What is Folder Redirection?

1. Folder Redirection Windows Server 2019
2. Folder Redirection Windows Server 2012
3. Folder Redirection In Windows Server 2012 Step By Step

This article shows you how simply you can redirect folder in Windows Server with group policy. The folder redirection is the way to keep a profile folders to a network location or other location in the local computer. Typically user profiles and settings are stored in local profile. By redirecting folders, you can access to data regardless of which computers you are logs in.

In addition to the immediate benefit of having that data on a file server that is much easier to keep backed up, the user also gets the benefit of being able to go to multiple computers in your organization and still have access to their data. Using the default Windows settings and the default share settings on your file server, these redirection will be even made available offline automatically for your users.

The Policy-Based QoS node

This quality of service (QoS) node, known as the Policy-Based QoS node, defines policies that manage network traffic. For example, you might want to ensure that users in the Finance department have priority to run a critical network application during the end-of-year financial reporting period. You can do that by using the Policy-Based QoS node.
In the User Configuration node only, the Windows Settings folder contains the additional Folder Redirection node. With folder redirection, you can redirect user data and settings folders such as AppData, Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, and Favorites from their default user profile location to an alternate location on the network, where you can manage them centrally.

Infrastructure Requirement :

• 1 DC SERVER (DC-CLOUD)
• Client PC running Windows 10 (CLIENT-10)

Lets get started.

The server they were redirected to no longer exists. When I look at the PCs I can see that Documents and Desktop settings for the Location still point to the non-existent server share. Basically all of their Desktop and Documents are being kept in the Offline Files Cache. I have created a new share on a new server for Folder Redirection. Aug 03, 2018  This article shows you how simply you can redirect folder in Windows Server with group policy. The folder redirection is the way to keep a profile folders to a network location or other location in the local computer. Typically user profiles and settings are stored in local profile.

01 – Create a Shared Folder

• The redirected folders should be owned by the user and created by the user the first time they login after the folder redirection GPO is applied. The roaming profiles are also owned and created by the user when roaming profiles are enabled.
• Sep 26, 2018  if you specify a named home folder on a user's 'profile' tab in AD, you can redirect the documents folder to '%homeshare%documents'. This will place the auto-named 'documents'/'my documents' inside of the named user folder.
• Ever wondered how to setup a folder redirection so that computers that log into a domain can have a centralized and/or unified storage system for the client's files in the typical folders such a.

1 – On DC-CLOUD, on the taskbar, click the File Explorericon, In the navigation pane, click This PC.

2 – In the details pane, double-click Local Disk (C:), and then on the Home tab, click New folder.

3 – In the Name text box, type Redir, and then press Enter.

4 – Right-click the Redirfolder, click Share with, and then click Specific people.

5 – In the File Sharing dialog box, click the drop-down arrow, select Everyone, and then click Add.

6 – For the Everyone group, click the Permission Leveldrop-down arrow, and then click Read/Write.

7 – Click Share, and then click Done.

Close the Local Disk (C:) window

02 – Create a GPO to redirect the Documents folder

1 – In Server Manager, click Tools and then click Group Policy Management.

2 – In the navigation pane, right-click the Windows.ae domain, and then click Create a GPO in this domain and Link it here.

3 – In the New GPO dialog box, in the Name text box, type Folder Redirection, and then click OK.

4 – In the navigation pane, right-click Folder Redirection, and then click Edit.

5 – In the Group Policy Management Editor window, under User Configuration, expand Policies,expand Windows Settings, and then expand Folder Redirection.

6 – Right-click Documents, and then click Properties.

7 – In the Document Properties dialog box, on the Target tab, click the Setting drop-down arrow, and then select Basic-Redirect everyone’s folder to the same location.

8 – Ensure that the Target folder location box is set to Create a folder for each user under the root path.

9 – In the Root Path text box, type DC-CLOUDRedir, and then click OK.

10 – In the Warning dialog box, click Yes.

Close the Group Policy Management Editor

03 – Test Folder Redirection

1 – Sign in to CLIENT-10as WindowsAdministratorwith the password asd@123.

2 – Right-click Start, and then click Command Prompt.

3 – In the Command Prompt window, type the following command, and then press Enter:

Gpupdate /force

4 – In the command prompt window, when prompted, type the following, and then press Enter:

Y

5 – Sign in to CLIENT-10as WindowsAdministrator with the password asd@123.

6 – On the taskbar, click the File Explorer icon.

7 – In the navigation pane, in the Quick Access section, right-click Documents, and then click Properties.

8 – Verify that on the General tab, the Location field has a value of DC-CLOUDredirAdministrator.

If this is not successful, repeat steps 2 through 7, and then check the redirection once again.

9 – Sign out of CLIENT-10.

that’s all for now., any Doubts type a commend. 🙂

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Applies to: Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server (Semi-annual Channel)

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, see Change history.

Important

Due to the security changes made in MS16-072, we updated Step 3: Create a GPO for Folder Redirection of this topic so that Windows can properly apply the Folder Redirection policy (and not revert redirected folders on affected PCs).

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 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server (Semi-annual Channel), 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.

Note

Some newer features in Folder Redirection have additional client computer and Active Directory schema requirements. For more info, see Deploy primary computers, Disable Offline Files on folders, Enable Always Offline mode, and Enable optimized folder moving.

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.

