It’s been almost a year since Sidder v1.0 and I got lots of feedback on this little tool; here, the Microsoft Forums, LinkedIn, email… I collected most of the suggestions, evaluated them, did some coding, and v2.0 is born. For the original Sidder v1.0 post, see this post. Basically Sidder is a little tool, just one executable, no installers, no DLLs, just copy it to where you need it, and run it. It will ask for a folder which holds your UVHD files (User Profile Disks), will parse those files, and will translate the SID in the filename to the corresponding NTUsername (Domain\Username). So what’s new in Sidder v2.0?? Let’s start with an overview. 
I slightly changed the layout and added some new controls. There’s the file size column. It shows you all the UVHD file sizes in MB and the column is sortable of course. One of the drive icons is red. This means that my parser detected the file was in use when the folder was processed. So that user probably is still working, or maybe there’s a problem with that file and the user’s profile? There’s also some new buttons, and a status bar. Refresh Button and new Folder Browse Dialog 
The Refresh Button does just that. It refreshes the currently selected folder. Might come in handy when you return after your coffee break to refresh the view. The Folder Browse Button was completely rewritten from scratch. I created a Custom OpenFileDialog control just to be able to browse for folders and being able to input UNC paths as a source as well. 
Being able to use UNC folder paths was one of the most requested features. Status Bar and Delete Button 
When a folder is selected or upon startup the little status bar will give you some information about that folder. Don’t expect super verbose status updates about what’s going on, it’s mainly for looks really. If you’d like to delete one or more UVHD files, just select them and click the Delete Button. It will popup a confirmation dialog showing you which files are about to be deleted. 
This dialog will also show you the locked file status, and clicking Cancel will of course abort the deletions. Sidder v2.0 was contributed to the Microsoft TechNet Gallery. You can download (and rate!) it here. As with v1.0 I’d love to get some feedback on this, and if you have any suggestions, feel free to comment! Update November 26th: Very minor issue fixed: if you do not have enough rights (elevated or not) on the profile disk folder, an error would show upon startup. Not a crash as such, just an error. And since I had the editor open I adjusted the tab-stops a bit. File-version is updated to 2.1 and re-uploaded to the gallery. If the error happened to you, get the fix here. Arjan
30+ years experience in Microsoft powered environments. Enjoy automating stuff using powershell. In my free time (hah! as if there is any) I used to hunt achievements and gamerscore on anything Xbox Live enabled (Windows Mobile, Windows 8, Windows 10, Xbox 360 and Xbox One). Recently I picked up my Lego addiction again.
Arjan Mensch
msfreaks 
Arjan,
What a great improvements! all the missing features are in there :)
Keep up the good work!
Very nice new features, lets use it.
Great tool! A very common “solution” is to simply remove the profile and let the user login again creating a new UPD. But sometimes you don’t want to risk user loosing any data so instead of DELETING it you rename the current VHDX to _backup.vhdx and let the user login to create a new one. So maybe add a feature to not only DELETE the VHDX but also “rename to backup”?
Hi Jones,
Good point. I will put it on the list for the next version update.
Great update! Some additional features I would like to have starting with most wanted:
1. Copy paste the sidder contents for working with it in spreadsheet for auditing purposes etc.
2. More stats like: 500 UVHD files found. 45 Locked from server RDS1. 22 Locked from server RDS2 etc.
3. If number 2 is possible then filtering would be useful (show only locked, show only locked from server x etc.).
Hi Aurimas.
Nice suggestions! I like 2. and 3. especially. I’ll look into those for sure.
About 1. I never meant this tool to be used for other purposes than making admins more lazy (a lazy admin is a good admin!). Especially for quickly managing the profile disks.
Auditing profile disks? For what reasons would you want that in relation to managing the disks?
Hey Arjan,
maybe it’s just me, but when using per device and per user CALs on same RDS servers, I found it easier to calculate the actual number of users by counting the profile disks and listing their owners.
Hi Aurimas,
This will work for users, but how do you use this for devices?
Arjan,
This is a very nice tool to have. One suggestion I have is the ability to expand and resize the windows would be great. Other than that a great tool?
Regards,
Wesley
Hi there,
This was a time saviour for me – just discovered it today (version 2.1).
Only problem : I tried to maximize the screen in order to be able to see both the full VHD names and the usernames they match up to, but the window won’t maximize, so I have to do a lot of horizontal scrolling back and forth to correctly match everything.
Any chance of allowing the windows to be expanded/maximized ?
Michel
Hi Michel,
I’ll put it on my to-do list. I have no experience in creating resizable programs yet, but I will look into it for the next version.
