Twitterfox949

Access Points

Dec 08, 2012 What is roaming sensitivity? Resolve Windows 10 related issues for your HP computers or printers by HP Windows 10 Support Center. Level 19 92,482. Roaming Sensitivity Wifi Windows 10 Driver Lowest: The WiFi adapter will trigger roaming scan for another candidate AP when the signal strength with the current AP is very low. On my windows-10 laptop, it is: Antenna Diversity: Disabled (Off) Roaming Sensitivity: Low My laptop's WiFi works but has an extremely weak signal if the router is placed far off (like 2-3 rooms apart). But my smartphone and other Linux laptop has no issues in connecting the exact same router with the same distance. Here are the screenshots of the ”wifi roaming fix”. You can choose settings and choose good signal level to set the sensitivity of your phone’s roaming behavior. The bigger number you choose, the more aggressive your phone’s roaming will become (-35dBm is the biggest number). We suggest you should choose -45dBm or -50dBm as good signal. Wi-Fi Roaming Aggressiveness Setting This setting alters the signal strength threshold at which the WiFi adapter starts scanning for another candidate AP. Find this setting under the advanced adapter settings. The default value is Medium.

To understand what roaming is, you first have to know what device makes the software function necessary.

If you are only used to household internet setups, the idea of roaming might be a little strange to think about. In your house you have your router, which you connect to, and that’s all you need to do. You may have the option of choosing between 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels, however that’s as complicated as it can get.

Now imagine that your house is very large, let’s say the size of UMass Amherst. Now, from your router in your living room, the DuBois Library, it might be a little difficult to connect to from all the way up in your bedroom on Orchard Hill. Obviously in this situation, the one router will never suffice, and so a new component is needed.

An Access Point (AP for short) provides essentially the same function as a router, except that multiple APs used in conjunction project a Wi-Fi network further than a single router ever could. All APs are tied back to a central hub, which you can think of as a very large, powerful modem, which provides the internet signal via cable from the Internet Service Provider (ISP) out to the APs, and then in turn to your device.

On to Roaming

So now that you have your network set up with your central hub in DuBois (your living room), and have an AP in your bedroom (Orchard Hill), what happens if you want to go between the two? The network is the same, but how is your computer supposed to know that the AP in Orchard Hill is not the strongest signal when you’re in DuBois. This is where roaming comes in. Based on what ‘aggressiveness’ your WiFi card is set to roam at, your computer will test the connection to determine which AP has the strongest signal based on your location, and then connect to it. The network is set up such that it can tell the computer that all the APs are on the same network, and allow your computer to transfer your connection without making you input your credentials every time you move.

What is Roam Aggressiveness?

The ‘aggressiveness’ with which your computer roams determines how frequently and how likely it is for your computer to switch APs. If you have it set very high, your computer could be jumping between APs frequently. This can be a problem as it can cause your connection to be interrupted frequently as your computer authenticates to another AP. Having the aggressiveness set very low, or disabling it, can cause your computer to ‘stick’ to one AP, making it difficult to move around and maintain a connection. The low roaming aggression is the more frequent problem people run into on large networks like eduroam at UMass. If you are experiencing issues like this, you may want to change the aggressiveness to suit your liking. Here’s how:

How to Change Roam Aggressiveness on Your Device:

First, navigate to the Control Panel which can be found in your Start menu. Then click on Network and Internet.

From there, click on Network and Sharing Center.

Then, you want to select Wi-Fi next to Connections. Note: You may not have eduroam listed next to Wi-Fi if you are not connected or connected to a different network.

Now, select Properties and agree to continue when prompted for Administrator permissions.

After selecting Configure for your wireless card (your card will differ with your device from the one shown in the image above).

Finally, navigate to Advanced, and then under Property select Roaming Sensitivity Level. From there you can change the Value based on what issue you are trying to address.

And that’s all there is to it! Now that you know how to navigate to the Roaming settings, you can experiment a little to find what works best for you. Depending on your model of computer, you may have more than just High, Middle, Low values.

Changing roaming aggressiveness can be helpful for stationary devices, like desktops, too. Perhaps someone near you has violated UMass’ wireless airspace policy and set up and hotspot network or a wireless printer. Their setup may interfere with the AP closest to you, and normally, it could cause packet loss, or latency (ping) spiking. You may not even be able to connect for a brief time. Changing roaming settings can help your computer move to the next best AP while the interference is occurring, resulting in a more continuous experience for you.

