Windows Server 2008 Folder Redirection

Can someone explain to me how folder redirection really works? How can I use it to manage roaming profiles that will be loaded on a Windows XP machine as well as a Windows Server 2008 terminal server. What I would like for it to do is provide a way for Windows Server 2008 to load the already created roaming profile. When users log into the 2008 server a new 'Username.V2' folder is created on the network share that stores the profiles. If a user saves a document to the desktop on the 2008 server machine they will not see the document when they log into there XP machine.
Thanks in advance.

See if this blog helps. Read the articles discussing the differences between
XP and Vista redirection (they are different, hence what you are seeing).
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Folder Redirection

I believe Folder Redirection with using Offline Files will be the better
solution for many environments. I have it implemented in all my customer
sites. All data with redirection set, as well as offline files, are cached
locally and only synch up at scheduled, manually set times, or when logging
on or off. It vastly reduces client to server traffic. Here are some links
regarding redirection.

Using Folder Redirection for the My Docs, App data, Start Menu and Desktop,
a user will get their data no matter where they login. Enabling Offline
Files as well, will provide an additional performance increase on the user
side, as well as the ability to take machines off-site (such as laptops) and
the folks will have their data no matter where they are. However, I usually
just implement Folder Redirection with the My Documents folder, and not the
others, due to the overhead of data and backup capacities on the server. You
know how large the application folder can get, and not always a good choice
to implement redirection with. Keep that in mind when you implement this
feature.

There are a few things that need to be setup in place to make redirection
work. If in a mixed Vista/XP environment, as many are going through right
now, it may be a little challenging, but they can use the same home folder
setting, but the user must stick with one OS or the other, not logon to an
XP, then to a Vista, or things may get skewed.

1. The user accounts need to be in the OU the Redirection Policy will apply
to. It doesn't matter where the computer accounts are. This is because
Redirection is a User based Policy.

2. More than likely, the Redirection policy is probably setup to apply to a
group. Therefore, make sure the user account is part of that group.

3. Only the internal DNS servers must show up in a machine's IP properties.

4. They way I setup the shares, is create a root folder called Users. I
share it out as Users$ and set share permissions to only System=FC and
Domain Admins=FC.

5. Then I would create child folders, one for each user. For example, for a
user named Bill, I create a BIll folder, then share it out as Bill$, and set
the share permissions to Domain Admins=FC, System=FC, and Bill=FC. The share
permissions for the user MUST BE FC or it won't work. Then I set the NTFS
permissions (the Security tab), to Domain Admins=FC, System=FC, and Bill=FC.
The user MUST have FC for both the share and the NTFS permissions.

6. In the user's AD properties, Profile tab, you want to configure a home
folder, and this is assuming you want their stuff redirected to the home
folder, such as clicking on G, H, or whatever letter, then configuring
something like \\servername\%username%$ (the $ makes it hidden). Whether to
hide it or not depends on corporate SOP. The %username% is a variable that
will create the folder for you, but I usually do it manually, as in the
previous steps.

7. Create the Redirect policy based on the group membership, for example the
My Documents folder, should be redirected to \\servername\username$\. You
can also create it as \\servername\username$\MyDocuments Documents, which I
like because their data goes into a subfolder under the user folder as My
Documents. Now many places simply use \\servername\username$ and is easy,
and it works. However, with this method, ALL of their documents wind up
directly in the root of the home folder. However, this could be a little
problematic with Vista. For more info on Vista and XP in a mixed
environment, and problems that may occur, read the bottom to articles in the
list of links provided below.

8. In the policy, select "Basic - Redirect everyone's folder to the same
location. For the target folder location, Redirect to the following
location, and it will create a UNC in the form of: \\%HOMESERVER%%HOMEPATH%.
Under the settings tab, check the box that says Grant the user exclusive
rights to My Docs. Also select to Move the Contents, as well as Leave the
Folder in the new location when the policy is removed.

9. I usually create a logon bat script, place it in the NETLOGON share, and
specify the script name in thier AD properties, to manually map the same
drive letter specified under the Profile tab for the home folder to the home
folder, such as with a command line of "net use h: \\servername\username$".
It can also be done using VB and a logon script in their GPOs. The script
normally does multiple other things as well. I'm just pointing out this
portion of it. It is your choice of using VB, CMD or bat files when creating
a script.

10. Enable Offline Use for the redirected My Documents.

11. Repeat for the other folders, if you choose to include them. I would set
them to use subfolders, such as Application Data, so the data doesn't get
intermixed with the My Docs.

Recommendations for Folder Redirection: Group Policy
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc785925.aspx

Folder Redirection feature in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/232692

How To Configure Folder Redirection, Aug 22, 2007 ... How to use Group
Policy
to redirect the "Desktop", "My Documents", "Start Menu" and "Application
Data" folders.

How to Configure Folder Redirection
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc782799.aspx

How To Configure Folder Redirection

User Profiles and Folder Redirection FAQ
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...anage_faq.mspx

Enabling the administrator to have access to redirected folders
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/288991

Folder Redirection in a mixed environment XP/Vista

Folder redirection in Vista creates duplicate Music, Pictures, Desktop
folders.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KPurchase

Can someone explain to me how folder redirection really works? How can I use it to manage roaming profiles that will be loaded on a Windows XP machine as well as a Windows Server 2008 terminal server. What I would like for it to do is provide a way for Windows Server 2008 to load the already created roaming profile. When users log into the 2008 server a new 'Username.V2' folder is created on the network share that stores the profiles. If a user saves a document to the desktop on the 2008 server machine they will not see the document when they log into there XP machine.
Thanks in advance.

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I have the same problem, I have roaming profiles in a Windows server 2003 and had a Windows XP client. I changed the windows XP client to Windows server 2008 and the server 2008 doesn't pick up the roaming desktops

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WallyP

I have the same problem, I have roaming profiles in a Windows server 2003 and had a Windows XP client. I changed the windows XP client to Windows server 2008 and the server 2008 doesn't pick up the roaming desktops

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Could you please explain where exactly are you wanting to place these shortcuts? Not ALL folders of a user profile propagate to/from the profile folder on the server. And the "Startup" folder is one of those folders that does not get stored on the server, so it won't propagate.

I have seen that this problem arises because the redirected documents folder on the server is messed. There one to rearrange the redirection folder path, and to do the same I would recommend to modify the "My Documents" UAC path to "%HOMESHARE%%HOMEPATH%\My documents" to see if it works. If there are users still facing more problems even after not getting the result from the above solution then they can refer to more information about folder redirection in Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7 in the below link:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc732275.aspx