choose to keep the home directory on the local computer, type the Home Dir Root Path in the form "Drive:\Path" (without quotes), without environment variables or ellipses. Do not specify a placeholder for user alias, because Remote Desktop Services automatically appends this at logon.

Note

The Drive Letter field is ignored if you choose to specify a local path. If you choose to specify a local path but then type the name of a network share in Home Dir Root Path, Remote Desktop Services places user home directories in the network location.

If the status is set to Enabled, Remote Desktop Services creates the user's home directory in the specified location on the local computer or the network. The home directory path for each user is the specified Home Dir Root Path and the user's alias.

If the status is set to Disabled or Not Configured, the user's home directory is as specified at the server.

At least Windows Server 2003

Use mandatory profiles on the RD Session Host server

This policy setting allows you to specify whether Remote Desktop Services uses a mandatory profile for all users connecting remotely to the RD Session Host server.

If you enable this policy setting, Remote Desktop Services uses the path specified in the Set path for Remote Desktop Services Roaming User Profile policy setting as the root folder for the mandatory user profile. All users connecting remotely to the RD Session Host server use the same user profile.

If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, mandatory user profiles are not used by users connecting remotely to the RD Session Host server.

Note

For this policy setting to take effect, you must also enable and configure the Set path for Remote Desktop Services Roaming User Profile policy setting.

At least Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 2

Set path for Remote Desktop Services User Profile

This policy setting allows you to specify the network path that Remote Desktop Services uses for roaming user profiles.

By default, Remote Desktop Services stores all user profiles locally on the RD Session Host server. You can use this policy setting to specify a network share where user profiles can be centrally stored, allowing a user to access the same profile for sessions on all RD Session Host servers that are configured to use the network share for user profiles.

If you enable this policy setting, Remote Desktop Services uses the specified path as the root directory for all user profiles. The profiles are contained in subfolders named for the account name of each user.

To configure this policy setting, type the path to the network share in the form of \\Computername\Sharename. Do not specify a placeholder for the user account name, because Remote Desktop Services automatically adds this when the user logs on and the profile is created. If the specified network share does not exist, Remote Desktop Services displays an error message on the RD Session Host server and will store the user profiles locally on the RD Session Host server.

If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, user profiles are stored locally on the RD Session Host server. You can configure a user's profile path on the Remote Desktop Services Profile tab on the user's account Properties dialog box.

Notes:

  1. The roaming user profiles enabled by the policy setting apply only to Remote Desktop Services connections. A user might also have a Windows roaming user profile configured. The Remote Desktop Services roaming user profile always takes precedence in a Remote Desktop Services session.

  2. To configure a mandatory Remote Desktop Services roaming user profile for all users connecting remotely to the RD Session Host server, use this policy setting together with the Use mandatory profiles on the RD Session Host server policy setting located in Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop Services\RD Session Host\Profiles. The path set in the Set path for Remote Desktop Services Roaming User Profile policy setting should contain the mandatory profile.

At least Windows Server 2003