Applies To: Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Vista

This topic describes how to use Windows Server to deploy Roaming User Profiles to Windows client computers. Roaming User Profiles redirects user profiles to a file share so that users receive the same operating system and application settings on multiple computers.

For a list of recent changes to this topic, see the Change History section of this topic.

Important

Due to the security changes made in MS16-072, we updated Step 4: Optionally create a GPO for Roaming User Profiles of this topic so that Windows can properly apply the Roaming User Profiles policy (and not revert to local policies on affected PCs).

Prerequisites

Hardware requirements

Roaming User Profiles requires an x64-based or x86-based computer; it isn't supported by Windows RT.

Software requirements

Roaming User Profiles has the following software requirements:

• If you are deploying Roaming User Profiles with Folder Redirection in an environment with existing local user profiles, deploy Folder Redirection before Roaming User Profiles to minimize the size of roaming profiles. After the existing user folders have been successfully redirected, you can deploy Roaming User Profiles.

• To administer Roaming User Profiles, you must be signed in as a member of the Domain Administrators security group, the Enterprise Administrators security group, or the Group Policy Creator Owners security group.

• Client computers must run Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2008.

• Client computers must be joined to the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) that you are managing.

• A computer must be available with Group Policy Management and Active Directory Administration Center installed.

• A file server must be available to host roaming user profiles.

  • If the file share uses DFS Namespaces, the DFS folders (links) must have a single target to prevent users from making conflicting edits on different servers.

  • If the file share uses DFS Replication to replicate the contents with another server, users must be able to access only the source server to prevent users from making conflicting edits on different servers.

  • If the file share is clustered, disable continuous availability on the file share to avoid performance issues.

• To use primary computer support in Roaming User Profiles, there are additional client computer and Active Directory schema requirements. For more information, see Deploy Primary Computers for Folder Redirection and Roaming User Profiles.

• The layout of a user's Start menu won't roam on Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 if they're using more than one PC, Remote Desktop Session Host, or Virtualized Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) server. As a workaround, you can specify a Start layout as described in this topic. Or you can make use of user profile disks, which properly roam Start menu settings when used with Remote Desktop Session Host servers or VDI servers. For more info, see Easier User Data Management with User Profile Disks in Windows Server 2012.

Considerations when using Roaming User Profiles on multiple versions of Windows

If you decide to use Roaming User Profiles across multiple versions of Windows, we recommend taking the following actions:

• Configure Windows to maintain separate profile versions for each operating system version. This helps prevent undesirable and unpredictable issues such as profile corruption.

• Use Folder Redirection to store user files such as documents and pictures outside of user profiles. This enables the same files to be available to users across operating system versions. It also keeps profiles small and sign-ins quick.

• Allocate sufficient storage for Roaming User Profiles. If you support two operating system versions, profiles will double in number (and thus total space consumed) because a separate profile is maintained for each operating system version.

• Don't use Roaming User Profiles across computers running Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2. Roaming between these operating system versions isn't supported due to incompatibilities in their profile versions.

• Inform your users that changes made on one operating system version won’t roam to another operating system version.

• When moving your environment to a version of Windows that uses a different profile version (such as from Windows 10 to Windows 10, version 1607 - see Appendix B: Profile version reference information for a list), users receive a new, empty roaming user profile. You can minimize the impact of getting a new profile by using Folder Redirection to redirect common folders. There isn't a supported method of migrating roaming user profiles from one profile version to another.

Step 1: Enable the use of separate profile versions

If you are deploying Roaming User Profiles on computers running Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 R2, or Windows Server 2012, we recommend making a couple of changes to your Windows environment prior to deploying. These changes help ensure that future operating system upgrades go smoothly, and facilitate the ability to simultaneously run multiple versions of Windows with Roaming User Profiles.

To make these changes, use the following procedure.

Enable the use of separate profiles for each version of Windows

1. Download and install the appropriate software update on all computers on which you’re going to use roaming, mandatory, super-mandatory, or domain default profiles:

   • Windows 8.1, or Windows Server 2012 R2: install the software update described in article 2887595 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (when released).

   • Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012: install the software update described in article 2887239 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

2. On all computers running Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 R2, or Windows Server 2012 on which you will use Roaming User Profiles, use Registry Editor or Group Policy to create the following registry key DWORD Value and set it to 1. For information about creating registry keys by using Group Policy, see Configure a Registry Item.

   Warning

   Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer.

3. Restart the computers.

Step 2: Create a Roaming User Profiles security group

If your environment is not already set up with Roaming User Profiles, the first step is to create a security group that contains all users and/or computers to which you want to apply Roaming User Profiles policy settings.

