I have a general question regarding roaming user profiles in Windows 2000. Our small company network is setup so that each user has a roaming profile account on our Windows 2000 Server (they are using Win2000 client systems as well). We have a few users that would like to access the network over a VPN connection from their homes and use their roaming profiles. However, the download over outside connections can be slow at times because of profile size. I'm aware that folders such as Personal will roam with users and also anything left on the Desktop will also be copied over. However, I'm confused at how to accurately calculate profile size because when I look at the overall size of a user's profile folder on the server, it will say something like 300MB, but if you add up the sizes of all the folders and desktop items that roam with the account, they don't come near that number. What other items are being counted into the overall profile size? I need to know this so I can reduce the size for those folks using VPN access over the Internet. I have also dumped the Cookies folder and Temp Internet Items, but this still doesn't seem to help. We are using MS Exchange 2000 as our mail server - I don't know if anything with regards to Outlook/Exchange is being included in profile size. Any suggestions? Thanks! =)

You'll find the bulk of a users roaming profile in their My Documents folder if they store a lot of items in it. You might make those folders available offline, or see if you can exclude it from the profile. Try this link. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q188/6/92.ASP

With Windows Explorer "Folder Options" set to view "hidden files and folders" expand Documents and Settings and open each users Profile folder to see what they contain. From Windows Help-Contents of a user profile: "Every user profile begins as a copy of Default User, which is a default user profile stored on each computer running Windows 2000. The NTuser.dat file within Default User displays configuration settings from the Windows 2000 registry. Every user profile also uses the common program groups, contained in the All Users folder. The user profile folders contain links to various desktop items. User profile folder Contents Application data Program-specific data—for example, a custom dictionary. Program vendors decide what data to store in the User profile folder. Cookies User information and preferences. Desktop Desktop items, including files, shortcuts, and folders. Favorites Shortcuts to favorite locations on the Internet. Local Settings Application data, History, and Temporary files. Application data roams with the user by way of roaming user profiles. My Documents User documents. My Pictures User picture items. NetHood Shortcuts to My Network Places items. PrintHood Shortcuts to printer folder items. Recent Shortcuts to the most recently used documents and accessed folders. SendTo Shortcuts to document-handling utilities. Start Menu Shortcuts to program items. Templates User template items." Be aware that if you were to delete items from a users profile they would also be gone when they logged on from the local network. -MW

You can also redirect the "my documents" folder and desktop to a network share via GPO. That way the docs won't download, but will always be available.