What's in your profile management solution?

 So one of my most frequently asked questions is....(drum roll) which profile management solution do you use?

My answer today is always FSLogix! Why? It's truly the simplest way to deliver a persistent profile solution in a non-persistent environment!

If you combine FSLogix with Folder Redirections, then you can provide a great experience for users.

FSLogix is a small agent that can be installed within all VDI/Published Apps environments. It is the default profile management solution for Microsoft's Azure Virtual Desktop.

FSLogix settings can be applied via registry keys or Group Policy. The preferred and easier method would be to use Group Policy which requires copying the admx/adml files that come with the download into your domain environment.

If you've never used FSLogix, then it is worth noting it does require a storage location. It works great on most storage solutions, but do not place FSLogix on a DFS with Replication enabled.

My favorite and suggested GPO settings:

  • Swap component names: Please make sure to do this. If you do not do this before your deployment, then it show the user's SID first and then their samAccountName. So basically, you will sort on their SID which can be very difficult to manage. 
  • Do separate out the Profile and Office containers. FSLogix allows you to use only the Profile Container or the Office Container. My recommendation is to use both. This configuration allows you to be able to remove the Office Container without having to remove their other Profile data or vice versa.
  • Move temp, tmp, and inetcache to the local profile. This setting reduces bloat in the profile. 
  • Use Dynamic instead of Fixed. Unless you just have storage to waste, then do not set the profile to fixed. Also use VHDX if your storage solution supports it.
  • DO NOT use the Windows Search feature for any Windows 10/Windows 2016 and above. It will just work if you don't use this feature.
  • Use the redirections.xml file to reduce the amount of data within the Profile Container.
Because you will reduce the amount of data in the profile container almost immediately with Folder Redirections and redirection of temp files, you will want to come up with a strategy to handle the white space created within each VHDX. There are scripts and other options out there to do this, my personal choice is ShrinkFSL.exe. It is a GUI and a command-line executable. I set it to run nightly against the root folders and this helps to shrink the file through Task Scheduler. The file can be downloaded here.



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