• Administrators of general-purpose roaming user profiles deployments typically create a security group for users.

• Administrators of Remote Desktop Services or virtualized desktop deployments typically use a security group for users and the shared computers.

To create a security group for Roaming User Profiles

1. Open Server Manager on a computer with Active Directory Administration Center installed.

2. On the Tools menu, click Active Directory Administration Center. Active Directory Administration Center appears.

3. Right-click the appropriate domain or OU, click New, and then click Group.

4. In the Create Group window, in the Group section, specify the following settings:

   • In Group name, type the name of the security group, for example: Roaming User Profiles Users and Computers.

   • In Group scope, click Security, and then click Global.

5. In the Members section, click Add. The Select Users, Contacts, Computers, Service Accounts or Groups dialog box appears.

6. If you want to include computer accounts in the security group, click Object Types, select the Computers check box and then click OK.

7. Type the names of the users, groups, and/or computers to which you want to deploy Roaming User Profiles, click OK, and then click OK again.

Step 3: Create a file share for roaming user profiles

If you do not already have a separate file share for roaming user profiles (independent from any shares for redirected folders to prevent inadvertent caching of the roaming profile folder), use the following procedure to create a file share on a server running Windows Server 2012.

Note

Some functionality might differ or be unavailable if you create the file share on a server running another version of Windows Server.

To create a file share on Windows Server 2012

1. In the Server Manager navigation pane, click File and Storage Services, and then click Shares to display the Shares page.

2. In the Shares tile, click Tasks, and then click New Share. The New Share Wizard appears.

3. On the Select Profile page, click SMB Share – Quick. If you have File Server Resource Manager installed and are using folder management properties, instead click SMB Share - Advanced.

4. On the Share Location page, select the server and volume on which you want to create the share.

5. On the Share Name page, type a name for the share (for example, User Profiles$) in the Share name box.

   Tip

   When creating the share, hide the share by putting a $ after the share name. This hides the share from casual browsers.

6. On the Other Settings page, clear the Enable continuous availability checkbox, if present, and optionally select the Enable access-based enumeration and Encrypt data access checkboxes.

7. On the Permissions page, click Customize permissions…. The Advanced Security Settings dialog box appears.

8. Click Disable inheritance, and then click Convert inherited permissions into explicit permission on this object.

9. Set the permissions as described Table 1 and shown in Figure 1, removing permissions for unlisted groups and accounts, and adding special permissions to the Roaming User Profiles Users and Computers group that you created in Step 1.

   Figure 1 Setting the permissions for the roaming user profiles share

10. If you chose the SMB Share - Advanced profile, on the Management Properties page, select the User Files Folder Usage value.

11. If you chose the SMB Share - Advanced profile, on the Quota page, optionally select a quota to apply to users of the share.

12. On the Confirmation page, click Create.

Table 1 Required permissions for the file share hosting roaming user profiles

1 Advanced permissions

Step 4: Optionally create a GPO for Roaming User Profiles

If you do not already have a GPO created for Roaming User Profiles settings, use the following procedure to create an empty GPO for use with Roaming User Profiles. This GPO allows you to configure Roaming User Profiles settings (such as primary computer support, which is discussed separately), and can also be used to enable Roaming User Profiles on computers, as is typically done when deploying in virtualized desktop environments or with Remote Desktop Services.

To create a GPO for Roaming User Profiles

1. Open Server Manager on a computer with Group Policy Management installed.

2. From the Tools menu click Group Policy Management. Group Policy Management appears.

3. Right-click the domain or OU in which you want to setup Roaming User Profiles and then click Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here.

4. In the New GPO dialog box, type a name for the GPO (for example, Roaming User Profile Settings), and then click OK.

5. Right-click the newly created GPO and then clear the Link Enabled checkbox. This prevents the GPO from being applied until you finish configuring it.

6. Select the GPO. In the Security Filtering section of the Scope tab, select Authenticated Users, and then click Remove to prevent the GPO from being applied to everyone.

7. In the Security Filtering section, click Add.

8. In the Select User, Computer, or Group dialog box, type the name of the security group you created in Step 1 (for example, Roaming User Profiles Users and Computers), and then click OK.

9. Click the Delegation tab, click Add, type Authenticated Users, click OK, and then click OK again to accept the default Read permissions.

   This step is necessary due to security changes made in MS16-072.

