Folder Redirection | GPO | Existing Profiles (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between profile and Folder Redirection? ›

Roaming User Profiles is used to redirect a user profile to a network location, whereas Folder Redirection enables users and administrators to redirect the path of a known folder to a new location, manually or by using Group Policy. So, the latter may allow for more granularity.

For optimal performance of the Folder Redirection feature, it is strongly recommended that you create only the root share on the server, and then let the system create the folders for each user.

Folder redirection allows users to be logged in to multiple servers at once without issue accessing files whereas with UPDs, a user cannot be logged into more than one RDS concurrently as their UPD will be locked for use on one server and inaccessible from another until properly dismounted after logging off.

Roaming profiles were a nice idea in the '00s but there are better solutions now than folder redirection or roaming profiles. Roaming profiles are the oldest option, but they can work with FR. KFM would be the way to go, but if they don't have the licenses, FR will work.

Folder Redirection allows saving data regardless of storage location and separates user data from profile data decreasing the time required to log on. Other advantages include: Data is stored on a server where it can be backed up.

Should the objective be to maintain file synchronization across different devices for users, options like OneDrive for cloud storage or SyncThing could be considered. But in my opinion, FSLogix Profile Containers stand out as the preferred solution for enhanced manageability and maintenance.

Configure Folder Redirection settings under User Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection. Specify the target folder that we want to redirect to the network location. In this demonstration, the document folder is selected to redirect to the E drive on the server.

301 moved permanently

301 refers to the HTTP status code for this type of redirect. In most instances, the 301 redirect is the best method for implementing redirects on a website.

You must give the Authenticated Users group delegated Read permissions to the Folder Redirection GPO. If you don't, the GPO isn't applied to users, or if it's already applied, the GPO is removed, redirecting folders back to the local PC.

Does Folder Redirection enable offline files? ›

Folder Redirection and Offline Files are used together to redirect the path of local folders, such as the Documents folder, to a network location, while caching the contents locally for increased speed and availability. Roaming User Profiles is used to redirect a user profile to a network location.

Folder Redirection separates user data, such as personalized desktop shortcuts and documents, from user profile data which is a record of data that configures the your environment. A profile record can include display settings, application settings, and network connections.

Second, a roaming profile is downloaded to the local machine each time you log on, and uploaded to the server each time you log off. A very large profile can cause significant delays in your logon and logoff, can cause network congestion, and can become corrupted.

Yes, roaming profiles can cause long user loading times, especially if the profiles are large. This is because Windows has to download the profile from the server every time the user logs in.

To confirm that the user profile is roaming, open Control Panel, select System and Security, select System, select Advanced System Settings, select Settings in the User Profiles section and then look for Roaming in the Type column.

Folder Redirection is defined by automatically re-routing standard folders to use storage on another server. There are specific folders on a WSU employee's workstation that are storing the files or data on a separate server. The separate server can also be described as file shares.

The profile path is the location of the user's user profile. The "Home" path may be the same, but it could be set to another location (via the user account properties). The home path is a bit of a vestigial thing. It dates back to Windows NT, prior to the 'My Documents' directory.

Organizations commonly use folder redirection in conjunction with roaming profiles to speed up the logon and logoff process, improve the UX and reduce any latency with the desktop authenticating via the domain controller.

What's the difference between folder redirection and a network drive mapped to a drive letter? This is one of the most common questions. The difference is that the mapped network drive has a drive letter while the folder redirection can be found as a folder on your local drive.