Re: Mysteriously Moving Files!

Interesting indeed. The Date Modified has not been changed - files show
varying dates and times in 2007. However, the Date Created has been changed
to 2/13/2008 at 7:49 PM. So today I pored over the event logs for the
server hosting the redirected shares, and I found something interesting that
jogged my memory. I now know WHAT event caused this weirdness, but haven't
yet pieced together exactly HOW it worked. The explanation is long, so
please bear with me.

I've been helping my brother configure his Offline Files GPO settings on his
home network to appropriately handle offline files caching for users who log
into both desktop and laptop computers. We've been using my own environment
as a reference, since I have it working the way he wants his to work. I and
our sales employees use laptops, so our GPOs use Offline Files make our
redirected files available offline. The rest of the office uses desktop
computers, and when those employees log in at their desks, Offline Files is
disabled. We wanted to observe/verify the behaviour of Offline Files when a
*laptop user* logs onto a desktop computer. So using RWW, I established a
remote desktop session to one of our desktop computers -- I'll call it
Suzie1 after the employee who uses it -- and I logged in using my
credentials. This login occurred at 7:49 PM. I observed that file
synchronization did not apparently take place when I logged in, so I
concluded that under my current configuration, Offline Files is indeed
disabled for a laptop user who logs onto a desktop computer -- which is the
configuration we wanted to verify and replicate.

What's interesting is that "Suzie" is not the employee whose redirected
files ended up mixed in with mine; that employee, "Sharon", uses a different
desktop computer -- which I will call "Sharon1" -- that I did not log into
at all.

So how is it that *Sharon's* files were affected when I logged into Suzie's
machine??

I think the key lies in the methods I used when deploying Windows XP to my
workstations. As always, I created a reference installation which I
configured and customized to our needs, then sysprepped and "imaged" to all
my machines. But in past deployments, I have always used a "test" domain
user to customize the user profile which ultimately became the Default User
profile. In this deployment, I instead used an account I'd just created for
a new hire due to start soon, since I knew her temporary password and it was
easier/faster than setting up the "test" user again. That user was -- you
guessed it -- Sharon. That means that the Default User profile is actually
a copy of Sharon's user profile. I copied the profile using the MS-approved
method (documented in article 319974): System Properties>Advanced>User
Profiles>Copy To. It was set to allow use by "Everyone" and IIUC, the tool
removes all user-specific security descriptors from the profile when
copying. I should note that before syprepping and imaging, I did NOT delete
Sharon's user profile from the reference machine.

My working theory is that somehow, Sharon's user account/SID is still linked
to the Default User profile, which was of course used to create my local
user profile when I logged onto Suzie's computer for the first time. Becaue
of this, Sharon's files were mysteriously moved from HER redirected folders
to MINE when I logged onto Suzie's desktop computer as myself.

I'd appreciate any insights into this. I'd like to understand better
exactly what happened here so I can take steps to prevent it occuring again.
If what I've described is true, then this should happen anytime a user logs
into a "new" computer. But to my knowledge this has only (possibly)
happened one time before (and I didn't investigate it fully, chalking it up
to something the user was neglecting to tell me).

Thanks Charlie for your help! All thoughts appreciated.

Bryan


<charlie brown> wrote in message
news:OAtuwtjcIHA.1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Well it is indeed a mysteriously story.

I am curious about this, tell me if you take look at the date/time stamp
of those files what does it say?

Is the data in column "Date created" / "Date modified" from the same day
as it occurred or are they much older?

--
«·´`·.(*·.¸(`·.¸ ¸.·´)¸.·*).·´`·»
«.............. CHARLIE ..............»
«·´`·.(¸.·´(¸.·* *·.¸)`·.¸).·´`·»


"Bryan L" <rand59@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wote:

news:%23$U4XhXcIHA.3940@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<charlie brown> wrote in message
news:%23iKwtuzbIHA.1376@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bryan

This morning I logged in to find that in addition to my normal Desktop
and My Documents files and folders, I also had additional ones I didn't
recognize.

Do you use "Folder Redirection" for Desktop and My Documents via GPO?
// In that case, maybe the users folders are mapped to the same path as
yours.

Yes, sorry, I thought I made that clear. All users' Desktop and My
Documents folders are redirected to the same share, under which
%username% folders are automatically created. How could a user's folder
be mapped to the same path as mine in this scenario? This is not a new
user or a new configuration; my Folder Redirection config has been
operating for going on 3 years and she's been working for months without
issue. As soon as I discovered whose files they were, I immedately
checked the NTFS settings on the redirected share and both our %username%
folders and subfolders/files. All appeared normal.

Or are you using a "Profile Path"?
// In that case, maybe the users profile is pointing to the same path as
yours.

Using local user Profiles, not Roaming.

I discovered that WSUS on the SBS had initiated a
reboot last night, but that it was hung on shutdown.

Do you mean that updates from Microsoft are installed automatically
without any interference from your end?
If so, that could be a good explanation for unexplained weirdness.
Always test updates before installing them, especially with computers
that serve many users.

Critical security updates are installed automatically (I understood this
was generally accepted best practice and default SBS WSUS behaviour). I
must manually approve all other updates for installation, and I research
them before approving.

Thanks for your reply.

Bryan







.

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