Free Alternatives to Roaming Profiles - Microsoft Q&A (2024)

FAQs

What to use instead of a roaming profile? ›

Should the objective be to maintain file synchronization across different devices for users, options like OneDrive for cloud storage or SyncThing could be considered. But in my opinion, FSLogix Profile Containers stand out as the preferred solution for enhanced manageability and maintenance.

Roaming profiles were a nice idea in the '00s but there are better solutions now than folder redirection or roaming profiles. Roaming profiles are the oldest option, but they can work with FR. KFM would be the way to go, but if they don't have the licenses, FR will work.

Why use roaming profiles and folder redirection? User profiles allow multiple users to share a Windows system and still maintain their own preferences. You can set your background to chartreuse without affecting anyone else who uses the machine.

Roaming User Profiles is used to redirect a user profile to a network location, whereas Folder Redirection enables users and administrators to redirect the path of a known folder to a new location, manually or by using Group Policy. So, the latter may allow for more granularity.

Yes, roaming profiles can cause long user loading times, especially if the profiles are large. This is because Windows has to download the profile from the server every time the user logs in.

Microsoft's roaming profiles give IT administrators a basic option to provide users with their personal settings and data on any device or virtual desktop connected to the corporate network. Windows maintains a profile for each user who logs into the OS.

To confirm that the user profile is roaming, open Control Panel, select System and Security, select System, select Advanced System Settings, select Settings in the User Profiles section and then look for Roaming in the Type column.

Folder Redirection and Offline Files are used together to redirect the path of local folders, such as the Documents folder, to a network location, while caching the contents locally for increased speed and availability. Roaming User Profiles is used to redirect a user profile to a network location.

Should I use roaming or not? ›

Do You Want Data Roaming On or Off? Don't turn on data roaming unless you absolutely need it. To avoid roaming charges, keep data roaming off. You can turn it back on if you need to do something important like access a map or make an emergency phone call—just make sure you understand your provider's roaming fees.

Operating System Version: The Windows client computers and the server should be running Windows operating systems that support roaming profiles. This includes the latest supported versions of Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022.

Airplane mode is one of the safest settings you can choose to avoid roaming charges. You can set your phone to airplane mode before arriving at your destination and keep it there while traveling abroad so that your phone doesn't use data.

Since most users rarely back up their computers, if a hard drive fails, any data that is stored within local profiles on that machine would be lost. Roaming profiles are stored on a server and can be accessed by logging into any computer on the network.