Profile Manager does not delete the local profile when using VMWare hosts.

Background

When the user log on to a machine, a local profile is created with numbers appended at the end of the name of the user, as displayed in the following screen shot:

When you open the profile folder, you notice that the folder is empty:

You cannot delete the profile folder because it seems as though the process is still using it even though the folder is empty.

Caution! Refer to the Disclaimer at the end of this article before using Registry Editor.

1. Access Windows Registry, and select Start > Run.

2. Type regedit, as displayed in the following screen shot:

   

3. Once the registry window opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order\., as displayed in the following screen shot:

   

4. Right-click ProviderOrder and select Modify.

5. Edit the value data string and remove the word hgfs or vmhgfs.

   

   For example, If the key contains values such as LanmanWorkstation,hgfs, change the value to LanmanWorkstation.

   Note: If the value data string contains only hgfs, erase it and leave the value data string empty.

6. Click OK.

7. Close registry editor.

8. Restart the virtual machine.

Problem Cause

This issue occurs because of the hfgs.dat file that is created due to VMware tools.

Note: The hfgs.dat file is added to the AppData folder in every profile.

When you access the empty profile and select Show hidden files, folders, and drives for that folder, you notice the AppData folder and within this folder, the hgfs.dat file is available. This file is responsible for causing the profile to stay on the server, as displayed in the following screen shots: