The Specialize configuration phase of Windows Setup typically occurs when the system is first started by the customer immediately before the out-of-box experience (OOBE). Therefore, any manufacturer-specific or corporation-specific modifications to power policy that are made before Sysprep has been started or during Audit mode might be overwritten by the automatic customization of power setting defaults for mobile PCs.

In an Active Directory domain environment, you configure the Limit profile size Group Policy setting to manage the size of user profiles. On a Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008-based client computer, if the user profile size is more than 4 GB the Group Policy setting does not take effect. You do not receive a message that the profile size is exceeded, and you can log off as usual even if the Max Profile Size field of the Group Policy setting is set to a value less than 4 GB.

When you use a roaming profile, you receive the following message:

Your roaming user profile was not completely synchronized. See the event log for details or contact administrator.

When you use a user account that is configured with a roaming profile to log on to a computer, the roaming user profile is not loaded as expected. The system loads the local copy of the user profile.

Users who are logged on to a Windows Server 2008 Server, a Windows Server 2008 Terminal Server, or a Windows Vista client, request certificates through “certmgr.msc”.

During the request they get the following error message in certificate request wizard:

The certificate request cannot be created. The profile for the user is a temporary profile.

The profiles aren’t temp profiles; there are no error messages in the application or system event log of the affected system.

It is not the problem fixed in Windows 2000. For more information about the problem in Windows 2000, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

265357 Roaming Profiles Cannot Create Key Containers

Instead there may be installed third party profile management software. This software marks the loaded profile as a “temporary profile” even if it is loaded correctly.

You have to disable the third party profile management software or contact the vendor of the software in order to solve this problem.

On a network, you configure the Slow network connection time-out for user profiles Group Policy setting to define a slow connection for roaming user profiles. However, when a user is working in a wide area network (WAN) environment, the setting may fail. Therefore, the roaming profile user may experience a long delay during the logon or logoff process on a Windows Vista-based or a Windows Server 2008-based client computer.

In a network environment, you configure some client computers to use roaming user profiles. In this case, users may become unable to log on from a client computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. The users receive an error message that resembles the following:

Unable to log you on because your profile could not be loaded, please contact your administrator.

Then, the user is logged off immediately.

Additionally, the following two application events (event 1508 and event 1502) are logged on the client computer:

Event 1508

Log Name: Application
Source: Microsoft-Windows-User Profiles Service
Date: Date
Event ID: 1508
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: SYSTEM
Computer: Computer
Description: Windows was unable to load the registry. This problem is often caused by insufficient memory or insufficient security rights. DETAIL - Access denied for C:\Users\TEMP\ntuser.dat

Event 1502

Log Name: Application
Source: Microsoft-Windows-User Profiles Service
Date: 
Event ID: 1502
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: User_SID
Computer: Machine Description: Windows cannot load the locally stored profile. Possible causes of this error include insufficient security rights or a corrupt local profile. DETAIL - File is used by another process

This article discusses how to customize the default local user profile settings when you create an image on a computer that is running one of the following operating systems:

• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows XP
• Windows Server 2003

After you deploy the image, these settings are applied to all new users who log on to the computer.

In a domain environment, you configure the domain users to use mandatory user profiles. You set the profile path by using the %LogonServer% environment variable. However, when a user tries to log on to the domain from a Windows Vista-based or Windows Server 2008-based client computer, the user is logged on by using a temporary profile. Additionally, if the Do not log users in with a temporary profile Group Policy setting is applied in the domain, the user cannot log on to the domain.

Note: This issue does not occur if the user logs on to the domain from a Windows XP-based or Windows Server 2003-based client computer.

In a domain environment, you configure the Slow network connection time-out for user profiles Group Policy setting to reduce the time that is required for roaming profile users to log on to the domain through a slow network connection. Assume a user then logs on or logs off the domain through a slow network connection from a Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)-based or a Windows Server 2008-based client computer. In this scenario, the time that is required to log on or to log off the domain is still longer than expected.

Note: After you configure this Group Policy setting, you expect the roaming profile client to use a local copy of the profile if the network connection is slow.

If you check the user environment debug log or if you capture a network monitor trace, you see that the client computer downloads or uploads the roaming user profiles every time that the user logs on or logs off the domain. This behavior occurs even in a slow network environment.

Consider the following scenario that occurs in a domain environment:

• You configure the users in the domain to use roaming profiles.
• The folder redirection feature is enabled in the domain.
• The offline folder feature is enabled on the network share on which the users’ roaming profiles and the redirected folders are located.
• The values of all registry entries under the following registry subkeys have been set to the path of the network share:
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

In this scenario, when you try to log on to the domain from a Windows Vista-based client computer or from a Windows Server 2008-based client computer, the computer may stop responding.