Here's how to create a security group for Folder Redirection:

1. Open Server Manager on a computer with Active Directory Administration Center installed.
2. On the Tools menu, select Active Directory Administration Center. Active Directory Administration Center appears.
3. Right-click the appropriate domain or OU, select New, and then select Group.
4. In the Create Group window, in the Group section, specify the following settings:
   • In Group name, type the name of the security group, for example: Folder Redirection Users.
   • In Group scope, select Security, and then select Global.
5. In the Members section, select Add. 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, select OK, and then select OK 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.

Note

Some functionality might differ or be unavailable if you create the file share on a server running another version of Windows Server.

Here's how to create a file share on Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2012:

Folder Redirection Windows Server 2019

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

2. In the Shares tile, select Tasks, and then select New Share. The New Share Wizard appears.

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

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

5. On the Share Name page, type a name for the share (for example, Users$) in the Share 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 the Other Settings page, clear the Enable continuous availability checkbox, if present, and optionally select the Enable access-based enumeration and Encrypt data access checkboxes. Ak-47 kalashnikov airsoft euro.

7. On the Permissions page, select Customize permissions…. The Advanced Security Settings dialog box appears.

8. Select Disable inheritance, and then select Convert 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 the SMB Share - Advanced profile, on the Management Properties page, select the User Files Folder Usage value.

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

12. On the Confirmation page, select Create.

Required permissions for the file share hosting redirected folders

User Account	Access	Applies to
User Account	Access	Applies to
System	Full control	This folder, subfolders and files
Administrators	Full Control	This folder only
Creator/Owner	Full Control	Subfolders and files only
Security group of users needing to put data on share (Folder Redirection Users)	List folder / read data (Advanced permissions) Create folders / append data (Advanced permissions) Read attributes (Advanced permissions) Read extended attributes (Advanced permissions) Read permissions (Advanced permissions)	This folder only
Other groups and accounts	None (remove)

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.

Here's how to create a GPO for Folder Redirection:

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

2. From the Tools menu, select Group Policy Management.

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

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

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

6. Select the GPO. In the Security Filtering section of the Scope tab, select Authenticated Users, and then select Remove to prevent the GPO from being applied to everyone.

7. In the Security Filtering section, select Add.

8. In the Select 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 select OK.

9. Select the Delegation tab, select Add, type Authenticated Users, select OK, and then select OK again to accept the default Read permissions.

   This step is necessary due to security changes made in MS16-072.

Important

Due to the security changes made in MS16-072, you now must give the Authenticated Users group delegated Read permissions to the Folder Redirection GPO - otherwise the GPO won't get applied to users, or if it's already applied, the GPO is removed, redirecting folders back to the local PC. For more info, see Deploying Group Policy Security Update MS16-072.

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.

Note

Offline Files is enabled by default for redirected folders on Windows client computers, and disabled on computers running Windows Server, unless changed by the user. To use Group Policy to control whether Offline Files is enabled, use the Allow or disallow use of the Offline Files feature policy setting.For information about some of the other Offline Files Group Policy settings, see Enable Advanced Offline Files Functionality, and Configuring Group Policy for Offline Files.

Here's how 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 select Edit.

2. In the Group Policy Management Editor window, navigate to User Configuration, then Policies, then Windows Settings, and then Folder Redirection.

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

4. In the Properties dialog box, from the Setting box, select Basic - Redirect everyone's folder to the same location.

   Note

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

5. In the Target folder location section, select Create a folder for each user under the root path and then in the Root Path box, type the path to the file share storing redirected folders, for example: fs1.corp.contoso.comusers$

6. Select the Settings tab, and in the Policy Removal section, optionally select Redirect 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. Select OK, and then select Yes 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.

Tip

If you plan to implement primary computer support or other policy settings, do so now, before you enable the GPO. This prevents user data from being copied to non-primary computers before primary computer support is enabled.

Here's how to enable the Folder Redirection GPO:

1. Open Group Policy Management.
2. Right-click the GPO that you created, and then select Link Enabled. A checkbox will appear 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.

Here's how 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:

3. Open File Explorer.

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

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

Appendix A: Checklist for deploying Folder Redirection

Status	Action
☐ ☐ ☐	1. Prepare domain - Join computers to domain - Create user accounts
☐	2. Create security group for Folder Redirection - Group name: - Members:
☐	3. Create a file share for redirected folders - File share name:
☐	4. Create a GPO for Folder Redirection - GPO name:
☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐	5. Configure Folder Redirection and Offline Files policy settings - Redirected folders: - Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 support enabled? - Offline Files enabled? (enabled by default on Windows client computers) - Always Offline Mode enabled? - Background file synchronization enabled? - Optimized Move of redirected folders enabled?
☐ ☐ ☐ ☐	6. (Optional) Enable primary computer support - Computer-based or User-based? - Designate primary computers for users - Location of user and primary computer mappings: - (Optional) Enable primary computer support for Folder Redirection - (Optional) Enable primary computer support for Roaming User Profiles
☐	7. Enable the Folder Redirection GPO
☐	8. Test Folder Redirection

Change history

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

Folder Redirection Windows Server 2012

Date	Description	Reason
January 18, 2017	Added a step to Step 3: Create a GPO for Folder Redirection to delegate Read permissions to Authenticated Users, which is now required because of a Group Policy security update.	Customer feedback

Folder Redirection In Windows Server 2012 Step By Step

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