Applies To: Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Vista

This topic describes how to use Windows Server to deploy Folder Redirection with Offline Files to Windows client computers.

For a list of recent changes to this topic, seeChange history.

Prerequisites

Hardware requirements

Folder Redirection requires an x64-based or x86-based computer; it is not supported by Windows® RT.

Software requirements

Folder Redirection has the following software requirements:

• To administer Folder Redirection, you must be signed in as a member of the Domain Administrators security group, the Enterprise Administrators security group, or the Group Policy Creator Owners security group.

• Client computers must run Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2008.

• Client computers must be joined to the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) that you are managing.

• A computer must be available with Group Policy Management and Active Directory Administration Center installed.

• A file server must be available to host redirected folders.

  • If the file share uses DFS Namespaces, the DFS folders (links) must have a single target to prevent users from making conflicting edits on different servers.

  • If the file share uses DFS Replication to replicate the contents with another server, users must be able to access only the source server to prevent users from making conflicting edits on different servers.

  • When using a clustered file share, disable continuous availability on the file share to avoid performance issues with Folder Redirection and Offline Files. Additionally, Offline Files might not transition to offline mode for 3-6 minutes after a user loses access to a continuously available file share, which could frustrate users who aren’t yet using the Always Offline mode of Offline Files.

Step 1: Create a folder redirection security group

If your environment is not already set up with Folder Redirection, the first step is to create a security group that contains all users to which you want to apply Folder Redirection policy settings.

To create a security group for Folder Redirection

1. Open Server Manager on a computer with Active Directory Administration Center installed.

2. On theTools menu, clickActive Directory Administration Center. Active Directory Administration Center appears.

3. Right-click the appropriate domain or OU, clickNew, and then clickGroup.

4. In theCreate Group window, in theGroup section, specify the following settings:

   • InGroup name, type the name of the security group, for example:Folder Redirection Users.

   • InGroup scope, clickSecurity, and then clickGlobal.

5. In theMembers section, clickAdd. The Select Users, Contacts, Computers, Service Accounts or Groups dialog box appears.

6. Type the names of the users or groups to which you want to deploy Folder Redirection, clickOK, and then clickOK again.

Step 2: Create a file share for redirected folders

If you do not already have a file share for redirected folders, use the following procedure to create a file share on a server running Windows Server 2012.

To create a file share on Windows Server 2012

1. In the Server Manager navigation pane, clickFile and Storage Services, and then clickShares to display the Shares page.

2. In theShares tile, clickTasks, and then clickNew Share. The New Share Wizard appears.

3. On theSelect Profile page, clickSMB Share – Quick. If you have File Server Resource Manager installed and are using folder management properties, instead clickSMB Share - Advanced.

4. On theShare Location page, select the server and volume on which you want to create the share.

5. On theShare Name page, type a name for the share (for example,Users$) in theShare name box.

   Tip

   When creating the share, hide the share by putting a$ after the share name. This will hide the share from casual browsers.

6. On theOther Settings page, clear the Enable continuous availability checkbox, if present, and optionally select theEnable access-based enumeration andEncrypt data access checkboxes.

7. On thePermissions page, clickCustomize permissions…. The Advanced Security Settings dialog box appears.

8. ClickDisable inheritance, and then clickConvert inherited permissions into explicit permission on this object.

9. Set the permissions as described Table 1 and shown in Figure 1, removing permissions for unlisted groups and accounts, and adding special permissions to the Folder Redirection Users group that you created in Step 1.

   

   Figure 1 Setting the permissions for the redirected folders share

10. If you chose theSMB Share - Advanced profile, on theManagement Properties page, select theUser Files Folder Usage value.

11. If you chose theSMB Share - Advanced profile, on theQuota page, optionally select a quota to apply to users of the share.

12. On theConfirmation page, clickCreate.

Table 1 Required permissions for the file share hosting redirected folders

1 Advanced permissions

Step 3: Create a GPO for Folder Redirection

If you do not already have a GPO created for Folder Redirection settings, use the following procedure to create one.

