Folder Redirection - point of despair :( :( [PICS]

[Boredguy]

What is the value in the Active Directory Home Path field for one of your users, as this is where the GPO will be looking to.

 

Both sets of error screenshots are not showing a username in the path, so as far as Windows is concerned it could well be the same folder for everyone, which is causing the issue as someone mentioned previously.

 

Knowing what the AD Home path is will help with possible solution

[Miscbrah]

Home path in AD (set as W: ) is set to "\\fs1\homes" without the "".

 

Really, honestly, that's what's there 100%. No %username% as you (or anyone sensible) might think. From my limited understanding of Linux, Samba somehow knows what user is accessing that UNC path and can steer them right.

 

Beats me too tbh :/

[ihaveaproblem]

Home path in AD (set as W: ) is set to "\\fs1\homes" without the "".

 

Really, honestly, that's what's there 100%. No %username% as you (or anyone sensible) might think. From my limited understanding of Linux, Samba somehow knows what user is accessing that UNC path and can steer them right.

 

Beats me too tbh :/

 

Not read all the post yet( And no nothing much about linux as well ) However could you not do the simple, and possibly easiest thing and change the Home Path in AD to \\lfs1\homes\%username% ?

[Steve21]

Home path in AD (set as W: ) is set to "\\fs1\homes" without the "".

 

Really, honestly, that's what's there 100%. No %username% as you (or anyone sensible) might think. From my limited understanding of Linux, Samba somehow knows what user is accessing that UNC path and can steer them right.

 

Beats me too tbh :/

 

Why not set the test user as a standard windows setup aka AD has %username% in. And see what happens.

 

End of day the only difference to what you're doing, and pretty much every other school I've seen is you're not using the %username% bit. Whether or not Samba "can" do this, it may well be the problem it's not always working. Best to test it and see if it works manually.

 

Steve

[Miscbrah]

Will try this out, though I think I did before. 6pm is chucking out time though, so I'll report back tomorrow.

 

:)

 

Ta guys.

[Boredguy]

Assuming \\fs1\homes has a list of your current users there, with the documents etc happily showing, have you tried setting Target Folder location in the Documents Folder Redirection to "Create a folder for each user under the root path" as suggested by KMount earlier in the thread?

 

As my fellow Swindon Tech suggests, try putting the %username% value into the AD path on a test account with your current Target folder setting and see what the event log shows

[plexer]

Logged on to your client as a domain user does \\lfs1\homes\%username% get you to the relevant users home folder?

 

If so then definately try with that set as the user home folder path.

 

How is your user home drive mapped, gpo, script, magic?

 

Ben

[maniac]

I've been stumped by the same problem and I did the following:

 

Set your users home drive/folder in AD to \\SERVER\SHARE$\USERNAME as normal.

 

Then set each of the folder redirections to "Basic - redirect everyoones folder to the same location" and type in %HOMESHARE%\FOLDER e.g for desktop use %HOMESHARE%\Desktop etc.

 

You will get an error when you save the setting warning you about UNC paths, but it should work.

 

I have never got it to work with the "create a folder for each user on this share" or any other way, but this way does work for me, so it might work for you!

 

Mike.

Edited August 14, 2012 by maniac

[Miscbrah]

Cheers guys. Will try tomorrow and then hit you back.

 

Logged on to your client as a domain user does \\lfs1\homes\%username% get you to the relevant users home folder?

 

If so then definately try with that set as the user home folder path.

 

How is your user home drive mapped, gpo, script, magic?

 

Ben

 

Heh, no not magic. Set to W: in AD Profile tab.

[plexer]

That's the thing though if it's just set to \\lfs1\homes\ I cannot see how that can be evaluated by the client to map w: to the correct place unless there was also a login script being run to do say net use w: \\lfs1\homes\%username%

 

Ben

[psydii]

I wonder if spending some time getting an understanding of what the linux/samba server is doing and how it is configured might be a worthwhile endeavour. At the very least check the version of Samba in play and weather it is AD integrated or using a sync'd copy of the user list.

 

Long long ago I did once see a samba installation present different folders to different users from what on the face of it appeared to be the same UNC path. But that was on VMS and I wasn't an admin then.

