Last updated: 29 Sep 2007

On Windows workstations, when you attempt to logoff, you may see a message that says:

You have exceeded your profile storage space

What is going on? How can you get rid of this error?

Background

Your profile is basically a set of customizations stored in files and a chunk of the registry. It gets copied from your home directory (in the .win_profile folder) to the C: drive of the machine you are logging into. The location is:

"C:\documents and settings\uwnetid"

where uwnetid is your actual UW Net Id. For example, my UW Net Id is srondeau, so the actual location of my profile on the workstation I logged into is:

"C:\documents and settings\srondeau"

During the time you are logged on, you may make changes to default printers and the like, configure preferences and options in applications, create temporary files while you browse the web, put files in My Documents, put files in My Pictures, etc. This information is stored in that "profile" space on the C: drive, sometimes in these hidden subfolders of the profile path mentioned above:

"Application Data"
"Local Settings\Temp"

The contents of the profile are automatically copied back to your home directory's .win_profile folder when you log off.

At least, that the way it is supposed to work. When people store over 30 MB of data in their profile, it takes a long time to logon and a long time to logoff. So, we limit the profile space to 30MB, and that is why you see a warning when you try to log off -- it's telling you you wont be able to log off and save your profile.

Profiles are important because they "follow you" or "roam" as you move from computer to computer, allowing you to keep the same application environment. But a lot of junk builds up in these "roaming profiles" rather quickly.

The Solution

To solve this problem:

1. Look at the information that the "profile space exceeded" window is telling you

   All paths are relative to C:\documents and settings\uwnetid. The usual culprits are (using my UW Net Id as an example):

     "C:\documents and settings\srondeau\application data"
     "C:\documents and settings\srondeau\Local Settings\Temp"
     

   Remember that these folders are normally hidden, so you'll have to change your folder options or use this command from the CMD shell to see them:

     dir /a "C:\documents and settings\srondeau"
     

2. Delete anything in those folders that you don't need, or move files from your profile to your home directory.

   Examples of files and folders to delete are settings for Photoshop, Firefox's cache, temporary internet files, etc. Often, you will want to move rather than delete files from My Documents to a subfolder in your home directory.

3. Log off.

   Logging off should save your now-smaller profile to your H:\.win_profile folder, so when you login again, the smaller profile will be saved on the C: drive. You won't have the problem again until some application saves too much data to your profile space, or you put files in My Documents, etc.

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