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Slow Windows logons

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by Member 25348569

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

We've got problems with some of our users having slow logons to our Winders 2003R2 network. This is starting to get us some bad press from the more whiny users - and unfortunately not all of the problem is in user expectation - so The Management have set up a "Slow Logon Task Force".

We're fairly up to speed on checking all of the standard stuff but I'd still appreciate suggestions in case we've missed something obvious but what I'm really after any case histories where you've found something unusual, unexpected and just not obvious. With the fix, of course.

Thumbs will be provided for the interesting. The banal will merely attract scorn. Please feel free to add your applause and request thumbs for the really wild.

Neil :D

The system has around a thousand users but it's our 600 HQ users that we need to troubleshoot. We have a mix of different Dell server but the DCs are all recent boxes with Gb LAN connections. Users have roaming profiles with the profiles held on a W2003 cluster. Workstations are all Dell XPSP2 and no more than a couple of years old. All are on 100Mb LAN connections and the network infrastructure is pretty sound. More information on request.

17 replies

by dilumd

1000 users means somekind of slow to loggin.

I think this is DNS problem. just try this to one machine.

Remove a pc from the domain and again connect to the domain. when connecting to the domain again, put DNS address. After that try to connect to the domain.

by gadgetgirl

(you're getting it anyway!)

have you checked the profile size? I mean comparing the HQ user profile size to the others?

Last time something like this happened where I used to work, they found that a patch or update had added gumph to the user profiles, doubling them in size. (Hey, that's all I can remember, it was around five years ago!)

Best of luck, sweetz, it sounds like you need it!

:x

GG

by Member 25348569

We do have profiles that vary from 10MB up to idiots with a GB or even more when they've copied their wedding pictures to "c:\Documents\and settings\username" but it's not related to that. In 2003 the profiles, network and PC copy, are merged rather than copied entirely - except for the registry hives in NTUSER.DAT.

I'm not involved at the sharp end until someone blames my SAN or my scripts. I'm just helping out and covering my vulnerables and I know what a knowledgeable lot TRers all are.

I thought of having the thread title "Hepl Pliz" but I reckoned that there was a danger I'd get DIE, DIE SPAMMING SCUM" before anyone noticed.

:D :x

by Member 25348569

That's you on 13 and Col on 666.

What a pair!

Neil :x

Have fun with the DE...

by oh smeg

I've logged in here to your questions.
Send me a E-Mail if you need any help here

Col

by Member 25348569

Billy Nomates, that's me. Getting a peer mail is good for my ego!

Here's the mail I sent you by reply, half an hour after I got your peer mail.

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Col,

Thanks for that. I've not been involved in the search for an answer yet. I reckon it's been happening for a long time and we're all (finally!) being asked to contribute ideas. Could be profiles, DNS, GPOs, scripts or any combination of them all or none of them. I'm trying to get a few suggestions up front while I wait for the guy who is managing the search gets back with anything he has so far about who, when and how long. Until I get the chance to see the scope of the problem and if there are patterns, I'm not going to get stressed. If I find patterns and no-one else has spotted them, I'll get annoyed.

We don't have NAS, only our SAN - which works fine - and the performance indicator software would soon show up any bottlenecks. Backup is long over on everything by 7am. I have a 7-7 window that slams shut on any overruns.

Don't answer on the thread as Hal. I might give you a thumb and with Beth gone, Tammy might not be able to fix it. 667 doesn't look so good. "The Number Of The Beast's Next Door Neighbour" just doesn't hack it!

Neil

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See! Peer Mails not a problem!

Neil

by Member 25348569

This is what the guy heading up the "task force" had to say when I asked him for the problem scope and what had been done so far.

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No formal evidence gathering has been done thus far. But we are aware that we?ve got a lot of unhappy punters out there.

I am also keen not to discount any area because ?Someone must have checked that before?.

-----------

So, nobody has done anything or no documentation has been kept of the story so far and we have to redo (or do for the first time) all of the tests that should have been done MONTHS ago? I reckon you do that sort of Mickey Mouse investigation without me.

Suggestions still welcome though.

Neil

by magic alex

slow to connect/disconnect network printers?
I find my terminal server has a lot of difficulty with HP printers and the driver issues can cause log ons to take forever, and log offs as well leaving a copy of the printer on the server even tho the client that it was associated too has disconnected.

I've found that during a delayed log on/log off to the terminal server, if i restart the print spooler service the client in question will stop hanging instantly.

I understand that your users are probably just logging into their workstations but it could be a similar issue

by oh smeg

It sure sounds like one to me. I remember one Government Department here who called in their IT Section and they spent months trying to solve a problem and never tested anything at all.

Not sure how they expected to actually fix the problem maybe they just hoped it would go away or those complaining would see a lot of silly fools running around and stop complaining.

Neither Worked and when I got called in it took 2 days to test and 10 minutes to fix the problem. Of course one of my staff went there first and messed around knowing full well what was wrong but he didn't want to show up the Governments Techs. As he used to work with some of them I suppose that was his reason but I think that the Bureaucrat at this department had told their IT Staff that this wasn't acceptable and when they heard the same thing from me they had to accept it as they where loosing too much time & that is something that is almost impossible to happen with any Government Department. This same crowd will pay 3 times the cost of a new printer to have it repaired because they don't have the money left in their budget for new printers. :D

No I'm not going there any more as it still hurts when I think of that place. :(

Col

by Member 25348569

Just a difference of opinion between me and the guy fronting the "let's get it fixed" team.

He wants a nice "clean" start and I won't spare the time and effort to go over old ground. I suppose I'll just wait and see what he does and see if we get any new ideas. I'm not in the desktop support team and I have my own infrastructure niche so I'll wait until they call on me - if they do.

It might seem like I'm being a bit bolshy but I just don't have time to waste because no one has even scoped the problem properly.

:D

by w2ktechman

Last time I used a roaming profile was in WinNT4 and all I can say is, in NT4, they filled up quickly and became really slow.
But, I am sure that some things have been cleaned up since then.

Anyway, a few things to look into.

Run scheduled scripts to delete temp files.

Inform users not to save items to their desktops, etc. because they will not save, and remove the ability.
Instead, make server shares to store data on different servers than the profiles.

by Member 25348569

to the user's network-based Home drive. The profiles DO get large when certain programs dump stuff into them. Firefox is a pain for this and we've a few users who use it but I pick it up using SMS and they get either get Firefox or their roaming profile removed.

The real problem with large profiles is when users save the Christmas pictures to the only place they have available on their local drives, C:\Documants and Settings\Username, the Profile user base folder. Again, I can easily spot these as I trawl for bloated profiles every night and the users get slapped.

One of the real problems we have is that our HelpDesk - so called because they don't - haven't kept a proper record of reports of slow logins so I could see if there is a correlation between profile size and reported slow login. gives us a problem in seeing if it's based on floor number - either an edge switch issue or just a collection of whiny users with over-inflated expectations or if there's a real problem (I think there is).

Temp is in C:\Documants and Settings\Username\Local settings so that's not a problem. IE caches into a folder in there as well (not bloody Firefox, though).

Neil :)

by Member 25348569

I've not been a party to assessing the scope of the problem so I don't really know whether the problem is "login" or really "boot-up and login" and our Help desk are just being imprecise (as usual) so I'll hang on to this one until I find out.

Neil :D

by rob miners

of anything else I will post it for you Neil. I really don't envy your position. At the moment you are between a rock and a very hard place by the sounds of it.

Rob :)

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