Environment
Novell Client for Windows 2000/XP/2003 4.91
Novell Client for Windows 2000/XP/2003 4.90 Support Pack 2
Novell Client for Windows 2000/XP/2003 4.91 Support Pack 1
Novell Client for Windows 2000/XP/2003 4.91 Support Pack 2
Novell Client for Windows 2000/XP/2003 4.91 Support Pack 1a
Novell ZENworks 7 Desktop Management Support Pack 1 - ZDM7 SP1 Desktop Management
Situation
Roaming profile not being uploaded to the NetWare server after a file with the full maximal file length has been created.
Resolution
When using roaming profiles, the network path needs to be included
in the calculations for the path. When using the ZENworks Agent to
store the user profile in the home directory, the Agent
automatically stores the profile in a folder named "Windows NT X.X
Workstation Profile", where "X.X" is the version of the OS.
This adds 34 (35 when including a leading backslash) additional characters to the UNC path of the user's home directory. When using a home directory of e.g. "\\server\volume\directory\username", this adds 34 characters to the path. The source of the roaming profile directory is usually "C:\Documents and Settings\username" (34 characters in this case). When accessing the roaming profile, this path component will be replaced with the network UNC. As a result, the root of the user profile on the local drive is 34 characters compared to 69 characters of the network UNC, subsequently shortening the maximum allowable local path length by 35 characters. Windows Explorer makes sure that the maximum path length of 260 characters does not get exceeded when creating new files, but it only considers the local path and not a potential network path when storing the roaming profile. When the profile gets saved to the network, the local profile root gets replaced with UNC of the server resource, and then files in the directory structure can exceed the maximum path length of 260 characters.
Therefore, using the home directory option in the roaming profile policy has the potential of exceeding the maximum path length for roaming profiles. An option is using a custom UNC path that includes environment variables, like"\\server\volume\directory\%username%". This eliminates the automatic creation of the "Windows NT X.X Workstation Profile" directory in the profile, and thereby reduces the path length on the network resource. However, even though this reduces the chances of running into issues when saving roaming profiles, the path length can only be within the limit, if the UNC component replaced by the Agent is equal or less than the local profile root ("C:\Documents and Settings")."
This adds 34 (35 when including a leading backslash) additional characters to the UNC path of the user's home directory. When using a home directory of e.g. "\\server\volume\directory\username", this adds 34 characters to the path. The source of the roaming profile directory is usually "C:\Documents and Settings\username" (34 characters in this case). When accessing the roaming profile, this path component will be replaced with the network UNC. As a result, the root of the user profile on the local drive is 34 characters compared to 69 characters of the network UNC, subsequently shortening the maximum allowable local path length by 35 characters. Windows Explorer makes sure that the maximum path length of 260 characters does not get exceeded when creating new files, but it only considers the local path and not a potential network path when storing the roaming profile. When the profile gets saved to the network, the local profile root gets replaced with UNC of the server resource, and then files in the directory structure can exceed the maximum path length of 260 characters.
Therefore, using the home directory option in the roaming profile policy has the potential of exceeding the maximum path length for roaming profiles. An option is using a custom UNC path that includes environment variables, like"\\server\volume\directory\%username%". This eliminates the automatic creation of the "Windows NT X.X Workstation Profile" directory in the profile, and thereby reduces the path length on the network resource. However, even though this reduces the chances of running into issues when saving roaming profiles, the path length can only be within the limit, if the UNC component replaced by the Agent is equal or less than the local profile root ("C:\Documents and Settings")."