Friday, September 28, 2007

Slow Login Times when using My Documents Redirection

I used My Documents folder redirection in a Windows 2000 domain 5 years ago and never had any slow login errors or issues.  When I tried to implement the same type of policy on Windows XP SP2, I started seeing a minimum 20 second login time.  Especially when you refreshed the group policy.

It looks like Microsoft has identified a problem with Ntlanman.dll and created a hotfix.  It looks like they have rolled the update into Windows 2003 SP2 and may be slated to include the update in XP SP3.

To recreate the problem:
  1. Apply the group policy (gpupdate /force) and logout
  2. Login as user with My Documents redirected
  3. Log out and in again to see no login time penalty
  4. Force the application of group policy (gpupdate /force) and logout
  1. or wait a day or two for the policy to refresh on its own
  • Login as the same user and see a minimum 20-second login time penalty when you see the "Apply personal settings"

  • You may experience a 20-second delay when you try to access a redirected folder by logging on to a Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1-based computer or to a Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer

    Friday, September 21, 2007

    Windows XP Remote Assistance URL

    hcp://CN=Microsoft%20Corporation,L=Redmond,S=Washington,C=US/Remote%20Assistance/Escalation/Unsolicited/unsolicitedrcui.htm

    Windows Vista is not a url but a full application.
    %SystemRoot%\system32\msra.exe

    Now if I could only figure out how to pass variables to either the application or the url.

    Thursday, September 20, 2007