My documents folder redirection

[lholland421]

Hi guys, Just been cleaning up our GPO's lately and now our folder redirection has stopped working. I had the redirection set as %HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH% \My Documents . This doesn't seem to be working now. If i redirect it to any other folder it works.

 

Any ideas?

[cheredenine]

Just a quick answer, but just use %HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH% and dispense with the \My Documents as this is redundant I believe.

[lholland421]

Okay I did this and the user folders started to rename to my documents on the server . I believe this is to do with desktop.ini . Can't find a solution that won't effect logon Times

[DMcCoy]

%homeshare% is usually \\server\share\folder and %homepath% is usually \

 

so %homeshare%%homepath%Documents would be the My Documents path on Vista upwards.

[lholland421]

%homeshare%%homepath%Documents Doesnt seem to work. I am now using just %homeshare%%homepath% but i cannot get desktop.ini from renaming userareas to 'My Documents'

 

Any Ideas?

[3s-gtech]

Personally, I just ignore it. The desktop.ini files don't actually rename the folders as such, they just apply the LocalizedResourceName property. You can still see the folder names if they are named the same as your users - just select and show the Owner column (if the attribute is set correctly).

 

There are other solutions, such as using FSRM to stop the desktop.ini from being created, but this can cause issues with logon times etc.

[DMcCoy]

%homeshare%%homepath%Documents Doesnt seem to work. I am now using just %homeshare%%homepath% but i cannot get desktop.ini from renaming userareas to 'My Documents'

 

Any Ideas?

 

If you type "set" from the command line, what does it show for the homeshare and homepath variables? Is the home folder set to a subfolder of a share, on the user in AD?

[lholland421]

From a client machine homepath it set to \ and homedrive is set to z: and Homeshare is set to the root of the users user area in the share

 

Our home areas are in a structure like this Users\Yearleaving\Username\

Edited February 6, 2015 by lholland421

[lholland421]

I have just tried %HOMESHARE%\My Documents and it seems to be working. i am going to keep an eye on it today and let you guys know. Thanks for your help and that SET command is useful !

 

Cheers

[lholland421]

So the folder redirection worked for a whole day. And now I get into work today and it's stopped again ! I have not changed a thing.

 

Any ideas .

[lholland421]

Anyone have any tips about troubleshoot it ?

[Jamo]

Anyone have any tips about troubleshoot it ?

 

Anything in the event logs at all?

 

There should be a GPO/folder redirection related event category in the more verbose event logs in >2008

[lholland421]

Thanks for the reply. I ma getting no errors about folder redirection on the client at all.

 

Thanks

[3s-gtech]

Are you getting general folder redirection issues? These are common on Windows 7 and 8/8.1, and can be fixed with a reg key import (via GPP or a batch file on startup). Save this as a .reg and place centrally on the network.

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{2112AB0A-C86A-4ffe-A368-0DE96E47012E}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{2112AB0A-C86A-4ffe-A368-0DE96E47012E}\PropertyBag]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{491E922F-5643-4af4-A7EB-4E7A138D8174}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{491E922F-5643-4af4-A7EB-4E7A138D8174}\PropertyBag]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{7b0db17d-9cd2-4a93-9733-46cc89022e7c}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{7b0db17d-9cd2-4a93-9733-46cc89022e7c}\PropertyBag]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{A302545D-DEFF-464b-ABE8-61C8648D939B}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{A302545D-DEFF-464b-ABE8-61C8648D939B}\PropertyBag]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{A990AE9F-A03B-4e80-94BC-9912D7504104}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{A990AE9F-A03B-4e80-94BC-9912D7504104}\PropertyBag]

[lholland421]

I am having issues with folder redirection via GPO. i have set my documents to redirect to %HOMESHARE%\My Documents. This was working for a couple of days and now it has stopped working again. I am getting no folder Redirection errors in Event viewer on the machine itself.

 

Thanks

[lholland421]

The Desktop and Start menu are redirecting Fine

[lholland421]

those Reg keys have just removed my documents and pictures from start menu

[3s-gtech]

Remember that "My Documents" dates to XP - it's now just "Documents" as far as the OS is concerned.

 

All those reg keys do is delete the folder descriptions, which will fix folder redirection if it breaks (this tends to show as errors in the logs). They shouldn't affect Group Policy settings, but don't run them on your own workstation unless you're having these issues. You should be able to restore those options to the Start Menu via the Properties menu.

[lholland421]

Cheers, I now have the Docuements Redirection pointing to %HOMESHARE%\Documents. still not working with nothing in the event log on the machine. Surely somewhere there will be an error stored?

 

Thanks

[3s-gtech]

Does it work if you point it back at their home directory via Group Policy (I know this causes them to be renamed as Documents)?

[lholland421]

yeah that works fine, But then i have the Docuemts rename issue. Any ideas?

 

Thanks for your help

[3s-gtech]

I have mine some users set to use:

 

%HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH%

 

This is the 'standard' way of doing it - does that work?

[lholland421]

Yes that works but renames all the user areas to " My Documents"

Cheers

[3s-gtech]

Ack. Final try:

 

%HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH%\Documents

[lholland421]

When i put %HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH%\Documents into the file explorer bar it cannot find the path as it works out to \\server\users\username\\Documents

 

i have tried: %HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH%Documents which doesnt work

also %HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH%My Documents also didnt work

finally %HOMESHARE%\Documents which didnt work either

 

Thanks