folder redirection, option not in GPO?!

[slym34]

Hey all..
First post here, thanks in advance for any help provided...
I have sort of fallen into IT support at my company (I am in Finance, haha), with no previous formal training, so excuse any lack of obvious IT knowledge.. But with that said I"m kind of the computer dork around here, so I have a good understanding compared to a normal user.

Anyways,, with that said, I am trying to test out folder redirection, however when I go to the GPO that option is not in the tree. Anyone know a reason that would be?
Ultimately I want any new files saved on a desktop or my docs, to be available no matter which pc one is logged in to, and from all i've read folder redirection is the way to go for that.
I set up home directories for each user under their active directory profile, so anything I manually put in their folders, is now available to each user,, but any new items put on a desktop for instance, don't back up to server. Please advise. Thanks!

John

[shahid khan]

Folder Redirection is a User group policy. This means that a user for whom you configure folder redirection must have a group policy linked to some folder structure where their user object is subordinate, such as a site, domain, or organizational unit.

Once you create the group policy and link it to the appropriate folder object, an administrator can designate which folders to redirect and where To do this, the administrator needs to navigate to the following location in the Group Policy Object:
User Configuration\Windows Settings\Folder Redirection
In the Properties of the folder, you can choose Basic or Advanced folder redirection, and you can designate the server file system path to which the folder should be redirected.

The %USERNAME% variable may be used as part of the redirection path, thus allowing the system to dynamically create a newly redirected folder for each user to whom the policy object applies.

More help Folder Redirection feature in Windows

[slym34]

Thanks for the info... One question, I've gone through those steps, but where you state:

To do this, the administrator needs to navigate to the following location in the Group Policy Object:
User Configuration\Windows Settings\Folder Redirection

THe "folder redirection" is not there.. I only have the following under windows settings:
remote installation
scripts
security settings
interet explorer maint

What would cause the folder redirection not to show? Maybe the link isn't set up right? Thanks again!

J

[chroma]

You can try this -

• Open Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) and navigate to: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders]
  
  
• In the right-pane, check for the entry "Common Documents" and double-click it. By default, the value would be "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Documents". You'll need to change the value to the redirected folder, say 'D:\SharedDocs'
  
  
• To redirect the Shared Music, Shared Pictures and Shared Video folder along with Shared Documents, try this: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
  
  
• In the right-pane:
  - Create a REG_SZ named "CommonMusic" and set it's path
  - Create a REG_SZ named "CommonPictures" and set it's path
  - Create a REG_SZ named "CommonVideo" and set it's path
  
• Note this -
• No space in between these words (CommonVideo, CommonMusic, CommonVideo).
• Once space in between this word (Common Documents)
  
  
• Logoff and login.
  
  Now check - The Shared folders are now redirected successfully.

[slym34]

Thanks that worked great!