Persona Manager with Roaming Profiles

[MrBeatnik]

Hi folks, hope you can help me here!

NOTE - I have updated this question.

The original question is further below!

We want to use persona management with roaming profiles; the profile path is set in the users AD "profile path" attribute.

We set this up, as defined from Microsoft: How to configure a user account to use a roaming user profile in Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 ...

Particularly note the comment on that link:

Use the following format for the user profile path:

\\server_name\shared_folder_name\user_profile_folder_name

For example, if you want to store the user's roaming profile in a folder that has the same name as the user account in a shared folder that is named "Profiles" on a server that is named "Server1," type the following path:

\\Server1\Profiles\%username%

However, when using persona management (assuming it is setup correctly), we get errors in the PM log:

[0][10/23/2013 11:23:56:0116][RTOVPHelper!RTOTestConnection] Failed to get attributes of remote profile: \\ourdomain.com\userpathlocation\Profile\%username%.V2, 0x80070002

As a test, if I change the roaming profile "profile path" attribute from \\Server1\Profiles\%username% to \\Server1\Profiles\realusername then persona manager no longer has an issue.

It appears that it cannot interpret the %username% variable!

Is this correct? Am I missing something? Can anyone shed some light on this situation?

Thanks.

ORIGINAL QUESTION BELOW:

Users can use many devices and may use a physical or virtual device in any location - they are not tied to a desk.

We traditionally use roaming profiles in our physical environment. This works well - their profile goes with them (we have some redirection setup).

When the user logs into virtual, Persona Manager is not happy. It says: "Persona Management is Disconnected - please contact an administrator"

Checking the PM log, the only things that stick out are:

....

[0][10/23/2013 11:23:30:0066][RTOProcessLogonEvent      ] LOGON: Set Logon Event: User: testuser, Event: 0x278

[0][10/23/2013 11:23:30:0066][RTOProcessLogon           ] Finished Processing LOGON Event: User: testuser

[0][10/23/2013 11:23:30:0066][RTOGetUserProfileInfo     ] User: testuser, Sid: S-1-5-21-199048513-897128045-483988704-295896

[0][10/23/2013 11:23:30:0066][RTOGetUserProfileInfo     ] Failed Opening User Profile Key: User: testuser, 0x2

....

[0][10/23/2013 11:23:40:0224][VMWPopulateOfflineFiles   ] Failed Opening Remote Folder: User: testuser, Session: 1, Path: \\ourdomain.com\userpathlocation\Profile\%username%.V2, 0x80070002

....

[0][10/23/2013 11:23:55:0710][RTOVPHelper!RTORefreshWorker] Failed Creating Desktop Refresh Event: ProcessId: 5116, Event: Global\RTOVPHELPER_DESKTOP_0000000000459176, 0x80070005

....

[0][10/23/2013 11:23:56:0116][RTOVPHelper!RTOTestConnection] Failed to get attributes of remote profile: \\ourdomain.com\userpathlocation\Profile\%username%.V2, 0x80070002

(.... indicates other log entries in between that have been omitted)

As we are using roaming profiles, the profile path, \\ourdomain.com\userpathlocation\Profile\%username%.V2, is held within the users AD object. (NOTE: It's actually \\ourdomain.com\userpathlocation\Profile\%username% so the .V2 is added by PM/Win7).

If I am correct, 0x80070002 should equate to error 2, "the system cannot find the file specified", but it DOES exist. If I enter \\ourdomain.com\userpathlocation\Profile\%username%.V2 into explorer, it appears.

It almost appears that it is not expanding the environment variable %username%.

The PM group policies are set up in the virtual environment:

Manage user persona: ENABLED

Persona repository location: ENABLED >>> Share Path: BLANK >>> Override Active Directory user profile path if it is configured: ENABLED

Logging filename: ENABLED >>> Local log file pathname: BLANK

Roaming Profile repository is set up as per this KB article:

VMware KB: Persona Management not working when configured as per the View 5.0 Administration Guide

Does anyone have any ideas? I was thinking the issue is the %USERNAME% in the roaming profile path, but this should be fine, should it not?

Please let me know if you need more info.

