How can I delete cached copies of roaming profiles in Windows 2000 and later?

John Savill

May 4, 2003

1 Min Read
ITPro Today logo in a gray background | ITPro Today

A. When you use a roaming profile in Win2K or later, the OS typically caches a local copy of the profile. However, you can disable this caching by performing the following steps:

  1. Open the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, right-click the container that holds the group policy that you want to use to apply the change, select Properties, select the Group Policy tab, then click Edit.

  2. Navigate to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System, Logon for Windows 2000 or Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System, then click User Profiles for Windows 2003.

  3. Double-click "Delete cached copies of roaming profiles."

  4. Select Enabled, then click OK.

  5. Close the policy editor.

Don't use this policy if you enable slow-link detection for Windows XP and Win2K clients because this feature relies on cached profiles when a slow link is detected. You can also disable cached copies of roaming profiles directly in the registry by creating a registry value named DeleteRoamingCache of type REG_DWORD and setting it to 1 under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindowsSystem registry subkey.

About the Author

Sign up for the ITPro Today newsletter
Stay on top of the IT universe with commentary, news analysis, how-to's, and tips delivered to your inbox daily.

You May Also Like