Skip to main content

Use roaming profiles to store user profiles centrally on a SMB server associated with the SVM overview

Contributors netapp-thomi netapp-aherbin

ONTAP supports storing Windows roaming profiles on a CIFS server associated with the storage virtual machine (SVM). Configuring user roaming profiles provides advantages to the user such as automatic resource availability regardless of where the user logs in. Roaming profiles also simplify the administration and management of user profiles.

Roaming user profiles have the following advantages:

  • Automatic resource availability

    A user's unique profile is automatically available when that user logs in to any computer on the network that is running Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows 2000, or Windows XP. Users do not need to create a profile on each computer they use on a network.

  • Simplified computer replacement

    Because all of the user's profile information is maintained separately on the network, a user's profile can be easily downloaded onto a new, replacement computer. When the user logs in to the new computer for the first time, the server copy of the user's profile is copied to the new computer.