Redirection is...

[DriftGrant]

the baine of my life!

 

Has any one got any tips? I've tried all sorts of different combinations of gpo's/scripts/reg keys all sorts and I cant seem to get the blooming folders to redirect!

 

Thought i was on the ball earlier using %HOMESHARE% in the GPO but that doesnt work either!

 

Any help greatly appreciated

[teejay]

What exactly are you trying to do? Folder redirection of documents is done through GPO in User Configuration, Policies, Windows Settings, Folder Redirection. Right click on the folder you want to redirect and set the path. Make sure the policy is applying to the user you are redirecting, not the machine.

[DriftGrant]

Im trying to redirect the Documents folder to say \\server\Staffhome\%username% but that doesnt work so i tried %HOMEPATH% and %HOMESHARE% and neither works. Policy is deffinatly to the user and not the machine.

 

Even tried editing the registry with a UNC and that doesnt work either...well kinda does but you have to set the reg then logoff and on to get it to apply! GAH!

[PeterH]

As I recall, folder redirection can be really fussy about the permissions on the redirected folder. Do the folders you are redirecting to already exist? Ie does the \\server\staffhome\%username% folder exist, or are you trying to create it when the folder is redirected? If so, you'll need to ensure that users have at least the Create Folders/Write Data permission on the parent folder \\server\staffhome. If the %username% folder does already exist, I seem to recall that the user needs to have at least modify permissions on that folder and also, needs to be the OWNER. In other words, if Administrator is the owner and not the user, then it won't work.

 

What I would recommend is to have a look at the policy settings and try removing the "Move contents of Documents to the new location" and "Grant the user exclusive rights to Documents" options. That's how we have ours set and we don't have any problems. Also, the group policy client will usually log any errors that arise with folder redirection, so look in the Application Event Log on the workstation and see what it's reporting. My guess is you're getting an access denied somewhere.

[DMcCoy]

%HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH% for \\Server\Share\Username

%HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH%Documents for \\Server\Share\Username\Documents

 

Turn off grant exclusive use.

[tmcd35]

I've found that 'EVERYONE' needs atleast read access to the any folder between the share and %username%.

 

So in \\server\staffhome\%username% - everyone needs read access to the 'staffhome' folder and in \\server\pupilshome\year7\%username% - everyone needs read access to the 'pupilshome' and 'year 7' folders. Of course you need to apply this to 'this folder only' as you don't want to everyone to inherit read access to everyone elses home folder, if that makes any sense.

 

For some reason Windows XP seems happy mounting the home folder without any read access to the folders above, but I've found Window 7 to be a bit more fussy.

[ChrisH]

I've found that 'EVERYONE' needs atleast read access to the any folder between the share and %username%.

 

So in \\server\staffhome\%username% - everyone needs read access to the 'staffhome' folder and in \\server\pupilshome\year7\%username% - everyone needs read access to the 'pupilshome' and 'year 7' folders. Of course you need to apply this to 'this folder only' as you don't want to everyone to inherit read access to everyone elses home folder, if that makes any sense.

 

For some reason Windows XP seems happy mounting the home folder without any read access to the folders above, but I've found Window 7 to be a bit more fussy.

 

Interesting to know as that is how I have always had it set up with the more restrictive permissions.

[DMcCoy]

I've found that 'EVERYONE' needs atleast read access to the any folder between the share and %username%.

 

So in \\server\staffhome\%username% - everyone needs read access to the 'staffhome' folder and in \\server\pupilshome\year7\%username% - everyone needs read access to the 'pupilshome' and 'year 7' folders. Of course you need to apply this to 'this folder only' as you don't want to everyone to inherit read access to everyone elses home folder, if that makes any sense.

 

For some reason Windows XP seems happy mounting the home folder without any read access to the folders above, but I've found Window 7 to be a bit more fussy.

 

Doing so without read on XP is usually the culprit for the "denied by administrator etc" message when saving in office apps it traverses to the users home folder from the root of the unc path.

[tmcd35]

Doing so without read on XP is usually the culprit for the "denied by administrator etc" message when saving in office apps it traverses to the users home folder from the root of the unc path.

 

I've always seen it without read access from root under XP and have never seen that message. But then we've always used mapped drives so I guess Office is using the drive mapping rather than the UNC path?

