Discussion:
User logon hangs when home folder server not available
(too old to reply)
Barkley Bees
2009-11-12 07:16:47 UTC
Permalink
We recently performed some planned weekend maintenance which required us to
shut down our DFS file servers (among others) that we use to host users home
folders (we have configured in AD). As we only started using the home folder
feature this year we had yet to experience this but when the file servers
were shutdown we noticed that domain logons would hang indefinitely.

It took a good 5 minutes for me to realize what was happening but when I
disabled the home folder setting on my normal user account and was then able
to log on that made it pretty clear.

What I'm trying to figure out now is if there is any group policy or
registry setting that will allow the log on process to skip the home folder
step (timeout) if the DFS share is not available for whatever reason. As it
stands now, the DFS servers are a single point of failure for user logons
which is not a good thing. Appreciate any feedback. Thanks.
DaveMills
2009-11-13 18:58:44 UTC
Permalink
Post by Barkley Bees
We recently performed some planned weekend maintenance which required us to
shut down our DFS file servers (among others) that we use to host users home
folders (we have configured in AD). As we only started using the home folder
feature this year we had yet to experience this but when the file servers
were shutdown we noticed that domain logons would hang indefinitely.
It took a good 5 minutes for me to realize what was happening but when I
disabled the home folder setting on my normal user account and was then able
to log on that made it pretty clear.
What I'm trying to figure out now is if there is any group policy or
registry setting that will allow the log on process to skip the home folder
step (timeout) if the DFS share is not available for whatever reason. As it
stands now, the DFS servers are a single point of failure for user logons
which is not a good thing. Appreciate any feedback. Thanks.
I use DFS homed home folders and have never seen the logon hang indefinitely.
The mapped drive is simply not mapped. You may have some other issue at work
here.
--
Dave Mills
There are 10 types of people, those that understand binary and those that don't.
Hank Arnold
2009-11-15 09:16:47 UTC
Permalink
Post by DaveMills
Post by Barkley Bees
We recently performed some planned weekend maintenance which required us to
shut down our DFS file servers (among others) that we use to host users home
folders (we have configured in AD). As we only started using the home folder
feature this year we had yet to experience this but when the file servers
were shutdown we noticed that domain logons would hang indefinitely.
It took a good 5 minutes for me to realize what was happening but when I
disabled the home folder setting on my normal user account and was then able
to log on that made it pretty clear.
What I'm trying to figure out now is if there is any group policy or
registry setting that will allow the log on process to skip the home folder
step (timeout) if the DFS share is not available for whatever reason. As it
stands now, the DFS servers are a single point of failure for user logons
which is not a good thing. Appreciate any feedback. Thanks.
I use DFS homed home folders and have never seen the logon hang indefinitely.
The mapped drive is simply not mapped. You may have some other issue at work
here.
I agree. If a mapped resource is not available, I've seen it
significantly delay logons but never completely hang the system...
--
Regards,
Hank Arnold
Microsoft MVP
Windows Server - Directory Services
http://mypcassistant.blogspot.com/
Ace Fekay [MCT]
2009-11-13 20:38:21 UTC
Permalink
Post by Barkley Bees
We recently performed some planned weekend maintenance which required us
to shut down our DFS file servers (among others) that we use to host users
home folders (we have configured in AD). As we only started using the home
folder feature this year we had yet to experience this but when the file
servers were shutdown we noticed that domain logons would hang
indefinitely.
It took a good 5 minutes for me to realize what was happening but when I
disabled the home folder setting on my normal user account and was then
able to log on that made it pretty clear.
What I'm trying to figure out now is if there is any group policy or
registry setting that will allow the log on process to skip the home
folder step (timeout) if the DFS share is not available for whatever
reason. As it stands now, the DFS servers are a single point of failure
for user logons which is not a good thing. Appreciate any feedback.
Thanks.
I would suggest to use Folder Redirection and Offline Files. This way the
data is always available locally cached until the DFS services or share is
available.
--
Ace

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Ace Fekay, MCT, MCITP EA, MCTS Windows 2008 & Exchange 2007, MCSE & MCSA
2003/2000, MCSA Messaging 2003
Microsoft Certified Trainer

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