Redirected AppData

[ht6]

I redirected our AppData out yesterday, so appdata goes to Drive\username\AppData while the profile goes to Drive\username\profile.v2

 

The new folder is created (no errors in event viewer on logon either) and slightly populated, but we also still get an AppData folder in the profile which also has some data in it (more data than the new folder - AppData in profile is about 1 meg, AppData in new location is a couple hundred KB).

 

Anyone know what could be going on here? Doubt it is permissions as folder is created and populated a little bit - just not sure why we have another folder in the profile still (which gets recreated if deleted)

[ht6]

Should I be adding "AppData" to folders not to copy at logoff to profile? I thought redirecting would have overrode this anyway

[chazzy2501]

Moving appdata can cause lots of issues with programs. Are you sure you need to move it? Eliminate roaming profiles and let Windows store it on the local drive.

[3s-gtech]

It may be the way programs reference Appdata - some may call &USERPROFILE%\Appdata while some may call %APPDATA% for instance (Windows Environment Variables | SS64.com). Is there a pattern of which programs create Appdata in which location?

[ht6]

Moving appdata can cause lots of issues with programs. Are you sure you need to move it? Eliminate roaming profiles and let Windows store it on the local drive.

 

I've done my research on doing it/not doing it and reasons behind it. When Adobe CS creates caches of 600mb+, I'm moving it

 

It may be the way programs reference Appdata - some may call &USERPROFILE%\Appdata while some may call %APPDATA% for instance (Windows Environment Variables | SS64.com). Is there a pattern of which programs create Appdata in which location?

 

New location has various - MS, Adobe etc

 

Old location has pretty much the same names

[Chuckster]

You should be redirecting your appdata like this... \\servername\sharename$\%username%\application data\roaming

 

Untick the the boxes "grant users exclusive.." and "move contents.."

 

Your appdata will work properly.

[ht6]

Please see image. This shots were taken with a whole fresh profile.

 

1st Image: Shows the user profile area for this particular user. As you can see, we have an AppData folder (a few other folders redirected here too, which seem to work ok), and a profile folder.

 

2nd Image: If we go in to the 'redirected' AppData folder we can see it is populated with a little data - this data is just from logging on once and straight back off on a clean profile

 

3rd Image: If we go in to the profile folder you can see all the standard stuff that I didn't bother redirecting, as well as the mysterious 2nd AppData folder (which also is hidden as you can see by the shaded icon)

 

4th Image: This is the AppData folder that resides in the profile, not the redirected - as you can see, some data here, but different data to the redirected AppData folder

 

5th & 6th Image: My GPO settings (which when I've run a RSOP applies as expected) - So each AppData goes to \\server\Intake\Profiles\%username%\AppData\Roaming

[ht6]

Also, just tried changing "Createa folder for each user" to "Redirect to" and it made no difference - clean profile again, still 2 AppData folders made.

[Chuckster]

You're doing it wrong. Your profiles and appdata are two separate entities.

 

When redirecting your AppData make sure to select in the dropdown list "redirect to the following location"

 

Then insert \\\\servername\userareas$\%username%\application data\roaming

 

 

In AD, in the properties of your user, ensure the profile is set to a different location, e.g. \\servername\profiles$\%username%

 

And the home folder to Connect: H: \\servername\userareas$\%username%

[ht6]

That's pretty much what I am doing, except I don't want the AppData to go in their work area as that will eat in to quotas.

 

The profile goes to: \\server\profiles$\%username%\profile.v2

The AppData goes to: \\server\profiles$\%username%\AppData (so these are in the share I've named 'profiles', but the profile then goes to profile.v2 and the appdata to appdata, so 2 separate folders)

The work goes to: \\server\work\%username%

 

(All this is shown in the screenshots on my previous post)

[Chuckster]

That's pretty much what I am doing, except I don't want the AppData to go in their work area as that will eat in to quotas.

 

The profile goes to: \\server\profiles$\%username%\profile.v2

 

You don't need to add the bit with 'profile.v2' as Windows will create that automatically. It knows to create .v2 profile in order to keep it separate from the XP profile.

 

 

The AppData goes to: \\server\profiles$\%username%\AppData (so these are in the share I've named 'profiles', but the profile then goes to profile.v2 and the appdata to appdata, so 2 separate folders)

The work goes to: \\server\work\%username%

 

(All this is shown in the screenshots on my previous post)

 

Create another share for the appdate to go into. This'll help with your quotas.

However, if you want to keep with the \\server\profiles$\%username%\AppData then add to the end of your AppData this: \\server\profiles$\%username%\AppData\Roaming

 

Windows 7 handles AppData differently to how XP did it.

 

XP was like this: \\server\profiles$\%username%\AppData

7 insists it to be like this: \\server\profiles$\%username%\AppData\Roaming

[ht6]

Even though when Windows create the redirected AppData folder it creates it as \\server\profiles$\%username%\AppData\Roaming\?

[Chuckster]

Even though when Windows create the redirected AppData folder it creates it as \\server\profiles$\%username%\AppData\Roaming\?

 

Yes, even when it does because Windows doesn't do it properly so you have to explicitly add the 'roaming' bit yourself. Trust me, it'll work.

 

For example, let's say you that you don't add roaming to the end of it. Things like pinning icons to the start menu/taskbar will not work because after logging off and on again, the icons turn white.

[ht6]

So to verify, in the dropdown box do I need to choose "Create a folder..." or "Redirect..."?

[Chuckster]

Choose 'Redirect to the following location"

 

Then enter the location you want your Appdata to be redirected to with the ..\roaming added to the end of it.

 

From experience, I would advise you to redirect the AppData to the user's own area and the profiles elsewhere on a separate share. Despite the issues of quotas.

[ht6]

Whenever I try to enter "Redirect..." with the value "\\server\share\%username%\AppData\Roaming", click apply, open it back up and it changes it to "Create a folder.." with the value \\server\share\%username%\

[Chuckster]

This is normal. It happens to me, too, and what you've entered will have passed through successfully.

[ht6]

but the value it changes them to is how I had it set up originally, and after testing it still makes a hash of things.

 

Trying again with moving the AppData to its own share

[ht6]

own share, still doing it!

[Chuckster]

Are you make sure the following are disabled...

 

 

Grant user exclusive rights to AppData(Roaming) Disabled

Move the contents of AppData(Roaming) to the new location Disabled

Also apply redirection policy to Windows 2000, Windows 2000 server, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems Disabled

 

Policy Removal Behavior Leave contents

[ht6]

yep, I notice you have "Application Data" instead of "AppData" that I have - will that matter?

[Chuckster]

Shouldn't do, but you could try it my way to see if it makes a difference.

[ht6]

Did the same. Attached image - left is what I enter, and then when I go straight back in to setting it changes to the image to the right

[Chuckster]

What you do on the left and what happens on the right is exactly the same with mine.

 

Are your NTFS permissions correct? For the time being give Authenticated Users full control.

[ht6]

I totally opened it up while testing, so 'everyone' has full control.