Hello Arjan,
how does the sorting function work, it only sorts the first number with me ( so with the dates it starts with the date of the day starting with a 1 ( so 1 11 12)
Hi Wesley,
If you click on “Last Change” it will sort alphabetically, clicking it again will reverse the sort. This is true for all header fields.
So in short, it’s a simple alphabetical sort, treating all data as text basically.
Great tool! Please, make program window resizable, use proper sort method for ‘Last change’ and ‘Size (MB)’ columns and add option to export list in CSV file. Thx!
I’m getting an error when trying to read the UVHD folder :(
“Error getting UVHD files. Try restarting Sidder with administrative rights.” but I’m already running it as Administrator.
Hi Geert,
Are you able to browse the contents of the UVHD folder from Windows Explorer with the same useraccount? If explorer tells you you need access and presents a popup in which you need to confirm this you might have to add your useraccount explicitly to the NTFS rights in your folder structure.
We are getting the same error, using a Domain Admin account starting via “ran as administrator”. We can browse via Windows Explorer to the UVHD folder and see everything fine. Also, we tried downloading the latest file and it says version 2.0.0.0?
@Eric,
Did you download it here: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Sidder-Quickly-see-which-fa6360b3 ?
If so, then the version is probably a display issue. Does it have the functions mentioned in this post?
Also, the latest update (under that link) should fix the not enough rights issue.. I cannot reproduce it using that version.
We are seeing the same error under the same circumstances in our organization. This is running the latest version posted on TechNet (2.1.0.0).
Hey Arjan,
Just a small bug here.
When I sort on last change in format DD-MM-YYYY it is sorting on the first character instead of date.
Hey dtorro,
Not a bug, I just didn’t think it through. All data is sorted as text.
See my comment to Wesley Niens’ comment on this same page ;)
I’ll have this fixed in the next version. I have a business trip coming up, but will post a revised version (proper sorting, resizable window, backup before delete, data export) sometime when I get back (2nd half of May).
Just a little feature request: Show UPN together in addition to username/samaccountname.
Hi Henning,
Excellent suggestion. I’ll put it on the list.
Update to Sidder coming soon ;)
Hi, great tool.
I have a few suggestion for the next release.
1) Can you add a column showing the actual UVHD total disk size?
2) Can you add a percentage used column for each UVHD?
3) If possible incorporate the Powershell commands to resize VHD’s, obviously the tool would have to be run on a HyperV server.
Thanks
Dan
The ability to export to CSV and/or use a scheduled task would be ideal. Awesome tool though – thanks very much.
1 Do you think its possible to script a function to “close open file” on a given fileshare/path
2 It would also be great if the tool saved it’s settings somewhere
– thanks
Hi dtorro,
1. I’m currently looking into this for v3
2. It already does that (registry)
Hi Arjan,
It would be great if you could extend this tool so that when run on a RDS session host it could identify the details of the disk that each vhdx is mounted as. We have run into several occasions where we had to dismount a particular users profile disk (it was stuck) and identifying the specific disk under disk management was quite painful. We tried a few powershell commands but couldn’t readily connect the dots.
This is Brilliant Thanks
Hope you didn’t forget about this!! Great tool! excited for update!
another idea would be to have a search on the username, eg if i know “myuser26” is having issues search for that UPD
Hi Arjan, great tool you have here. This has made my life a lot easier.
However, I would like to ask you the following:
– I have a system with several thousands of users and would like to interface your tool with a batch file automation tool that I use to manage repetitive settings by groups of users.
for example, what I would like to know if it is possible is to invoke your tool from a batch file just inputting the UVHD file name with the output to be a text file with the username
or even better, to invoke with the DomainUsername and get the UVHD correspondent Filename?
Hi Jose,
Sidder is not a commandline tool (yet).
That having said,
From DomainUsername to UVHD is pretty easy.
The UVHD filename is basically “UVHD-.vhdx
So grab the sid using powershell and construct the filename would be the way to go I think.
Powershell can do that quickly if you have the AD powershell commandlets installed: (get-aduser ).SID.Value
wow this is awesome! thank you so much for creating this nifty tool :)
Hi
What does the size column show?
It doesn’t seem to show me the overall size allocated or actual size for majority of the UPDs.
If I look at the UPD within Server Manager it show corractly the capacity, free space and percent used.
Other than that, great tool which we have found really useful.
Many thanks
Hi Chris,
It shows the size of the .vhdx file itself, it does not show actual size used or occupied space within the .vhdx file.
Ok thanks for getting back to me, appreciated.
Is the app still in development?
Just wondering if the following was still a potential feature of v3 from a previous users comment?
“1 Do you think its possible to script a function to “close open file” on a given fileshare/path”
Hi Chris,
I will probably release another version, but no ETA yet.
I have done some research into the functionality for remotely closing a file, but without success thus far.
