Favorites redirection not redirecting.

I

Ian Murray

I have written a .adm file to redirect cookies and favorites to the
users home directory. My first attempt worked just fine, the only
problem was that when applied it was tattooed into the registry, the
key i modified was HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders after some research i discovered that if i modified
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Explorer\User Shell Folders then the
change should be non-persistent. When i apply the policy, the registry
key is created and the value data states that favorites should go to
%homedrive%\favorites however they don't, they're still saved in
%USERPROFILES%/favorites. Here is my .adm file, any assistance would
be most appreciated as i'm going round and round in circles.........

CLASS USER

CATEGORY "Folder Redirection"
KEYNAME "Software\Policies\Microsoft\Explorer\User Shell Folders"

POLICY "Redirect the Cookies Folder"
EXPLAIN "When enabled this policy redirects the 'Cookies' folder to
the users home drive"
PART "Cookies Folder Path" EDITTEXT REQUIRED EXPANDABLETEXT
DEFAULT "%HomeDrive%\Cookies"
VALUENAME "Cookies"
END PART
END POLICY

POLICY "Redirect the Favorites Folder"
EXPLAIN "When enabled this policy redirects the 'Favorites' folder
to the users home drive"
PART "Favorites Folder Path" EDITTEXT REQUIRED EXPANDABLETEXT
DEFAULT "%HomeDrive%\Favorites"
VALUENAME "Favorites"
END PART
END POLICY

END CATEGORY; "Folder Redirection"
 
B

Buz [MSFT]

Can you point the path to a UNC share instead of using %HomeDrive%?

Buz Brodin
MCSE NT4 / Win2K
Microsoft Enterprise Domain Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.
 
I

Ian Murray

Thanks for your reply Buz, i don't see why not, i'll test it and see
if it makes any difference
 
I

Ian Murray

Tested with UNC path, same results registry key created but the
favorites are not redirecting, also tried with the drive mapping.
 
B

Buz [MSFT]

Some Userenv logging may help identify the problem here.

Here are some known issues that may be occurring:

274789 The Folder Redirection Feature Does Not Function
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=274789

291087 Event ID 101 and Event ID 1000 Messages May Be Displayed When Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=291087

305293 Description of the Windows XP Professional Fast Logon Optimization
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=305293

291087 Event ID 101 and Event ID 1000 Messages May Be Displayed When Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=291087


Buz Brodin
MCSE NT4 / Win2K
Microsoft Enterprise Domain Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.




Ian Murray said:
Tested with UNC path, same results registry key created but the
favorites are not redirecting, also tried with the drive mapping.

(e-mail address removed) (Ian Murray) wrote in message
Thanks for your reply Buz, i don't see why not, i'll test it and see
if it makes any difference




"Buz [MSFT]" <[email protected]> wrote in message
Can you point the path to a UNC share instead of using %HomeDrive%?

Buz Brodin
MCSE NT4 / Win2K
Microsoft Enterprise Domain Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.





I have written a .adm file to redirect cookies and favorites to the
users home directory. My first attempt worked just fine, the only
problem was that when applied it was tattooed into the registry, the
key i modified was HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders after some research i discovered that if i modified
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Explorer\User Shell Folders then the
change should be non-persistent. When i apply the policy, the registry
key is created and the value data states that favorites should go to
%homedrive%\favorites however they don't, they're still saved in
%USERPROFILES%/favorites. Here is my .adm file, any assistance would
be most appreciated as i'm going round and round in circles.........

CLASS USER

CATEGORY "Folder Redirection"
KEYNAME "Software\Policies\Microsoft\Explorer\User Shell Folders"

POLICY "Redirect the Cookies Folder"
EXPLAIN "When enabled this policy redirects the 'Cookies' folder to
the users home drive"
PART "Cookies Folder Path" EDITTEXT REQUIRED EXPANDABLETEXT
DEFAULT "%HomeDrive%\Cookies"
VALUENAME "Cookies"
END PART
END POLICY

POLICY "Redirect the Favorites Folder"
EXPLAIN "When enabled this policy redirects the 'Favorites' folder
to the users home drive"
PART "Favorites Folder Path" EDITTEXT REQUIRED EXPANDABLETEXT
DEFAULT "%HomeDrive%\Favorites"
VALUENAME "Favorites"
END PART
END POLICY

END CATEGORY; "Folder Redirection"
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
B

Buz [MSFT]

Please disregard the last post. I found more info on problems that can arise
form trying to redirect Favorites..