Important

Due to the security changes made in MS16-072, you now must give the Authenticated Users group delegated Read permissions to the GPO - otherwise the GPO won't get applied to users, or if it's already applied, the GPO is removed, redirecting user profiles back to the local PC. For more info, see Deploying Group Policy Security Update MS16-072.

Step 5: Optionally set up Roaming User Profiles on user accounts

If you are deploying Roaming User Profiles to user accounts, use the following procedure to specify roaming user profiles for user accounts in Active Directory Domain Services. If you are deploying Roaming User Profiles to computers, as is typically done for Remote Desktop Services or virtualized desktop deployments, instead use the procedure documented in Step 6: Optionally set up Roaming User Profiles on computers.

Note

If you set up Roaming User Profiles on user accounts by using Active Directory and on computers by using Group Policy, the computer-based policy setting takes precedence.

To set up Roaming User Profiles on user accounts

1. In Active Directory Administration Center, navigate to the Users container (or OU) in the appropriate domain.

2. Select all users to which you want to assign a roaming user profile, right-click the users and then click Properties.

3. In the Profile section, select the Profile path: checkbox and then enter the path to the file share where you want to store the user’s roaming user profile, followed by %username% (which is automatically replaced with the user name the first time the user signs in). For example:

   fs1.corp.contoso.comUser Profiles$%username%

   To specify a mandatory roaming user profile, specify the path to the NTuser.man file that you created previously, for example, fs1.corp.contoso.comUser Profiles$default. For more information, see Create mandatory user profiles.

4. Click OK.

Note

By default, deployment of all Windows® Runtime-based (Windows Store) apps is allowed when using Roaming User Profiles. However, when using a special profile, apps are not deployed by default. Special profiles are user profiles where changes are discarded after the user signs out:To remove restrictions on app deployment for special profiles, enable the Allow deployment operations in special profiles policy setting (located in Computer ConfigurationPoliciesAdministrative TemplatesWindows ComponentsApp Package Deployment). However, deployed apps in this scenario will leave some data stored on the computer, which could accumulate, for example, if there are hundreds of users of a single computer. To cleanup apps, locate or develop a tool that uses the CleanupPackageForUserAsync API to cleanup app packages for users who no longer have a profile on the computer.For additional background information about Windows Store apps, see Manage Client Access to the Windows Store.

Step 6: Optionally set up Roaming User Profiles on computers

If you are deploying Roaming User Profiles to computers, as is typically done for Remote Desktop Services or virtualized desktop deployments, use the following procedure. If you are deploying Roaming User Profiles to user accounts, instead use the procedure described in Step 5: Optionally set up Roaming User Profiles on user accounts.

You can use Group Policy to apply Roaming User Profiles to computers running Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2008.

Note

If you set up Roaming User Profiles on computers by using Group Policy and on user accounts by using Active Directory, the computer-based policy setting takes precedence.

To set up Roaming User Profiles on computers

1. Open Server Manager on a computer with Group Policy Management installed.

2. From the Tools menu click Group Policy Management. Group Policy Management appears.

3. In Group Policy Management, right-click the GPO you created in Step 3 (for example, Roaming User Profiles Settings), and then click Edit.

4. In the Group Policy Management Editor window, navigate to Computer Configuration, then Policies, then Administrative Templates, then System, and then User Profiles.

5. Right-click Set roaming profile path for all users logging onto this computer and then click Edit.

   Tip

   A user's home folder, if configured, is the default folder used by some programs such as Windows PowerShell. You can configure an alternative local or network location on a per-user basis by using the Home folder section of the user account properties in AD DS. To configure the home folder location for all users of a computer running Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 R2, or Windows Server 2012 in a virtual desktop environment, enable the Set user home folder policy setting, and then specify the file share and drive letter to map (or specify a local folder). Do not use environment variables or ellipses. The user’s alias is appended to the end of the path specified during user sign on.

6. In the Properties dialog box, click Enabled

7. In the Users logging onto this computer should use this roaming profile path box, enter the path to the file share where you want to store the user’s roaming user profile, followed by %username% (which is automatically replaced with the user name the first time the user signs in). For example:

   fs1.corp.contoso.comUser Profiles$%username%

   To specify a mandatory roaming user profile, which is a preconfigured profile to which users cannot make permanent changes (changes are reset when the user signs out), specify the path to the NTuser.man file that you created previously, for example, fs1.corp.contoso.comUser Profiles$default. For more information, see Creating a Mandatory User Profile.