[mittim12]

I have seen plenty of arcticles and blog post online that show the repository path using the %username% variable so I wouldn't think it would be a problem.    I did see some warnings about having persona and roaming profiles using the same path with difference machines since windows roaming profile write everything at logoff and could potentially overwrite persona information which is updated at whatever interval you specify.

[MrBeatnik]

UPDATED/EDITED

We are now in support with VMWare, it appears this may be a bug which is being investigated.

I had thought I resolved the issue due to an incorrect/corrupt GPo, but that was incorrect.

Basically it seems that although Persona Manager is able to read the ProfilePath attribute from an active directory user object, it does not correctly expand the environmental variable "%username%" if it is part of that attribute. It instead takes it as a literal string and therefore cannot find the path.

I've kept this post open in case anyone else has the same issue.. but by all accounts it appears we are the first to use this method!

[Rufat777]

The same issue. I'm using share path without %username% and want the folders with %username%.%userdomain% names. The logs show that:

"Failed to get attributes of remote profile path \\myserver.domain.com\PM=Profiles\username.domain.V2, 0x8007002".

I tried also with %username% path but result is the same.

Also one interesting thing. If I create user folder manually on a remote share path than replication begin working without any issue.

I also tried to give Everyone Full Control permissions both for Share and NTFS.

[MrBeatnik · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I forgot to update this.

> Support logged with VMware.

> They have confirmed the issue.

> Issue is a candidate for next Agent build (no confirmed release date).

In the mean time, we are having to use Windows Roaming Profiles, there is no workaround for Persona Manager until this is resolved.

I don't know if the %userdomain% variable will be resolved for you. Hopefully the fix they have submitted with resolve any variables, rather than just the %username% variable (which I reported and they confirmed had the problem). I would suggest you speak to VMware to confirm that all variables will be resolved by Persona Manager.

[ErikTatum10]

>> The PM group policies are set up in the virtual environment:

>> Manage user persona: ENABLED

>> Persona repository location: ENABLED >>> Share Path: BLANK >>> Override Active Directory user profile path if it is configured: ENABLED

>> Logging filename: ENABLED >>> Local log file pathname: BLANK

Two suggestions:

1. If you are going to leave the Persona repository location blank, you should not enable that setting.  Further, if you are going to configure a path in Active Directory and you want it to be used by Persona, you should not check "Override Active Directory user profile path if it is configured."
2. If you are going to leave the logging file name blank, you should not enable that setting.

Thanks,

Erik

[MrBeatnik]

Hi Erik, thanks for adding some comments which may be helpful for others.

In my case, VMware Technical Support have confirmed and replicated the problem and we are still waiting for a fix.

[ErikTatum10]

Do you have your SR number handy?  I would like to take a look at it and see what progress we've made so far.

Also, if you haven't fixed the configuration issues I mentioned above, you should make a plan to do that.

Thanks,

Erik

[MrBeatnik]

Hi Erik,

SR is 13396625911.

I'm assuming you have access

[ErikTatum10]

Just wanted to let you know I think I have found the root cause of the problem.  You should be hearing from GSS soon about next steps.  Thanks for your patience and sorry for the delays you've experienced.

Thanks,

Erik

[MrBeatnik]

Hi Erik,

Thanks for taking the time to look at this.

Support have indicated that they have found the problem and fixed it - this should be available in an upcoming release.

I'll be sure to PM you directly if I find any further issues

[gamoid]

I'm facing similar issues as well. May I know what is the fix?

[ErikTatum10]

If you configure your profile path in AD with a script and put environment variables in the path, there is no UI to auto-expand the environment variables.  Further, Persona made the assumption these environment variables would already be expanded.  Some work-arounds to this problem are to configure your profile path in the Persona admin template instead (Persona repository path) which can be easier to manage, don't use environment variables in your path in AD, or wait until the fix makes into a shipping release and upgrade.  If this isn't an option for you, please contact VMware Support for assistance.

Thanks,

Erik

[MrBeatnik]

Just to add to Erik's post, I had confirmation today (and was told I could update the community with this information) that it *should* be included in Horizon 6 SP1 release, which will hopefully be Q3/Q4of this year. We have confirmed that the fix is working.

A big thanks to Erik and the rest of the dev team for resolving this; it looks like there are a few of us who do the profilepaths a little differently from most.