Disconnecting from external display changes background, disconnect server shares, inactivates desktop icons.

I have a user working on a MacBook Pro, Lion OS X 10.8.2, connected to an external display. When disconnecting from the external display the background picture changes, he can’t open documents saved to desktop, and the connection to the server shares is lost.  Rebooting does not resolve the issue while it is disconnected from the external display.  If he reconnects the MacBook back to the external monitor sometimes he has to reboot to get everything back to normal.  It almost seems like it is logging him into a different account or profile or something like that (please excuse my messy terminology as most of our users are still using PCs).  However if you look at what account is logged in, it is still the same account that he logged in with that morning.  The Mac is not authenticating to the network, just connecting to server shares.  Has anyone experienced this issue before and if so is there a fix for it?

The Mac has a long history of assuming that ANY adapter still present means the display is still present -- you need to remove the adapter as well as the cable, if present.
So my theory articulated above is that the disconnect is not registered correctly. This would mean that the second display is still seen as present. You could check this by invoking:
System Preferences > Displays ...
and looking for the Arrange pane (shown above) which is ONLY present when multiple displays are attached. More detailed information can be found in About this Mac  > ( More info ) Graphics & Displays ...
... specifically the NAME of each attached display is shown or an indication (no display connected):
ATI Radeon HD 4870:
  Chipset Model:          ATI Radeon HD 4870
  Type:          GPU
  Bus:          PCIe
  Slot:          Slot-1
  PCIe Lane Width:          x16
  VRAM (Total):          512 MB
  Vendor:          ATI (0x1002)
  Device ID:          0x9440
  Revision ID:          0x0000
  ROM Revision:          113-B7710C-176
  EFI Driver Version:          01.00.318
  Displays:
Cinema HD:
  Resolution:          2560 x 1600
  Pixel Depth:          32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
  Display Serial Number:          CY8360UFXMP
  Main Display:          Yes
  Mirror:          Off
  Online:          Yes
  Rotation:          Supported
Display Connector:
  Status:          No Display Connected

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