Thank you for your interest in Sidder.
Hey Arjan,
Kan je op technet updaten dat het ook op server2012 r2 werkt. Staat namelijk van niet. Het werkt top op server 2012 r2. Werkt het ook op server 2016? Of heb je dat nog niet getest.
De default vhdx dat wordt aangemaakt, staat er sid error erachter in Sidder. Is het niet handiger om de “sid error” tekst te veranderen in “default profile” of iets in die richting?
Bedankt voor deze onwijs fijne tool! Ik hoor graag van je.
Groetjes,
Alex
Hi Alex,
I have adjusted supported OSes in the TechNet gallery. Unfortunately I was unable to select Server 2016 there, but yes, it works on Server 2016 as well.
I’m not really actively developing the tool at the moment, but I will put the following on the to-do list:
– Check if the filename is the default vhdx and change the text to “Default”
As for the SID error, I have to keep that in, Sidder will display this error if it finds a profile disk for which the account was removed for instance.
Thanks for the fast answer. That is great. Looking really for the update. Love your tweak!! Also your website has great tutorials for starters. Keep it up. I’m subscribed!
Why are some of the icons red in the sidder program
The orange icons mean the UPD is in use
I am still unable to run this tool against a UNC path as it tells me I do not have sufficient permissions. Am able to browse the UNC path successfully with two different domain administrator accounts, including the one I am running the tool as.
I saw a couple of other people had the same problem, and wondering if there was a solution?
James
Hi James. Did you start the tool by right-clicking it and then choosing “Run as Administrator”?
Hi Arjan,
Yes tried that and the behaviour was the same.
If I run on the machine hosting the share, it works fine.
Cheers
James
Does this tool just remove the connection from the UPD or Delete the UPD all together?
I see now that it deletes that UPDs. I found this out the hard way. I had to restore a few from backup. I would request that you add the ability to simply “dismount” the UPDs when they are stuck instead of Deleting them altogether. This tool would be much more useful if it had that single ability.
How about accepting command line parameters so that I can publish the app in RDP for my helpdesk to use, and the program accepts the argument as the path it should look it?
Great tool!! Only con is that the window cant be resized. Can you possible incorporate that into the next version? I see that it was originally request by Wesley on December 11, 2014 at 18:17
Great tool! There are a couple of annoyances relating to sorting, the columns based on numbers (Size and Last Changed) appear to be sorted based on their ASCII sequence rather than numerical. Can this be fixed? I would be willing to fix the source code for you and send it back if you wanted to collaborate on it?
Fantastic tool. Would be lost without it now on our RDS environment.
Don’t know if updates are still being considered but would echo both Grant and DJ’s comments above.
The sorting of the sizes by Ascii rather than numeric is an annoyance, and it would be great to be able to resize the window. Can just move thing around so its not that bad, but would just make things easier.
One feature that would save huge amounts of time is the ability to mount a disk that isn’t in use to access the files.
Great being able to delete the VHD from the app but the ability to mount it as well would just make this perfect.
Well done on a great tool though!
Hello Arjan,
Just wanted to say: Thank you for the great tool !!!
I used version 2.0 and it doesn’t delete the locked user profile disk…
Hi Kevin, that’s hoe it’s supposed to work. If a profile disk is locked you cannot delete it.
Hey Arjan….It is now August 2019. Could you let us know if this is still a ‘live’ project? If so, do you have an idea of what ideas you are considering for the next update? Great tool!!!! Thanks.
Hey Chuck,
Sorry to inform you, it is not. Since FSLogix entered the profiledisk space, it really isn’t needed anymore. Thanks for your interest in the tool though!
Really good and usefull tool, thx! 2 possible improvements: 1- Search for username and 2- extend a vhdx
Hello,
if you dont update/develope Sidder anymore, is it possible to get the source code for Sidder, so we can do changes which we need ourself?
I will think about releasing te code publicly. In the meantime, check the Q&A on the TechNet downloadpage for Sidder. A slightly modified version is available there
when we are try to run as administrator in sidder tools we are receiving the error getting uvhd files.try restarting the sidder with administrative rights.
Hi Arjan, I am unable to find the file on the link. Can you please share the link of the sidder tool so I can use. I will really appreciate your time and cooperation in this regard. Thanks
Hi Muhammed,
Please check the follow-up article: https://msfreaks.wordpress.com/2020/02/17/sidder-v2-6-open-sourced-and-more/
Hi Arjan,
I have tried to download the sidder file from the onedrive location but the file no longer exists, can you check?
I’ve used Sidder for years while managing RDS environments.. I have a new use case for you to consider: I manage an RDS deployment that has user logins from a trusted domain.
Sidder doesn’t resolve these. Is there a way to do that or is this a feature that can be added?
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