Important note: Backing up User Profile Disks on a Remote Desktop Server is not officially supported, but has been shown to work under some circumstances. The information in this article may be useful and is provided as a potential workaround.
The ideal backup configuration for a Remote Desktop Server (RDS) is to exclude C:\Users, as this directory interferes with the VSS backup of User Profile Disks (UPDs), and to keep the User Profile Disks included.
The reason we exclude C:\Users is because the Users directory no longer holds the actual user data, which is now held on the UPD directory instead. As such, C:\Users now just acts as a "forwarding rule" to the UPD directory. This is illustrated in the image below, where "connortest" has the same icon as a UPD, but with a "forwarding arrow" to the other directory. This behaviour is seen when a user is logged in.
VSS cannot read or write into a directory that it has already done so into, which is exactly the case in the presence of such a "forwarded" linked folder.
We therefore wish to exclude C:\Users, but include UPDs. This means including directories like C:\Users\Profile (and defaults), but excluding the rest of the users. This ensures that when a new user logs in, their disk is included, but not their profile. When we do a restore, the Active Directory components together with the RDS can then recognise that the SID of the user account matches up with the SID of the User Profile Disk.
We therefore wish to exclude C:\Users, but include UPDs. This means including directories like C:\Users\Profile (and defaults), but excluding the rest of the users. This ensures that when a new user logs in, their disk is included, but not their profile. When we do a restore, the Active Directory components together with the RDS can then recognise that the SID of the user account matches up with the SID of the User Profile Disk.
Follow the steps below to configure profiling in this way.
1. In the Console, create a new group for the machine if it does not have one already.
2. Right-click the group name and select Configure, then open the Profiling tab.
3. Tick the Enable Profiling box (if this is not enabled already).
4. In the list of options, select Global Exclusions and then Exclusion Filter.
2. Right-click the group name and select Configure, then open the Profiling tab.
3. Tick the Enable Profiling box (if this is not enabled already).
4. In the list of options, select Global Exclusions and then Exclusion Filter.
5. In the exclusion filter, specify %userprofile%\ to exclude any existing or new users in C:\Users that are on the machine.
6. Under Inclusion Specifications at the bottom, click Add.
6. Under Inclusion Specifications at the bottom, click Add.
7. Under I want to include a:, choose Complete Folder, and enter the path as shown below:
8. Click OK to close this dialog and again to close the Configure Group dialog.
9. Move the RDS with UPD account to the new group you created, and then open that machine's ESE agent either locally or via remote access from the Console.
10. Open Settings in ESE and go to Retrieve Settings. You should see the group update from the old to the new (keep retrieving until the right group is shown).
11. Check the backup selection to confirm that users are excluded, apart from the two specified.
9. Move the RDS with UPD account to the new group you created, and then open that machine's ESE agent either locally or via remote access from the Console.
10. Open Settings in ESE and go to Retrieve Settings. You should see the group update from the old to the new (keep retrieving until the right group is shown).
11. Check the backup selection to confirm that users are excluded, apart from the two specified.
We also recommend putting an exclusion on the users at C:\Users level, so that any excess users are also excluded.
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