REM Author : Ingmar Verheij - REM Version : 1.0, 03-08-2013 Changing the value can be done with a batch or PowerShell script (slower and requires ExecutionPolicy to be lowered). With RES Workspace Manager you can create a command that runs at logoff. So the best moment to change the value is during logoff.
The only reason we want to change the state value is to trick Windows in believing it’s a guest profile at logoff, so it will remove the profile. The value for a guest profile is 0x80 (or 128 decimal). For instance with a mandatory profile the state is set to 0x1 and when a profile can’t be loaded the state will be set to 0x800 (temporary profile loaded). The value of the State value is an enumeration of values. The name state implies this is a dynamic value which can change (unlike the Sid). Besides specifying where the profile is located (ProfileImagePath) and what the users secure identifier is (Sid) the state of the profile is stored in the State value. For each user a key is created with the users unique secure identifier (or SID).
Windows registers each profile in the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList. If you make Windows believe that the users profile is a guest profile it will treat it accordingly, and remove the profile at logoff. Windows has no built-in functionality to remove a local profile at logoff, like it does for a roaming profile, except for guest users. To avoid the agent from filling up with profiles, and to ensure a user always get a clean profile, the profile needs to be removed when a users logs off. The policy setting is in the Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\User Profiles node. The computer policy Only allow local user profiles prevents the users configured to use roaming profiles from receiving their profile. Especially in a mixed environment where roaming profiles are used they can be configured at multiple levels, by enforcing the use of local profiles you can prevent them from being used. On your RES Workspace Manager (WM) agents (your Windows desktop machines or Hosted Shared / Private Desktops) you want to enforce the use of local profiles. But the local profile has one drawback: it persists on the computer. Each time a user starts a session it should consist of the exact same settings, the profile solution (RES Workspace Manager) will inject the settings.Īs Wilco describes in his article the local profile is the best candidate for a hybrid profile. In other words, it does not store changes made by the user.
A common used hybrid solution is a mandatory profile + RES Workspace Manager, but as Wilco van Bragt mentioned in his article about alternatives for the mandatory profile ( link) this has it drawbacks. Theoretically you can use any of flavor of the Microsoft profile solutions: local, roaming or mandatory and add the RES feature on top.
Of course RES Software can’t replace the Windows profile so you end up with a hybrid solution, also referred to as a “hybrid profile”. More importantly only the required settings are captured and profile bloating and corruption is prevented. With the “ Zero Profile Technology” RES Workspace Manager has a feature that captures users settings and injects them whenever needed, offering a more flexible solution than the roaming profile. In a virtual desktop environment the profile solution provided by Microsoft, the roaming profile, is not sufficient.