I have someone else's Desktop and preferences. What causes this, and how can I get rid of it?

Windows profiles cause a lot of problems. When you log into a Windows workstation your profile (that contains preferences, My Documents, Desktop, etc) is copied off of the file server and saved onto the local hard drive to be used during your session. When you log off, Windows copies the updated profile back onto the file server and deletes it from the local hard drive-- in theory. Sometimes Windows doesn't delete the profile, so after several weeks there are a lot of profiles stored locally. Occasionally, instead of getting your profile off the server when you log in, it takes one of the local copies. This is then copied over your good profile on the file server when you log off. Once this happens, every time you log in you'll get the other person's corrupted profile.

So how do you fix the problem? Your windows profile is stored in the .windows_profile directory in your home directory (F:). If you remove the NTUSER.DAT file in the .windows_profile directory, the preferences will be reset the next time you log in. If you remove the whole .windows_profile directory, any preferences, files on the Desktop and files in the My Documents folder will be removed (you should do this if you have a bunch of other people's stuff). We have an automated web script that will remove the whole directory for you. It is an option when you log into the account editing page at: https://labs.cs.byu.edu/accounts/

There is a catch. You can't be logged into a windows machine when you remove your profile. If your profile has a bunch of junk in it and you delete it off the server while you are logged in, it will copy the bad profile off the local machine back onto the server when you log off. You'll need to log into one of the linux labs and delete the files/directory there.

Why should I not save files in the My Documents folder or on the Desktop?

This has to do with the profile problems described above. Anything you save in the My Documents folder or on the Desktop become a part of your roaming Windows profile. These files are much more likely to get lost or deleted. Because of a Window's bug these files could remain on the computer after you log out and later be accessible by other users of the machine. There is a limit to the size of your profile, so if you save too many items in your profile you might not be able to log out. Save everything on your F: drive and you'll be fine.

Anything you save on the Desktop or in the My Documents folder can be read by other users of the computer.

Full Profile

If your profile is full, you may not be able to log out of Windows.

Try deleting everything you can under "C:\Documents and Settings" except for the folders "Administrator" and "All Users". If you can not delete a folder, then try deleting some of the folders inside of it. Once you have cleaned up a lot of the files on the computer, you should be able to log off.

If this does not work, then you will need to speak with the System Administrators in 1140 TMCB. If the Administrators are not in the office, you should email them at system@cs.byu.edu. They will need to know your CS account username, and the name of the machine which you are using. You should then lock the screen of the machine by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and selecting "Lock Computer". Because fixing the problem will probably necessitate the removal of your window's profile, you should move any files out of My Documents and off of the Desktop onto your network drive (F: drive) will probably lose all information stored in your Window's profile.

I can not write to my F: drive. Why?

You might be over quota. Look here for more information about quotas.

Other Problems