IE10 spellcheck breaks if AppData is redirected to a UNC path?

[AngryTechnician]

After installing IE10 on a couple of workstations here, I quickly noticed that the new spellcheck doesn't work for any domain user. It works fine for local users. (Edit: here's a site to test it with).

 

When I go to Manage Add-Ons > Spelling Correction, and click on any language, this is what greets me:

 

 

If I tick the box and click Close, then go back in, it's unticked again. That blank box on the left is supposed to read 'Set as default', but is inexplicably borked.

 

Yesterday I narrowed the problem down to a single GPO, and this morning I've identified the exact setting: if I redirect the users' AppData to a UNC path, the spellcheck will break.

 

Have tried giving the user Full Control (and even exclusive permissions) to the folder with no effect, and it doesn't matter if the path is a DFS path or not. Interestingly, it does work if you redirect it a local path on the workstation (i.e. C:\TestAppData), so it's not the act of redirecting the folder that is the problem, but the location.

 

Can anyone else check and see if this happens for them?

Edited March 1, 2013 by AngryTechnician

[helpdesk]

When I go to that section as a Domain User the 'Enable spelling correction' is already ticked and 'English (United Kingdom)' is selected as default. If I click any other language then the button above 'Close' does appear but it is also blank and the 'Enable spelling correction' is unticked.

 

Logging in as Domain Admin account turns the blank button to 'Set As Default'

 

Nice job Microsoft

 

Regards,

ICT Tech (@manwithnoname)

[AngryTechnician]

Does your spell checking for UK actually function?

Also, does your Domain Admin function have AppData redirection or not?

[helpdesk]

Where exactly are you testing the spell checking?

No the Domain Admin account doesn't have redirected AppData

Edited March 1, 2013 by helpdesk

[AngryTechnician]

This is a useful site for checking whether the spellcheck is working: Spellchecking in IE10

[helpdesk]

Looks like same here. Domain User (redirected AppData) spell checking not working. Domain Admin (no redirected AppData) spell checking working!

 

Glad we are not even thinking about upgrading, I just installed it on my VPC to see what it looks like but it looks exactly the same as IE9 :-s

[AngryTechnician]

The lack of spellcheck isn't a dealbreaker for us, but it would have been nice to have. I can't see how Microsoft can ignore it if it turns out to be widespread, so it would be good to hear wether it works or not for anyone else using IE10 and redirected AppData.

[helpdesk]

I'm sure one of the many updates that will come out for it will eventually fix it :-)

[AngryTechnician]

For anyone interested in this or having the same problem, I've made some progress via the Microsoft Connect site in identifying the cause and have even found a workaround: if I manually create the %AppData%\Microsoft\Spelling\en-GB folder, IE10 then creates the dictionary files it was missing and spellcheck works normally. You can of course substitute en-GB for en-US or whatever language code you need. Edited March 7, 2013 by AngryTechnician

[loosebolts]

For anyone interested in this or having the same problem, I've made some progress via the Microsoft Connect site in identifying the cause and have even found a workaround: if I manually create the %AppData%\Microsoft\Spelling\en-GB folder, IE10 then creates the dictionary files it was missing and spellcheck works normally. You can of course substitute en-GB for en-US or whatever language code you need.

 

Spot on, that worked a treat!

[win]

For anyone interested in this or having the same problem, I've made some progress via the Microsoft Connect site in identifying the cause and have even found a workaround: if I manually create the %AppData%\Microsoft\Spelling\en-GB folder, IE10 then creates the dictionary files it was missing and spellcheck works normally. You can of course substitute en-GB for en-US or whatever language code you need.

 

This also worked for me!