Read-Only Files Cause Roaming Profile Update to NetWare Server Not to Work (273473)

SYMPTOMS

If you have a roaming profile stored on a NetWare server, you may receive the following error messages when you log on:

Windows cannot copy file, localprofilepath\readonlyfile.txt to location roamingprofilepath\readonlyfile.txt. Contact your Network Administrator.

DETAIL - Access is Denied

-and-

Windows Cannot update your roaming profile. Contact your network Administrator.

DETAIL - Access is Denied

CAUSE

The following procedure is used to update a file on the profile server:

Create a temporary file on the share.
Copy the local file to the temporary file.
Delete the original file from the roaming profile.
Rename the temporary file to the correct name.

The last stage of this procedure does not succeed if the file is a read-only file and the roaming profile is stored on a NetWare server. The problem occurs because when a read-only file is created on a NetWare server, the file's Rename Inhibit flag is also set; the attempt to rename the file does not succeed. The copying of the file makes the file read-only on the server because the file-copy operation sets the file attributes to be the same on the destination file as they are on the source file.

This is not a problem when the roaming Profile is stored on a Windows 2000-based or Microsoft Windows NT-based server because a read-only file can be renamed.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

   Date        Time   Size     File name  
   ---------------------------------------
   10/10/2000  13:57  366,352  Userenv.dll

WORKAROUND

To work around the problem, make sure that none of the files in your profile have the Read Only flag set. Note that some of the files that Windows 2000 creates (such as the Ntuser.pol file) have the Read Only flag set automatically.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Windows 2000 Service Pack 2.

MORE INFORMATION

If you enable Userenv logging, you may see entries that are similar to the following items in the Userenv.log file:

USERENV(e0.c4) 09:51:12:625 ReconcileFile: Failed to rename file \\server\share\profiledir\prf68.tmp to \\server\share\profiledir\ntuser.pol with error = 5