NTUSER.DAT in every TS profile locked by system process

Question

I have a 32 bit 2008 Enterprise server (not R2) running terminal services that is continually generating profile errors.  Users are receiving "Your user profile was not loaded correctly! You have been logged on with a temporary profile...". 
This is accompanied by the following errors in System log:
1502, User Profile Service - The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
1515, User Profile Service - Windows has backed up this user profile. Windows will automatically try to use the backup profile the next time this user logs on.
1511, User Profile Service - Windows cannot find the local profile and is logging you on with a temporary profile. Changes you make to this profile will be lost when you log off.
This is followed by several successful 501, Folder Redirection events to various folders in the roaming profile location and successful 4101, WinLogon - Windows License Validated
On logoff, there is a 1530, User Profile Service - Windows detected your registry file is still in use by other applications or services. The file will be unloaded now. The applications or services that hold your registry file may not function properly afterwards. 
 DETAIL -  2 user registry handles leaked from \Registry\User\S-1-5-21-945263920-3218329962-3619911775-1162:
Process 9304 (\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Windows\System32\winlogon.exe) has opened key \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-945263920-3218329962-3619911775-1162
Process 1316 (\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Windows\System32\svchost.exe) has opened key \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-945263920-3218329962-3619911775-1162\Printers\DevModePerUser
Of course, the user GUID varies depending on who is doing the logging off, but the behavior is consistent.
I initially suspected corrupt profile, but recreating from scratch does not resolve the problem.  
I have seen and tried numerous potential solutions, for example:
http://cherrybyte.blogspot.com/2007/07/fixing-user-profiles-in-vista.html
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947215/en-us
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistasecurity/thread/1aaa1799-f29e-4d13-905e-6fee09b3a658
I have determined that the SYSTEM process is keeping 6 files open after logoff and never relinquishing the handle until reboot: NTUSER.DAT, NTUSER.DAT.LOG1, NTUSER.DAT.LOG2, NTUSER.DAT.{GUID}.TM.blf, NTUSER.DAT{GUID}TMContainer000...001.regtrans-ms and NTUSER.DAT{GUID}TMContainer000...002.regtrans-ms. 
The handles cannot be closed even with HANDLE or Process Explorer.  I have tried setting HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\ProfileList\(UserGUID)\RefCount to 0 and State to 0, but this has not helped.  UPHClean is NOT an option since this is a 2008
server.  Disabling Symantec Endpoint on the server does not resolve the problem, disabling BackupExec does not resolve the problem.  At present the only things that work are bouncing the server or manually unloading user hives on a daily basis, which
is simply not acceptable.
I've scoured forums looking for the answer and found lots of interesting possibilities but nothing that works; does anyone here have the answer?

Answer 1

Hi,
Steps for Windows Server 2003:
1.   
Click
Start, click Run, type msconfig in the
Open box, and then click OK.
2.   
Click the
General tab, click Selective Startup.
3.   
Under
Selective Startup, click to clear the following check boxes:
Process SYSTEM.INI File
Process WIN.INI File
Load Startup Items
4.   
Click the
Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click
Disable All.
5.   
Click
OK, and then click Restart.
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