[Miscbrah]

Hmmm... I am also redirecting Libraries in an aggressive way, by removing the default c:\users\public locations. I've done this by outright replacing the .library-ms files with ones of my own creation, which steer to the W: drive.

 

Offline files are disabled as well as all syncing.

 

This setting off any sparks? :/

 

And yes getting to grips with Samba is something I've wanted to do, it's just the time and the prohibitively complex learning involved with Linux when I've got other work to do to, that's knocked that as a priority. :/

[Steve21]

Hmmm... I am also redirecting Libraries in an aggressive way, by removing the default c:\users\public locations. I've done this by outright replacing the .library-ms files with ones of my own creation, which steer to the W: drive.

 

What exactly are you doing with the library file that isn't done without it normally? Seems a strange setup

 

Steve

[psydii]

That SAMBA HOMES magic:

smb.conf

Search for HOMES

 

My understanding is that at the moment you have Roaming Profiles and no folder redirection, but you have existing network home folders.

 

Question: Are your roaming profiles on a different share to your home folders?

[Miscbrah]

That SAMBA HOMES magic:

smb.conf

Search for HOMES

 

My understanding is that at the moment you have Roaming Profiles and no folder redirection, but you have existing network home folders.

 

Question: Are your roaming profiles on a different share to your home folders?

 

From a Linux perspective, the homes folders are /home/staff//home the profiles are right next to them in /home/staff//profile

 

In the test account however, (which is working ok) the profile is on another Windows server.

[Miscbrah]

What exactly are you doing with the library file that isn't done without it normally? Seems a strange setup

 

Steve

 

Removing that default Library location is the thing to do, right? Or it'd just save everything in the default 'Public' location until someone adds another location manually. Thought I'd scrub that right away or it'd be asking for trouble.

 

Have I missed the point on something? Why would you say it's strange to do it that way? I'm wondering now if I'm getting to something...

[psydii]

This may be relevant to your issue. The share that holds the user profile Must have cscpolicy=disabled set. The share that holds the Documents folder is best served by cscpolicy=programs (a change in behaviour between xp and 7 is the way 7 wants to cache redirected documents is more akin to the old 2k/xp method for programs).

 

It is generaly accepted best practice to keep your RUP completely separate from your redirected folders. so \\server\profiles\username for a users RUP and \\server\homes for the root of their redirected folders.

 

Moving between configurations is where it can get very sticky. As a test I would:

1) create a new user with their home and profile set as typical user for your site.

2) Log on and off then confirm folder creation etc is correct as per a typical user for your site.

3) log on and via the client machine populate your documents music etc.

4) log off and confirm that the data is stored in the expected place.

5) enable the folder redirection policy

6) Confirm that it all goes wrong still.

 

Blow away the user and their files and folders, including removing the user profile from the client machine via the correct GUI tool.

 

Now create a profile share. Samba & Windows Profiles - SambaWiki (some of the information about the way windows does things is xp era w7 is very different)

change the profile property of your test user in AD

unlink the folder redirection gpo

 

reboot the client

 

repeat the steps 1-6.

is there a difference?

[psydii]

of course, it is entirely possible that they are already on separate shares.... what are the settings from AD's perspective?

[Miscbrah]

of course, it is entirely possible that they are already on separate shares.... what are the settings from AD's perspective?

 

 

AD has the profile as \\fs1\profiles\%username% and the home folder (W: ) as \\fs1\homes.

[synaesthesia]

Not sure on this one...

Our's is just basic redirection to the users home folder, which is defined in AD - connecting to N:\ as \\ourschool.internal\public\Users\Students\YearofEntry\%username%

My Pictures etc all follows the My Documents folders. Just works, but then we're solely Windows.

[plexer]

AD has the profile as \\fs1\profiles\%username% and the home folder (W: ) as \\fs1\homes.

 

If you log on to a client with a test user and do start run \\fs1\homes\%username% or \\fs1\homes\%username%\home do you get the expected folder contents?

 

Ben

[Miscbrah]

If you log on to a client with a test user and do start run \\fs1\homes\%username% or \\fs1\homes\%username%\home do you get the expected folder contents?

 

Ben

 

I don't, that doesn't work.

[Steve21]

I don't, that doesn't work.

