Folder Redirection - point of despair :( :( [PICS]

[Miscbrah]

Thanks Steve, will try this tomorrow.

[Stuart_C]

I'd be inclined to agree with Steve21 that Windows will be trying to redirect the users home folder to \\fs1\homes\Documents
wich will give everyone the same home folder.

Does that folder actually exist and if so what's the premissions on it? I would personally be expecting something like \\fs1\homes\%username%\Documents for that setting. Though I personally have the home area set in the users AD account then use the "redirect to users home area" option.

[psydii]

Patch Patch Patch.

While the chances are that the others in this thread will help you to getting the config right, the whole folder redirection et al. stack in W7 is buggy as hell.

Checking that there aren't later versions of Samba that address issues in use cases that are relevant to you, might be a profitable endeavour.

Also patch Windows 7 with the latest version of: rdbss.sys mrxsmb.sys mrxsmb10.sys mrxsmb20.sys smb.sys smb2.sys csc.sys mup.sys tcpip.sys fwpkclnt.sys ndis.sys, DHCPCORE.dll shell32.dll oh and NTOSKRNL.sys. It then starts to work properly. While you're at it, install latest WMI and User profile components for faster more reliable and consistent logons.

Good places to start for reference are:
How the synchronization in Windows 7 Offline Files works - Romania Networking Team Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
List of currently available hotfixes for the File Services technologies in Windows Server 2008 and in Windows Server 2008 R2
List of Performance hotfixes post SP1 for Windows 7 SP1 - The troubleshooters and problem solvers... - Site Home - TechNet Blogs
Windows 7 file and folder refresh not working correctly. Anyone know a fix? (for links to more recent hotfixes for the above)

@Steve21 while I agree with most of your post, I think the statement

as all the redirecting is done serverside, then just points to a folder.

is wrong. All the redirection logic and most or the work occurs on the client, the server just gets told where to put the files.

Final thought: From what perspective are the user's files wiped? Is it possible that their Username folder has been 'renamed' Documents? Also from client side, during automatic caching a users Documents folder can appear to be empty until the initial sync is complete.

[psydii]

@Stuart_C Just read your sig. Am now craving for a bacon butty.

[Miscbrah]

Thanks for all the help folks. I've finally got some new hope from you posts.

We read the other day that it's better to get a test account with a profile you can nuke server and client side each time, so I'm testing with that for now, if only to get some predictable working/failure events in App log.

Once I've established a baseline of what works DEFINITELY and what doesn't DEFINITELY I'll be in a slightly better place.

[Steve21]

@Steve21 while I agree with most of your post, I think the statement is wrong. All the redirection logic and most or the work occurs on the client, the server just gets told where to put the files.

Guess what I meant was in that setup the linux FS doesn't "touch" anything. It just gets files sent to it, for all purposes Windows is the only thing deciding the redirect (whether server/client)

Steve

[Miscbrah]

SUCCESS! At least, it works consistently and reliably in testing!

Hold on I'll write it up.

Oh wow I love all you guys so much!

[Miscbrah]

Oh wait no it isn't.

[plexer]

Oh dear, perhaps you can post what you thought had solved and what your investigations have revealed?

Can you give a bit more info on how your linux fs is setup as well please?

Ben

[Miscbrah]

I'm still soldiering on with a few bits, but here's what I've got so far:

Linux-side I got no idea. I know that home directories are set in AD accounts as \\fs1\homes and when a user connects, somehow Samba knows who it is and steers that user the right way based on their username. Directory-wise they would look like /home/staff/%username%/home from the point of view of the Samba server.

Windows-side I've a bit more of a clue. Testing as a user with a profile on a different (Windows) server set up JUST to test out this issue, and deleting both the cached local profile AND server profile each time I log out before logging in as this user, I've found the following to be true:

- Documents: (working reliably)
Basic - Redirect everyone's folder to the same location
Redirect to the user's home directory
All 3 settings boxes unticked
Policy removal set to Leave

- Pictures: (working reliably)
Follow the Documents folder

- Music: (working reliably)
Follow the Documents folder

- Videos: (working reliably)
Follow the Documents folder

- Favorites: (working reliably)
Basic - Redirect everyone's folder to the same location
Redirect to the following location: \\fs1\homes\Favorites
Both settings boxes unticked (third greyed out)
Policy removal set to Leave

- Contacts, Downloads, Links, Searches, Saved Games all working and set as per Favorites.

Again, the above only works as a user with a profile that's deleted locally and on the server each time they are logged off before logging on again.

With a user who already has a profile server-side and local profile allowed to cache (as per real-world use) with the settings above, MOST redirected folders will fail as below:


BUT out of the blue one or more of them WILL redirect, so you might get 'Links' and 'Documents' working. This random working of one or more will stay working for this user until the local profile is deleted, then you'll have another one or more random redirections work alright until you delete the cached profile again. But again, that is with a real user with a real profile so I'm loth to chop that server-side to see what happens.

Okay, that's about all I've got after a few days of fumbling. Bless your heart whoever's reading this...

[Boredguy]

What is the value in the Active Directory Home Path field for one of your users, as this is where the GPO will be looking to.

Both sets of error screenshots are not showing a username in the path, so as far as Windows is concerned it could well be the same folder for everyone, which is causing the issue as someone mentioned previously.

Knowing what the AD Home path is will help with possible solution

[Miscbrah]

Home path in AD (set as W: ) is set to "\\fs1\homes" without the "".

Really, honestly, that's what's there 100%. No %username% as you (or anyone sensible) might think. From my limited understanding of Linux, Samba somehow knows what user is accessing that UNC path and can steer them right.

Beats me too tbh :/

[ihaveaproblem]

Home path in AD (set as W: ) is set to "\\fs1\homes" without the "".

Really, honestly, that's what's there 100%. No %username% as you (or anyone sensible) might think. From my limited understanding of Linux, Samba somehow knows what user is accessing that UNC path and can steer them right.

Beats me too tbh :/

Not read all the post yet( And no nothing much about linux as well ) However could you not do the simple, and possibly easiest thing and change the Home Path in AD to \\lfs1\homes\%username% ?

[Steve21]

Home path in AD (set as W: ) is set to "\\fs1\homes" without the "".

Really, honestly, that's what's there 100%. No %username% as you (or anyone sensible) might think. From my limited understanding of Linux, Samba somehow knows what user is accessing that UNC path and can steer them right.

Beats me too tbh :/

Why not set the test user as a standard windows setup aka AD has %username% in. And see what happens.

End of day the only difference to what you're doing, and pretty much every other school I've seen is you're not using the %username% bit. Whether or not Samba "can" do this, it may well be the problem it's not always working. Best to test it and see if it works manually.

Steve

[Miscbrah]

Will try this out, though I think I did before. 6pm is chucking out time though, so I'll report back tomorrow.



Ta guys.