When redirecting the Favorites folder through an NT4-style registry value:

KeyName: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell
Folders
ValueName: Favorites
ValueType: REG_EXPAND_SZ
Value: \\%HOMESERVER%\USERDATA\%username%\Favorites

You will notice that the favorites folder will indeed redirect, but that
specified
URLS will not propagate to the redirected Favorites folder unless you give
Domain
Computers write permission to the redirected folder. Even then, though, the
redirected .url files are owned by the machine account that the user last
logged on
to, which cause various issues.

===Resolution===

There is NO way to accomplish this without having the computer account own
the
redirected specified URLs.

The reason why this is because Windows 2000 does not support
Native Folder Redirection for the Favorites folder. This is s a legacy key
that
the OS will still observe, but isn't valid in any of the default policies
that ship
with the product. Therefore, previous versions of Folder Redirection will
NOT ACL
the Folders with the User's SID. Since the IE Maintenance policies are
being done
under the system context (Local Machine), the Local Machine needs to have
the
proper permissions to for the machine to write these settings properly even
if the
user has the permissions.



Here is another one - Buz

*** Problem Description ***
Can't use folder redirection in group policy for the "My Favorites" folder
By default, the other folders that are redirected are:
Application Data
Desktop
My Documents
Start Menu

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<>
*** Resolution ***

By default, there is not a folder redirection for the "My favorites" folder
built
into group policy.
To accomplish this you would have to:
1) Write a custom ADM file to the key to set the redirected path
2) Make a registry change to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell
Folders\Favorites

The downside to these methods is that you need to copy the files manually
from the
existing favorites folder to the new location yourself.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<>




Buz Brodin
MCSE NT4 / Win2K
Microsoft Enterprise Domain Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.



<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<>
 
I

Ian Murray

Thanks Buz,

I'll try and change the permissions.

If this doesn't work i think i'll just accept that it's not going to work...........
 
D

Dan Ireland

I am interested in this as I have been trying to figure
out a way to redirect the favorites.

Does this move the existing favorites from the local hard
drive to the network share or will your users need to do
this manually?

Thanks,

Dan
-----Original Message-----
Thanks for your reply Buz, i don't see why not, i'll test it and see
if it makes any difference




"Buz [MSFT]" <[email protected]> wrote in message
Can you point the path to a UNC share instead of using % HomeDrive%?

Buz Brodin
MCSE NT4 / Win2K
Microsoft Enterprise Domain Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.
Click to expand...
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Use
r.
Click to expand...
 
I

Ian Murray

Hi Dan,

Unfortunately you have to copy the existing favorites into the new
folder created on the server, i must admit i've pretty much given up
on this now, as i said earlier i can make the change persistent in the
registry but i don't want that. If you have anymore sucess than me
please let me know how.


Dan Ireland said:
I am interested in this as I have been trying to figure
out a way to redirect the favorites.

Does this move the existing favorites from the local hard
drive to the network share or will your users need to do
this manually?

Thanks,

Dan
-----Original Message-----
Thanks for your reply Buz, i don't see why not, i'll test it and see
if it makes any difference




"Buz [MSFT]" <[email protected]> wrote in message
Can you point the path to a UNC share instead of using % HomeDrive%?

Buz Brodin
MCSE NT4 / Win2K
Microsoft Enterprise Domain Support

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.





I have written a .adm file to redirect cookies and favorites to the
users home directory. My first attempt worked just fine, the only
problem was that when applied it was tattooed into the registry, the
key i modified was
Click to expand...
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Use
r
Shell Folders after some research i discovered that if i modified
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Explorer\User Shell Folders then the
change should be non-persistent. When i apply the policy, the registry
key is created and the value data states that favorites should go to
%homedrive%\favorites however they don't, they're still saved in
%USERPROFILES%/favorites. Here is my .adm file, any assistance would
be most appreciated as i'm going round and round in circles.........

CLASS USER

CATEGORY "Folder Redirection"
KEYNAME "Software\Policies\Microsoft\Explorer\User Shell Folders"

POLICY "Redirect the Cookies Folder"
EXPLAIN "When enabled this policy redirects the 'Cookies' folder to
the users home drive"
PART "Cookies Folder Path" EDITTEXT REQUIRED EXPANDABLETEXT
DEFAULT "%HomeDrive%\Cookies"
VALUENAME "Cookies"
END PART
END POLICY

POLICY "Redirect the Favorites Folder"
EXPLAIN "When enabled this policy redirects the 'Favorites' folder
to the users home drive"
PART "Favorites Folder Path" EDITTEXT REQUIRED EXPANDABLETEXT
DEFAULT "%HomeDrive%\Favorites"
VALUENAME "Favorites"
END PART
END POLICY

END CATEGORY; "Folder Redirection"
Click to expand...
.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 

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