 

What does \\fs1\homes give you? In terms of files/folders shown, if that's where you're pointing it normally. (Running same as plexers example)

 

Steve

[psydii]

For those who are unfamiliar with SAMBA the 'homes' share is 'magic'. It enables automatic sharing out of the home folder of the user who is connected. *however* the documented behaviour appears to be at odds with what is being described in this thread.

 

 

Some questions to try to draw all the relevant facts into one place.

 

From the perspective of the user logged onto a client machine:

* what unc are they connected to when they access their home folder?

* what do you see if you issue 'net view \\fs1

* what do you see if you issue 'net use'

* what folder structure you see within their home folder?

 

From the server's local perspective:

* what is the path to their home folder?

* what folder structure do you see within their home folder?

* what is the path to their roaming profile?

* what folder structure do your see within their roaming profile?

 

What is the AD User Home Directory?

What is the AD User Profile Folder?

Are profiles roaming?

Is profile roaming actually working?

Are any folders excluded, if so, which ones?

What setting do you use to map your home folder on the client machine?

Do you have any scripted/reg tweaked folder redirections going on?

Where are the following special folders actually pointing to when a user is logged on?

* Documents

* Pictures

* Movies

* Favorites

* AppData

* Games

* Contacts

Is this what is expected?

 

What how where and why are your Offline Files settings as they are?

What exactly have you done to your Libraries?

is cscpolicy set anywhere in your smb.conf?

 

Is the Client machine Windows 7 sp1 with all latest Windows Updates installed?

Have you installed any hotfixes for Profiles or CSC?

[Miscbrah]

Good plan, I've answered each one as best I can.

 

From the perspective of the user logged onto a client machine:

* what unc are they connected to when they access their home folder? Home drives are W:, this shows as "\\fs1\homes" in My Computer.

* what do you see if you issue 'net view \\fs1 Nothing seems to happen, run line closes.

* what do you see if you issue 'net use' Nothing seems to happen, run line closes.

* what folder structure you see within their home folder? A usual user's mess of a home area, and occasionally the odd folder created by a random folder redirection success. Not sure if you mean I need to look out for anything distinct or not.

 

From the server's local perspective:

* what is the path to their home folder? "\\fs1\homes" without the "". As in, that is 100% literally LITERALLY everything in that field in AD. From the point of view of that Linux server where it actually is, it would be /home/staff//home

* what folder structure do you see within their home folder? Terminal in form a Linux box and see the contents of their home area as expected.

* what is the path to their roaming profile? In AD it's "\\fs1\profiles\%username%" and server-side that's /home/staff//profile

* what folder structure do your see within their roaming profile? /home/staff//profile/.V2 has at the moment a folder called AppData, Default.rdp, a folder called Desktop, a folder called Favorites, NTUSER.DAT, ntuser.ini, ntuser.pol

What is the AD User Home Directory? "\\fs1\homes" without the ""

What is the AD User Profile Folder? "\\fs1\profiles\%username%" without the ""

Are profiles roaming? Yes

Is profile roaming actually working? I guess? How do I tell? If you mean, as in, save something to the desktop and does it copy up to the server version and come back down next time they log in here or elsewhere then yes it does that.

Are any folders excluded, if so, which ones? This bit I'm not sure what you mean. Excluded forlders? From the profile or the home area? I don't know what excluding folders in this way might mean, sorry :/

What setting do you use to map your home folder on the client machine? It's set in AD as W: - is this what you mean?

Do you have any scripted/reg tweaked folder redirections going on? Got some brutal mods to the Libraries. WRITE UP IS HERE

Where are the following special folders actually pointing to when a user is logged on?

* Documents

* Pictures

* Movies

* Favorites

* AppData

* Games

* Contacts

Is this what is expected? Just so we're singing from the same songsheet, do you mean go to C:\users\%username% and look in there?

 

What how where and why are your Offline Files settings as they are? Hangover from when we had XP clients too. That policy is gone now (taken out a few horus ago.)

What exactly have you done to your Libraries? WRITE UP IS HERE

 

is cscpolicy set anywhere in your smb.conf?I don't know. Will ask the boss, I don't know Linux and am loth to go rummaging in smb.conf, given how one touch in a non-gui text editor can bork so much.

Is the Client machine Windows 7 sp1 with all latest Windows Updates installed? Yes

Have you installed any hotfixes for Profiles or CSC? No