Logoff script is not completing on computers in remote locations

Question

Hi folks,
We're running a logoff script on our Win7 Enterprise SP1 machines that invokes three robocopy statements which copy various local directories to our Netapp as a backup. The logoff script is called through GP at 'User Configuration|Policies|Windows Settings|Scripts
(Logon/Logoff)'.
If the machine is in the corporate office, there is no trouble, the script completes, and all files are copied. If the machine is located at our branch office (connected across the WAN via an IPSEC tunnel), or by Directaccess, the third robocopy statement
will not complete, and the logoff script just exits as the user is logged off. The robocopy log is truncated in the middle of the copy. This script can be run interactively and it will complete without difficulty. It would seem that the copy is taking
too long to complete?
In researching this, I found that the default time allowed  for a logon/logoff/startup/shutdown script to complete is 10 minutes, and that this can be changed through GP at 'Computer Configuration|Policies|Administrative Templates|System|Scripts|Maximum
wait time for group policy scripts'. The trouble is that even in remote locations, the script fails way before that default 10 minute timeout. In fact, the script runs slightly less than a minute before the logoff occurs. I tried setting the max wait time
to 0 (infinite time), but that did not help.
I've also tried breaking the three robocopy commands out into separate batch files and invoking each with a 'call' statement, and adding 'start /wait' in front of each command, but neither of those worked either.
Does anyone have a clue why the logoff script is exiting so quickly? Thanks for any help,
ianc

Answer 1

Do your robocopy statements log to a file?  It may be worth while to tweak your batch scripts a bit to generate a log.
@echo off
echo. & echo Backing up Data Set 1 - Please Wait ...
@echo %date% %time% - Starting Robocopy 1 of 3 >> C:\Logoff.log
robocopy /s /w /i /t /c /h /e /s source1 destination1 /log+:C:\Logoff.log
@echo %date% %time% - Finished Robocopy 1 of 3 >> C:\Logoff.log
echo. & echo Backing up Data Set 2 - Please Wait ...
@echo %date% %time% - Starting Robocopy 2 of 3 >> C:\Logoff.log
robocopy /s /w /i /t /c /h /e /s source2 destination2 /log+:C:\Logoff.log
@echo %date% %time% - Finished Robocopy 2 of 3 >> C:\Logoff.log
echo. & echo Backing up Data Set 3- Please Wait ...
@echo %date% %time% - Starting Robocopy 3 of 3 >> C:\Logoff.log
robocopy /s /w /i /t /c /h /e /s source3 destination3 /log+:C:\Logoff.log
@echo %date% %time% - Finished Robocopy 3 of 3 >> C:\Logoff.log
echo. & echo Finished Backing Up Data!
@echo %date% %time% - Exiting Script >> C:\Logoff.log
exit /b
Depending on the results of that, you may want to consider maybe creating a different script to perform some tests to validate network connectivity.  The example below is a bit over the top but we ended updoing something similar to what's below for
testing remote connections, especially when users had intermittent connectivity problems.  (Hence the goto top)
@echo off
set ExternalHosts=www.yahoo.com www.google.com www.msn.com www.aporter.com %gateway%
set InternalHosts=someserverhostname1 some.server.IP.Address1 someserverhostname2 some.server.IP.Address2
set logfile=C:\ExternalNetworkTest-PathPing.txt
if exist "C:\windows\system32\pathping.exe" (
set ptcmd=pathping -n %%i
set trace=0
) else (
echo %date% %time% Pathping does not exist on this machine - relying on ping and trace >> %logfile%
set ptcmd=ping -n 10 %%i
set trace=1
echo ********************************************* >> %logfile%
date /t >> %logfile%
echo ********************************************* >> %logfile%
echo. >> %logfile%
:TOP
for %%i in (%ExternalHosts%) do (
CALL :CURDT %logfile%
echo ********************************************* >> %logfile%
%ptcmd% >> %logfile%
if /i %trace%==1 CALL: TRACE %%i
CALL :GETIPINFO %logfile%
for %%i in (%InternalHosts%) do (
CALL :CURDT %logfile%
echo ********************************************* >> %logfile%
%ptcmd% >> %logfile%
if /i %trace%==1 CALL: TRACE %%i
CALL :GETIPINFO %logfile%
rem CALL :GETIPINFO %logfile%
echo. >> %logfile%
rem you could have it loop but for this test
rem that is not necessary for you
rem GOTO TOP
rem goto end
:CURDT
set hh=
set hhmmss=
set hh=%time:~0,2%
if "%time:~0,1%"==" " set hh=0%hh:~1,1%
set hhmmss=%hh%:%time:~3,2%:%time:~6,2%
echo %hhmmss% >> %1
GOTO :EOF
:TRACE
set tracecmd=tracert -d %1
CALL :CURDT %logfile%
echo ********************************************* >> %logfile%
%tracecmd% >> %logfile%
GOTO :EOF
:GETIPINFO
ipconfig /allcompartments /all >> %1
rem Get IP Adddress
for /f "usebackq tokens=15" %%a in (`ipconfig ^| find /i "IP Address"`) do set ip=%%a
rem echo %date% %time% IP Address is %ip% >> %logfile%
rem echo %date% %time% IP Address is %ip% >> %1
rem Get Gateway
for /F "usebackq tokens=13" %%i in (`ipconfig ^| find /i "gateway"`) do set gateway=%%i
rem echo %date% %time% Gateway is %gateway% >> %logfile%
rem echo %date% %time% Gateway is %gateway% >> %1
GOTO :EOF
:END
echo %date% %time% exiting script >> %logfile%
exit /b