8. Click OK.

Step 7: Optionally specify a Start layout for Windows 10 PCs

You can use Group Policy to apply a specific Start menu layout so that users see the same Start layout on all PCs. If users sign in to more than one PC and you want them to have a consistent Start layout across PCs, make sure that the GPO applies to all of their PCs.

To specify a Start layout, do the following:

1. Update your Windows 10 PCs to Windows 10 version 1607 (also known as the Anniversary Update) or newer, and install the March 14th, 2017 cumulative update (KB4013429) or newer.

2. Create a full or partial Start menu layout XML file. To do so, see Customize and export Start layout.If you specify a full Start layout, a user can't customize any part of the Start menu. If you specify a partial Start layout, users can customize everything but the locked groups of tiles you specify. However, with a partial Start layout, user customizations to the Start menu won't roam to other PCs.

3. Use Group Policy to apply the customized Start layout to the GPO you created for Roaming User Profiles. To do so, see Use Group Policy to apply a customized Start layout in a domain.

4. Use Group Policy to set the following registry value on your Windows 10 PCs. To do so, see Configure a Registry Item.

   Action	Update
   Hive	HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   Key path	SoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorer
   Value name	SpecialRoamingOverrideAllowed
   Value type	REG_DWORD
   Value data	1 (or 0 to disable)
   Base	Decimal

5. (Optional) Enable first-time logon optimizations to make signing in faster for users. To do so, see Apply policies to improve sign-in time.

6. (Optional) Further decrease sign-in times by removing unneccesary apps from the Windows 10 base image you use to deploy client PCs. Windows Server 2016 doesn't have any pre-provisioned apps, so you can skip this step on server images.To remove apps, use the Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage cmdlet in Windows PowerShell to uninstall the following applications. If your PCs are already deployed you can script the removal of these apps using the Remove-AppxPackage.

   • Microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps_8wekyb3d8bbwe
   • Microsoft.BingWeather_8wekyb3d8bbwe
   • Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller_8wekyb3d8bbwe
   • Microsoft.Getstarted_8wekyb3d8bbwe
   • Microsoft.Windows.Photos_8wekyb3d8bbwe
   • Microsoft.WindowsCamera_8wekyb3d8bbwe
   • Microsoft.WindowsFeedbackHub_8wekyb3d8bbwe
   • Microsoft.WindowsStore_8wekyb3d8bbwe
   • Microsoft.XboxApp_8wekyb3d8bbwe
   • Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_8wekyb3d8bbwe
   • Microsoft.ZuneMusic_8wekyb3d8bbwe

   Note

   Uninstalling these apps decreases sign-in times, but you can leave them installed if your deployment needs any of them.

Step 8: Enable the Roaming User Profiles GPO

If you set up Roaming User Profiles on computers by using Group Policy, or if you customized other Roaming User Profiles settings by using Group Policy, the next step is to enable the GPO, permitting it to be applied to affected users.

Tip

If you plan to implement primary computer support, do so now, before you enable the GPO. This prevents user data from being copied to non-primary computers before primary computer support is enabled. For the specific policy settings, see Deploy Primary Computers for Folder Redirection and Roaming User Profiles.

To enable the Roaming User Profile GPO

Roaming Sensitivity Level Windows 10 Update

1. Open Group Policy Management.

2. Right-click the GPO that you created and then click Link Enabled. A checkbox appears next to the menu item.

Step 9: Test Roaming User Profiles

To test Roaming User Profiles, sign in to a computer with a user account configured for Roaming User Profiles, or sign in to a computer configured for Roaming User Profiles. Then confirm that the profile is redirected.

To test Roaming User Profiles

1. Sign in to a primary computer (if you enabled primary computer support) with a user account for which you have enabled Roaming User Profiles enabled. If you enabled Roaming User Profiles on specific computers, sign in to one of these computers.

2. If the user has previously signed in to the computer, open an elevated command prompt, and then type the following command to ensure that the latest Group Policy settings are applied to the client computer:

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

Appendix A: Checklist for deploying Roaming User Profiles

Appendix B: Profile version reference information

Each profile has a profile version that corresponds roughly to the version of Windows on which the profile is used. For example, Windows 10, version 1703 and version 1607 both use the .V6 profile version. Microsoft creates a new profile version only when necessary to maintain compatibility, which is why not every version of Windows includes a new profile version.

The following table lists the location of Roaming User Profiles on various versions of Windows.

Tx Power Level

Change history

The following table summarizes some of the most important changes to this topic.

See Also