[gptalk] Long logon times when switching between metaframe servers.

Hello, 

I'm a litlle plagued by this annoying problem. Our metaframe people are 
complaining about long logon times for GPO's for certain servers. 
I've studied their userenv logs and found it relates to following behaviour. 

I've got loopback processing enabled with merge, and it merges several more 
restrictive settings when logging on to a metaframe server. 

When a user logs on the first time al his gpo settings are applied which takes 
about 30 seconds, when they logon a second time to the same server their 
settings are marked "same" and the application is skipped. 
This is how it should work obviously.
 Now when they logon to another server in the metaframe farm i see NTuser.pol 
from their profile first erasing all settings in the registry extension part, 
and then reapplying them again from the GPO on the domain. 
Only the registry extension has this behaviour , all the other ones don't do 
this.

Why does this happen? and why is the gpo history not transferred via the 
roaming profile to another server ? 
Can this be reversed somehow ?

Even if in userenv it says: "the lists are the same" it still deletes and 
reapplies. 

see example

USERENV 14:34:43:370    ProcessGPOs     Processing extension Registry   4.906
USERENV 14:34:43:370    ReadStatus      Read Extension's Previous status 
successfully.  4.906
USERENV 14:34:43:370    CompareGPOLists The lists are the same. 4.906
USERENV 14:34:43:370    ProcessGPOList  Entering for extension Registry 4.906
USERENV 14:34:43:370    UserPolicyCallback      Setting status UI to Applying 
Registry policy...        4.906
USERENV 14:34:43:401    LogExtSessionStatus     Successfully logged Extension 
Session data      4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    EnterCriticalPolicySectionEx    Entering with timeout 
60000 and flags 0x2       4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    EnterCriticalPolicySectionEx    User critical section 
has been claimed.  Handle = 0x464 4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    EnterCriticalPolicySectionEx    Leaving successfully.   
4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    ResetPolicies   Entering.       4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    SetRegPermissionsOnPoliciesKey  Resetting permission on 
the policy key  4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    SetRegPermissionsOnPoliciesKey  Resetting permission on 
the policy key  4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    ParseRegistryFile       Entering with 
<C:\Profiles\g60057\ntuser.pol>.  4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    DeleteRegistryValue     Deleted 
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet 
Settings\Zones\3\1001       4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    DeleteRegistryValue     Deleted 
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet 
Settings\Zones\3\1004       4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    DeleteRegistryValue     Deleted 
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet 
Settings\Zones\3\1C00       4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    DeleteRegistryValue     Deleted 
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel\Autoconfig  4.937
USERENV 14:34:43:401    DeleteRegistryValue     Deleted 
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel\Connection Settings 
4.937 

and then the reapplication

SERENV  14:34:45:886    ParseRegistryFile       Entering with 
<\\int.sys.shared.fortis\sysvol\int.sys.shared.fortis\Policies\{4120ED14-6346-4964-ABCD-F578457BC151}\User\registry.pol>.
 7.422
USERENV 14:34:45:932    SetRegistryValue        NoComponents => 1  [OK] 7.468
USERENV 14:34:45:995    SetRegistryValue        DisablePersonalDirChange => 1  
[OK]     7.531
USERENV 14:34:46:057    SetRegistryValue        ForceClassicControlPanel => 1  
[OK]     7.593
USERENV 14:34:46:104    SetRegistryValue        NoDesktopCleanupWizard => 1  
[OK]       7.640
USERENV 14:34:46:167    SetRegistryValue        NoHardwareTab => 1  [OK]        
7.703
USERENV 14:34:46:214    SetRegistryValue        NoManageMyComputerVerb => 1  
[OK]       7.750
USERENV 14:34:46:276    SetRegistryValue        NoSMConfigurePrograms => 1  
[OK]        7.812
USERENV 14:34:46:323    SetRegistryValue        NoSMMyPictures => 1  [OK]       
7.859

normally it should be like this (same user again on same server) 

USERENV 14:12:54:275    ProcessGPOs     Processing extension Registry   1.359
USERENV 14:12:54:275    ReadStatus      Read Extension's Previous status 
successfully.  1.359
USERENV 14:12:54:275    CompareGPOLists The lists are the same. 1.359
USERENV 14:12:54:275    CheckGPOs       No GPO changes and no security group 
membership change and extension Registry has NoGPOChanges set.     1.359
USERENV 14:12:54:275    ProcessGPOs     ----------------------- 1.359

As we have multiple metaframe's in multiple farms and silo's this actually mean 
that mostly all of these settings are constantly being reapplied costing the 
user 30 seconds every time.

If anyone can shed some light on this it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks



Vriendelijke groeten, 
Cordialement, 
Kind Regards, 
Schillebeeks Bart 
Active Directory Security Consultant 
Bart.schillebeeks@xxxxxxxxxx 
AD Internet Consulting BVBA
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