 

We only started getting problems when we installed our first Win 7 suite. I assume Win 7 does the initial drive mapping as the user and so cannot traverse down to the home folder, were XP must be doing it as SYSTEM and so can traverse down. Just come guesses based on what I've seen.

[DMcCoy]

Depends on the application, some with start at the homedrive. Do you redirect my documents to a UNC path or drive letter? Office likes to get to My Docs via the unc (at least thats how it seems to work). System has no network access so drives are mapped in the current user context.

[DriftGrant]

%HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH% for \\Server\Share\Username

%HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH%Documents for \\Server\Share\Username\Documents

 

Turn off grant exclusive use.

 

I take it I can redirect the desktop by using %HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH%Desktop ?

 

I'll try this out later on!

[DriftGrant]

Still not sure which 'Target folder location' to use... redirect to users home dir? create a folder for each user under the root path? redirect to the following location (using %HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH% just sets it to redirect to home dir =S

 

help! please

[Stuart_C]

My users have no access to the root of the share only thier own folder and my redirection (via GP) seems to work fine.

[maniac]

Have you run a resultent set of policy emulation thingy (can't remember the exat term) using Group Policy mangement console. It will run through all the GPO's and emulate it being applied to a workstation, then provide you with a comprehensive report of what is and isn't working, e.g where settings are being over ridden by other settings elsewhere in the policy etc. Invaluable tool for solving any problems like this as it should also tell you if folder redirection was successful or not.

 

Mike.

[plexer]

As long as this is set correctly in AD for the users then redirect to users home dir should be fine.

 

Ben

[DriftGrant]

Its applying correctly, now in eventvwr i get >

 

Failed to apply policy and redirect folder "Desktop" to "\\curriculum\Staffhome\redir\Desktop".

Redirection options=0x9001.

The following error occurred: "Failed to build the list of known sub folders".

Error details: "The system cannot find the file specified.

".

 

Litterally tearing my hair out!

 

the user 'redir' has full control of their folder, share permissions are set to everyone full control. ive even made the folder (\\curriculum\staffhome\redir\desktop)

Edited August 6, 2010 by DriftGrant
extra info

[maniac]

2 things to check that I've heard can cause that error;

 

1. that the move the contents to the new location option is unchecked

2. that the 'grant user exclusive rights to folder' option is unchecked

 

I know the second one is counter intuative, as you do want the user to have exclusive rights, but if the folder security options are set correctly anyway unchecking this option simply means the policy won't make any changes to the folder security.

 

Mike.

[DriftGrant]

both unchecked =( trying everything to get these blooming documents to redirect...even trying a vbs to edit HKCU on logon!

[DriftGrant]

tried this vbs, it redirects the desktop like a beaut. instead of redirecting the documents folder it just creates another folder called %username% (e.g. testuser) and then the documents are in there. pictures doesnt redirect either.

 

On Error Resume Next

' Set user redirect

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
wshshell.regwrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Favorites", "\\curriculum\Staffhome\%username%\Favorites", "REG_EXPAND_SZ"

Set WshShell = Wscript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
wshshell.regwrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\personal", "\\curriculum\Staffhome\%username%\" , "REG_EXPAND_SZ"
wshshell.regwrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\personal", "\\curriculum\Staffhome\%username%\" ,"REG_EXPAND_SZ"

wshshell.regwrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\Desktop", "\\curriculum\Staffhome\%username%\Desktop" , "REG_EXPAND_SZ"
wshshell.regwrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Desktop", "\\curriculum\Staffhome\%username%\Desktop" , "REG_EXPAND_SZ"

wshshell.regwrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders\My pictures", "\\curriculum\Staffhome\%username%\Pictures" , "REG_EXPAND_SZ"
wshshell.regwrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\My pictures", "\\curriculum\Staffhome\%username%\Pictures" , "REG_EXPAND_SZ"

[AngryTechnician]

the user 'redir' has full control of their folder, share permissions are set to everyone full control. ive even made the folder (\\curriculum\staffhome\redir\desktop)

 

Do they also have permissions further up the folder hierarchy? They will need at least 'List folder' rights on \\curriculum\Staffhome\

 

See Security Recommendations for Folder Redirection: Group Policy for the exact permissions that are needed.