Appdata Redirection Blacklist

[JHLEHS]

We are an RM CC4.3 School and I was wondering if the following would be possible:

 

We have a software application which does not work with redirected appdata. The program only works if the appdata resides on the local machine. At present we have all %appdata% set to N:\My Settings\Application Data which is the default is there a way to set it up so a certain folder is not redirected ie just the folder %appdata%\application_name? I have spoken to RM and with there registry policies they inform me that you can only turn redirection on or off. Does anyone if this is possible at all?

 

Any help much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

[greyskull]

Not an RM school, but either way we have been having more and more problems with roaming appdata leading to profile corruption, as staff never log out of their base/office machines, then go and log-in in a class room. One or other of these machines may have a random user/department specific application which is not rolled out as part of our normal build, and so all sorts of weird and wonderful things happen, all leading to profile corruption.

 

We have had far fewer problems and are beginning to move towards roaming user profiles and folder re-direction (as we had before) but NO roaming appdata.

Okay, this means that if it's the first time they've used that machine and they open outlook, they will have to go through the set-up process, which only takes 5 seconds as it's automated.

 

The only alternative is that teachers are never logged in to two computers at once, which much as it pains me just seems like it won't happen

 

Turn it off=fewer headaches for you.

[JHLEHS]

Thanks Greyskull, I believe we need to redirect appdata for email settings and settings within microsoft word and excel etc. Without it redirected I believe that logon times will increase as we will see applying application settings a lot more. Is there not a way of setting up a network so it does not redirect certain paths of appdata? Would be really handy?

 

Hmmm a tricky one, and Yes teachers will not be restricted to one machine do'h!

[greyskull]

What version of office are you using?

 

We've found log on times to be far FAR quicker (after first initial log on) as machines aren't pulling god knows what from weird softwares appdata down from the server

[JHLEHS]

We user MS Office 2010 but will probably upgrade to 2013 soon enough, I will see if I can speak to the software vendor about to see if there are additional work around.

[greyskull]

Hmmm, as I say other than having to go trough the automated set-up once from exchange auto discovery , which consists of clicking next, next , next. we have had no issues with any of the office suite from 2007-2013.

 

If you can turn it off, Do it!

[JHLEHS]

OK, I have managed to stumble upon this GPO for other which may want to Exclude Roaming Profile Directories:

 

https://www.conetrix.com/Blog/post/Exclude-Roaming-Profile-Directories-Using-Group-Policy.aspx

 

I am trying to exclude a folder which resides in: %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\SGCore, I have tried applying the settings with no joy. Currently investigating

[ajs]

Trying to exclude that folder won't have any effect as the AppData\Roaming folder isn't part of the roaming profile on CC4.

 

Does the company who make the software have any ideas as to why it doesn't work when the folder is redirected to a network share?

 

One option, depending upon how many machines/users you want the software on, would be to create a new user registry policy purely for the use of the software and change the relevant settings in there so that all users assigned to the policy have their AppData stuff put back onto the local machine. Not an ideal situation and it could lead to other issues but it may at least provide a way of getting the software to run.

 

What security are you running on the stations? Standard or None?

[JHLEHS]

AJS,

 

Thanks for this information, I will speak to the Software Company. That's a good idea I will see if I can do that with a few test users I am setting Standard security on the workstations?

 

Cheers

[ajs]

Might be worth setting a station to None and giving it a few reboots and see if it makes any difference. It could be one of the Software Restriction rules getting in the way (although a quicker way to test would be to see if it runs under Systemadmin)

[JHLEHS]

OK, will give it a go cheers for that