To create a GPO for Folder Redirection

1. Open Server Manager on a computer with Group Policy Management installed.

2. From theTools menu clickGroup Policy Management. Group Policy Management appears.

3. Right-click the domain or OU in which you want to setup Folder Redirection and then clickCreate a GPO in this domain, and Link it here.

4. In theNew GPO dialog box, type a name for the GPO (for example,Folder Redirection Settings), and then clickOK.

5. Right-click the newly created GPO and then clear theLink Enabled checkbox. This prevents the GPO from being applied until you finish configuring it.

6. Select the GPO. In theSecurity Filtering section of theScope tab, selectAuthenticated Users, and then clickRemove to prevent the GPO from being applied to everyone.

7. In theSecurity Filtering section, clickAdd.

8. In theSelect User, Computer, or Group dialog box, type the name of the security group you created in Step 1 (for example,Folder Redirection Users), and then clickOK.

9. Click theDelegation tab, clickAdd, typeAuthenticated Users, clickOK, and then clickOK again to accept the default Read permissions.

   This step is necessary due to security changes made inMS16-072.

Step 4: Configure folder redirection with Offline Files

After creating a GPO for Folder Redirection settings, edit the Group Policy settings to enable and configure Folder Redirection, as discussed in the following procedure.

To configure Folder Redirection in Group Policy

1. In Group Policy Management, right-click the GPO you created (for example,Folder Redirection Settings), and then clickEdit.

2. In the Group Policy Management Editor window, navigate toUser Configuration, thenPolicies, thenWindows Settings, and thenFolder Redirection.

3. Right-click a folder that you want to redirect (for example,Documents), and then clickProperties.

4. In theProperties dialog box, from theSetting box clickBasic - Redirect everyone’s folder to the same location.

   Note

   To apply Folder Redirection to client computers running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, click theSettings tab and select theAlso apply redirection policy to Windows 2000, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems checkbox.

5. In theTarget folder location section, clickCreate a folder for each user under the root path and then in theRoot Path box, type the path to the file share storing redirected folders, for example:\\fs1.corp.contoso.com\users$

6. Click theSettings tab, and in thePolicy Removal section, optionally clickRedirect the folder back to the local userprofile location when the policy is removed (this setting can help make Folder Redirection behave more predictably for adminisitrators and users).

7. ClickOK, and then clickYes in the Warning dialog box.

Step 5: Enable the Folder Redirection GPO

Once you have completed configuring the Folder Redirection Group Policy settings, the next step is to enable the GPO, permitting it to be applied to affected users.

To enable the Folder Redirection GPO

1. Open Group Policy Management.

2. Right-click the GPO that you created, and then clickLink Enabled. A checkbox appears next to the menu item.

Step 6: Test Folder Redirection

To test Folder Redirection, sign in to a computer with a user account configured for Folder Redirection. Then confirm that the folders and profiles are redirected.

To test Folder Redirection

1. Sign in to a primary computer (if you enabled primary computer support) with a user account for which you have enabled Folder Redirection.

2. If the user has previously signed in to the computer, open an elevated command prompt, and then type the following command to ensure that the latest Group Policy settings are applied to the client computer:

   gpupdate /force

3. Open File Explorer.

4. Right-click a redirected folder (for example, the My Documents folder in the Documents library), and then clickProperties.

5. Click theLocation tab, and confirm that the path displays the file share you specified instead of a local path.

Appendix A: Checklist for deploying Folder Redirection

Change history

The following table summarizes some of the most important changes to this topic.

See Also

Deploy Folder Redirection, Offline Files, and Roaming User ProfilesDeploy Primary Computers for Folder Redirection and Roaming User ProfilesEnable Advanced Offline Files FunctionalityMicrosoft’s Support Statement Around Replicated User Profile DataHow to Add and Remove AppsTroubleshooting packaging, deployment, and query of Windows Runtime-based apps