How to Enable Profile Quotas in Windows NT 4.0 (185561)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition 4.0 SP4
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 SP4
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP4
This article was previously published under Q185561

SUMMARY

With the installation of Service Pack 4 for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, administrators will have the ability to limit the amount of disk space a user profile can consume. This article describes how to enable this feature.

MORE INFORMATION

Profile quotas are enabled by using a system policy.

  1. In System Policy Editor, load the templates Common.adm and Winnt.adm.
  2. Create a new policy.
  3. Open Default User, and then expand Windows NT User Profiles.
  4. When you select Limit Profile Size, the following option are available:

    Custom Message

    The text in the dialog box that appears when the user's profile exceeds the quota.

    Max Profile Size

    The maximum size of the user profile. This value defaults to 30,000 KB, so administrators will want to carefully consider how low they set this value. This is especially true, given the fact that users will not be able to successfully log off if their profile is too large.

    Include registry in file list

    When the user exceeds the profile quota, an error icon appears in the system tray. Double-clicking the icon brings up a tool that lists all the files in the profile, as well as the file size from the largest file to the smallest. By default, the list does not include files that are smaller than 2 KB. Users can consult this list to determine which files can be erased, moved to server-based storage, or backed up to offline storage. When this option is checked, the users' registry settings, Ntuser.dat, will be included in the list. Users cannot delete this file.

    Notify user when profile storage space is exceeded

    By default, users will get a dialog box informing them that their user profile is too large only when they attempt to log off. With this option selected, a dialog box appears as soon as the profile reaches the quota size, and at a configurable interval thereafter.
NOTE: Remember that the user will not be able to log off if the user profile quota is exceeded, and, by default, small files are not listed in the dialog that displays the files contained in the profile. If Internet Explorer 4.x is installed, these small files could include the entries in the Temporary Internet Files folder. This cache uses a small percentage of the total drive space, but can easily grow to be several megabytes in size. To delete these files, the user will need to empty the cache through the Internet Explorer Internet Options dialog box.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:5/14/2003
Keywords:kbFEA kbinfo KB185561
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