> I also found the information you refer to in the Windows client manual,
and
> I DISAGREE with it.
> I will explain why I think so, in the hope that someone can correct me!
>
> I agree you can exclude NTUSER.DAT.LOG and USRCLASS.DAT.LOG.  (I think
these
> files are only used to journal in-flight changes to profiles, and can't be
> used after a restore.)  But there are cases where I believe you should NOT
> exclude NTUSER.DAT and USRCLASS.DAT.
>
> MOST of the time, I think it is ok to exclude NTUSER.DAT (& USRCLASS.DAT
for
> Win2K) on Windows SERVERS, but NOT on WinNT Wokstation or Win2KPro.
>
> NTUSER.DAT is the file that stores what is generally called your "user
> profile".  These are customization settings that you choose for yourself
in
> Windows and Windows applications.  The info in this file is loaded into
the
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry key when you are logged on to Windows.  Under
> Win2K, even MORE of your customization is stored in USRCLASS.DAT.
>
> The most obvious item of customization that is included, should you want
to
> know for testing, is your wallpaper.  But, depending on your levels of
> Exchange/Outlook, some of those settings are stored here as well.  And
even
> MORE customization can get stored this way, if an application chooses to
> store it there.
>
> While you are logged on to a Windows machine, the NTUSER.DAT &
USRCLASS.DAT
> files are locked by Windows and cannot be backed up by TSM.  You will see
> errors to that effect in dsmerror.log, and it annoys people to constantly
> have those files show up as errors.  And, TSM has a bypass - since TSM
can't
> back up these files (or any other open registry files), TSM gets a copy of
> the user profile information out of the registry for ALL LOGGED ON USERS,
> and saves it into the c:\adsm.sys directory structure as part of the
> registry backup.  So the copy is there in adsm.sys after a full restore;
you
> can drag it back to its proper location to restore your profile.
>
> Now, if you are NOT logged on to your system at the time it backs up, TSM
> will back up NTUSER.DAT just fine, like any other file.  And you can
restore
> that file with TSM, should you need to.  If you are trying to do a
> bare-metal restore, you can use a backed up copy of NTUSER.DAT from its
> original location, OR one that you drag out of adsm.sys.  A good copy of
> either one works.
>
> SO, where things get tricky, is if you exclude NTUSER.DAT and
USRCLASS.DAT,
> and you AREN"T logged on at the time of backup, so that TSM doesn't copy
the
> information during the registry backup.  In this case, how do you restore
> your profile?  Answer:  you don't.   Also, you may find that people have
> established multiple accounts on their system - each one has its own
> NTUSER.DAT file.  And if you exclude NTUSER.DAT, you will get backups via
> the registry ONLY for those that are logged on at the time of the backup.
>
> If you are backing up a lot of workstations, you just can't guarantee that
> people either WILL or WON"T be logged on for sure.  SO if you are backing
up
> workstations with TSM, DON"T exclude the NTUSER.DAT & USRCLASS.DAT files.
> Then you know for sure that your profiles are backed up either as part of
> the registry backup, or as a flat file, no matter how many profiles exist
on
> the workstation and how many are logged on at backup time.
>
> Now this information probably doesn't apply, even for workstations, if
your
> site uses ROAMING profiles.  (Although I haven't worked with them, I think
> in that case your profile is stored on a Windows server, and downloaded to
> you no matter where you log on. )  And in environments where your desktops
> are highly standardized, you may not care.  But in a research environment
> like we have here, we have MOSTLY power users, and desktops have lots of
> customization;  in this type of environment, users are NOT happy if you
> claim you can restore their systems, but lose all their customization.
>
> Now, if you are backing up only Windows SERVERS, the question is, what
> profiles do you care about?  For most servers, nobody cares at all.
> Usually, the only people logging on to the Windows server console are
logged
> on as Administrator, or they log on under their own accounts but use the
> default profile, without doing any significant amount of customization.
If
> you don't care about your customization, then you can exclude NTUSER.DAT.
> You may not get a backup of everyone's profile, but if you restore the
> machine and someone logs in and their profile hasn't been restored, they
> just get a copy of the DEFAULT profile, same as when they logged in the
> first time (that's what the default profile is for).
>
> BTW, we back up about 350 Win2K desktops, 50 WinNT desktops, 20 NT
servers.
> And we can restore them down to the last icon, with all user
customization.
> So I've done a LOT of restoring profiles.  Most of the information I have
> about profiles has been learn-by-doing, if anyone has a better explanation
> or definitive documentation, PLEASE contribute!  Glad for anyone to shoot
it
> down if they can provide better info.
>
> So there's my 2 cents (taxed or not taxed; although most days I find my
job
> very taxing.... :>)
>
> ************************************************************************
> Wanda Prather
> The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
> 443-778-8769
> wanda_prather AT jhuapl DOT edu
>
> "Intelligence has much less practical application than you'd think" -
> Scott Adams/Dilbert
> ************************************************************************
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith Kwiatek [mailto:kkwiatek AT NIST DOT GOV]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 10:12 AM
> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> Subject: Is it ok to exclude ntuser.dat, and usrclass.dat ????
>
>
> Is is ok to exclude the below files? I found this tivloi link that seems
to
> indicate such:
>
>
http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/services/datenhaltung/adsm/link/tsm-v42-books/win
> c/ans60014.htm
>
>    exclude "*:\documents and settings\...\ntuser.dat.LOG"
>    exclude "*:\documents and settings\...\ntuser.dat"
>    exclude "*:\documents and settings\...\usrclass.dat.LOG"
>    exclude "*:\documents and settings\...\usrclass.dat"
>