Redirected AppData(Roaming) and Offline Files

[5tu]

Hoping someone on here can help restore my sanity - Win 7 Offline Files are driving me crazy!

 

Currently I have Folder Redirection configured for my staff users with everything including AppData(Roaming) redirected to \\\\%username%. Staff users also have Roaming Profiles redirected to \\\\%username%.

 

The share containing staff home directories has caching set to "Only the files and programs that users specify are available offline".

 

When a staff member logs onto a laptop which has Offline Files enabled, they can choose to make their "Documents" folder within their home directory available offline so they can access work at home. So far so good.

However, I'm finding that Sync Center reports errors due to failed attempts to sync files within the redirected AppData folder located in the user's home folder. Such as...

 

index.dat (\\\\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies)

 

Can anyone shed any light on what I can do to resolve this issue? Anyone got a similar setup with Offline Files working reliably and consistently? If so I'd like you to be my new bestest friend!!

[psydii]

To paraphrase the 2008 resource kit: Don't redirect AppData.

 

To paraphrase my personal experience: Don't redirect AppData. Especially as you will discover it is a mistake and unredirecting AppData can make a real mess of things.

 

To quote the Windows Administration Resource Kit - Dan Home, 2008 MS Press.:

" Although Windows clients support redirecting Application Data, the reality in my experience is that some applications still do not do well with a redirected Application Data folder. Furthermore, to make application data available while a user is disconnected from the network, Application data must be cached with offline files. Again, some applications don't do well in the transition, particularly in the event that a client with cached application Data experiences network connectivity problems that causes the client to switch between online and offline modes."

 

Keep AppData Roaming, and trust that the stuff that will slow logons down gets kept inside the folders that Windows doesn't roam. So far so good here once I'd reset everyone's profile following various collisions including this one: You encounter a long logon time after you enable the "Do not automatically make redirected folders available offline" Group Policy setting in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2

[5tu]

To paraphrase the 2008 resource kit: Don't redirect AppData.

 

To paraphrase my personal experience: Don't redirect AppData. Especially as you will discover it is a mistake and unredirecting AppData can make a real mess of things.

 

To quote the Windows Administration Resource Kit - Dan Home, 2008 MS Press.:

" Although Windows clients support redirecting Application Data, the reality in my experience is that some applications still do not do well with a redirected Application Data folder. Furthermore, to make application data available while a user is disconnected from the network, Application data must be cached with offline files. Again, some applications don't do well in the transition, particularly in the event that a client with cached application Data experiences network connectivity problems that causes the client to switch between online and offline modes."

 

Keep AppData Roaming, and trust that the stuff that will slow logons down gets kept inside the folders that Windows doesn't roam. So far so good here once I'd reset everyone's profile following various collisions including this one: You encounter a long logon time after you enable the "Do not automatically make redirected folders available offline" Group Policy setting in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2

 

Many thanks psydii for your post. I have read in a few places that some people recommend not redirecting AppData and opt for leaving it inside the roaming profile. However, as my users tend to log onto many different desktops around the school (in addition to their staff laptops), I suspect if i opted to leave AppData in the romaing profile this would cause logon times to increase unacceptably. Unless I'm missing something there doesn't seem to be a happy compromise for users that roam between devices AND require offline files to sync their user data on one device.

 

Any other experiences/recommendations gratefully received.

[5tu]

Bumping this thread for the early morning Edugeekers!

[Firefox]

I could not reiterate psydii's comments any more. We tried setting the redirection of the AppData folder, it caused no end of problems. For some reason, once redirected it actually moved a copy of the whole of My Documents into the Appdata folder (causing very lenghty login times). Rolling back from this, had to be done on a per user basis, certainly not fun! :-(