Windows 7 Offline Files: Syncing redirected my documents folder

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Aaroona

3196 posts

Uber Geek

#132307 16-Oct-2013 21:13

So we are currently going working on deploying windows 7 at the moment- we want laptop users to have offline files.

So I've redirected the My Documents folder, which is fine, using GPO - It redirected to the %HOMESHARE% which is set in the AD profile.

The redirection works fine. The problem I am seeing is that the sync center parntership that automatically sets up appears to be trying to sync the whole store in the users directory; i.e. user1 profile is located at \\server\users$\user1 but sync center appears to be syncing \\server\users$\

when I look at the offline files, I can confirm that the other directories that that user can access under the users$ (i.e. user2), it syncs all their files as well for offline use.

Has anyone else run into this? Surely they have. Help please!

raytaylor

4014 posts

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#916348 16-Oct-2013 22:36

I always map a drive and direct the documents folder there. I dont like doing offline files - for our clients its just too much to manage so I just set them up with RDP access.

My theory to get around your issue though is this:

Specifically map a Z: drive to
\\server\userdata\documents\username

Then use the group policy to make Z: the documents folder.

Then, make the Z: drive available offline

Ray Taylor

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Aaroona

3196 posts

Uber Geek

#916562 17-Oct-2013 12:51

raytaylor: I always map a drive and direct the documents folder there. I dont like doing offline files - for our clients its just too much to manage so I just set them up with RDP access.

My theory to get around your issue though is this:

Specifically map a Z: drive to
\\server\userdata\documents\username

Then use the group policy to make Z: the documents folder.

Then, make the Z: drive available offline

THanks for the reply.

I will try this with our test machines soon, but just on the last bit of your answer; the documents folder etc. should be automatically synced, but its not auto-synced.

Aaroona

3196 posts

Uber Geek

#919070 21-Oct-2013 11:35

We managed to get auto-syncing working - it appears another GPO was conflicting with it.

Our next problem is syncing PST's, but thats a whole other issue.

nathan

5695 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#919075 21-Oct-2013 11:53

Aaroona: We managed to get auto-syncing working - it appears another GPO was conflicting with it.

Our next problem is syncing PST's, but thats a whole other issue.

You can't synch PSTs, and it's not supported to have PSTs running on network drives

Can you increase users mailbox sizes and give them OSTs?

Aaroona

3196 posts

Uber Geek

#919087 21-Oct-2013 12:03

nathan:
Aaroona: We managed to get auto-syncing working - it appears another GPO was conflicting with it.

Our next problem is syncing PST's, but thats a whole other issue.

You can't synch PSTs, and it's not supported to have PSTs running on network drives

Can you increase users mailbox sizes and give them OSTs?

Unfortunately not. Our current implementation of Ex2010 is a bit of a mess - there is a project in planning mode at the moment to get it tidied up and put in an archiving solution, but that's going to be a little while away.

We're aware the PST's aren't supported over network shares, but between the exchange clean-up and this, we're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. The obvious problem I'm hitting is that the PST's are located on their redirected documents folder, which SyncCenter is then trying to sync across. Unfortunately the policy which worked in XP to exclude certain file types doesn't appear to work.

jaypeegee

62 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#923846 29-Oct-2013 22:14

Aaroona:
nathan:
Aaroona: We managed to get auto-syncing working - it appears another GPO was conflicting with it.

Our next problem is syncing PST's, but thats a whole other issue.

You can't synch PSTs, and it's not supported to have PSTs running on network drives

Can you increase users mailbox sizes and give them OSTs?

Unfortunately not. Our current implementation of Ex2010 is a bit of a mess - there is a project in planning mode at the moment to get it tidied up and put in an archiving solution, but that's going to be a little while away.

We're aware the PST's aren't supported over network shares, but between the exchange clean-up and this, we're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. The obvious problem I'm hitting is that the PST's are located on their redirected documents folder, which SyncCenter is then trying to sync across. Unfortunately the policy which worked in XP to exclude certain file types doesn't appear to work.

Is the problem issues with syncing PST's successfully, excluding them from being valid candidates for the sync process or users Outlook complaining that the PST file cannot be found when away from the LAN?

nathan

5695 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#923873 29-Oct-2013 22:58

If you have a network blip while you're writing to a PST across the network you have a chance of data loss. That's why it's not supported. You're welcome to do it if you wish, there's nothing in the product blocking you from doing it. Personally I wouldn't be opening PSTs across the network.

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4066 posts

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Snowflake

#923878 29-Oct-2013 23:03

Aaroona:
Our current implementation of Ex2010 is a bit of a mess - there is a project in planning mode at the moment to get it tidied up and put in an archiving solution, but that's going to be a little while away.

have you considered moving exchange to the cloud - Office 365? You get a 50GB mailbox for each user and, depending on plan, an unlimited archive. No more PST files, and therefore no mor PST sync problems! Also, the online archive is fully searchable.

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jaymz

1133 posts

Uber Geek

#927686 5-Nov-2013 15:15

Aaroona:
nathan:
Aaroona: We managed to get auto-syncing working - it appears another GPO was conflicting with it.

Our next problem is syncing PST's, but thats a whole other issue.

You can't synch PSTs, and it's not supported to have PSTs running on network drives

Can you increase users mailbox sizes and give them OSTs?

Unfortunately not. Our current implementation of Ex2010 is a bit of a mess - there is a project in planning mode at the moment to get it tidied up and put in an archiving solution, but that's going to be a little while away.

We're aware the PST's aren't supported over network shares, but between the exchange clean-up and this, we're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. The obvious problem I'm hitting is that the PST's are located on their redirected documents folder, which SyncCenter is then trying to sync across. Unfortunately the policy which worked in XP to exclude certain file types doesn't appear to work.

MS Exchange 2010 SP1 and higher has Archiving per mailbox as an option.

No more PST files, as the archive is stored in a separate database on the server. Works wonderfully for a couple of my clients, no more headaches with tracking down auto archive PST files!