Re: Folder contents are different when logged in remotely?

Dave,
I have discovered that the problem was as you suspected in an eralier post,
the files I am seeing are correct, the user who initiated this has admitted
that he has been mixing up his My Documents folder with the mapped drive. I
went through with another user in the office this morning what files they
can see from inside the network and they are seeing the same as me remotely.

After I climbed down off the ceiling I got her to look at the MD's old
laptop and found that all the files that he was complaining he couldn't see
on the share on the server were in fact on his old laptop in his "My
Documents" folder.

I therefore apologise profusely as this has been a complete red herring.

Clients, don't you just love em!

Siv

"Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]" <gwdibble@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uBIvSgdLGHA.500@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm not sure what this'll get you, but I'm curious. What happens if
you're on the LAN and you browse directly from the Run line to
\\<server>\<share>. Then when you get to the remote location, connect the
VPN and do the same thing. That way you'll be sure that, at least
theoretically, you're connecting to exactly the same folder in each case.


"Siv" <dotnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ONCXCFdLGHA.1088@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dave,
Thanks for your deliberations. Sorry that you couldn't find anything. I
had hunted around similarly before posting and couldn't see anything.

The client is the MD of the company that owns the server and he is
connecting using a secure hardware VPN as do I as his remote IT
Consultant.
We are using Draytek Vigor 2600G NAT routers using the LAN to Lan VPN
tunnels using IPSec High (ESP) 3DES with pre shared keys and
authentication so it is as secure as we can get without being the NSA.

I am getting a bit worried that we may have a confused share or
something, but having checked, all my shares have the same folder and
share name, which should rule out any possible confusion. I'll keep
looking and post back if anything comes up.

Siv



"Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]" <gwdibble@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:O2Tw3wcLGHA.3104@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It seems like you're seeing is something that's not there. I can't
think of any possible explanation for this other than cached files -
your remote PC is seeing the cached offline files, which are outdated,
rather than the "live" data. If you're convinced it's not an offline
files issue, the only thing I can think of is to call MS support and see
what they can come up with. FWIW, I did a pretty thorough TechNet
search without coming up with anything.

The only other thing I can think of is confusion between directory and
share names. For example, let's say on your server you have a folder
named d:\dog and one named d:\cat. But d:\cat is shared with the share
name "dog." When you access the server from your desktop PC, you're
seeing \\<SBS>\dog, which is the share name that points to the folder
d:\cat. When you log in locally, you're browsing to the other folder,
d:\dog, with the actual folder name rather than the share name. Logging
in with remote desktop shows the same thing you'd see logged in locally.
So generally, when you're logged in on the LAN, you see share names, but
when logged into the server locally or over RDP, you're seeing actual
folder names. Logged in at the server console, you could look at the
folder names in Windows Explorer and the share names in the Server
Management Console -> Shares to see if anything like that might be going
on.

Or, if you have two similarly named folders and you're seeing the wrong
one (for example d:\company and d:\company's).

Anyway, I hope you'll post back and update us when you find the
solution.

By the way, you have a client who routinely accesses your server desktop
remotely? That seems a tad insecure to me. Have you considered finding
another way for clients to access documents on your network? Maybe
SharePoint?


"Siv" <dotnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uMtc0KcLGHA.648@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dave,
I got one of my clients who also logs in remotely and also works on his
laptop in the office to clear his offline files cache and also turned
offline files caching off (before connecting using Remote Desktop
Connection) and then he logged in again. He did that and found that
nothing had changed, he can still only see old versions of the files??

It's barmy. Would it make any difference if they had Service Pack 1 as
I notice that the server is running without SP1?

Siv

"Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]" <gwdibble@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:OstAQHbLGHA.2696@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
There are two ways for files to become available offline. The user
can set them up that way on the client PC, or it can be controlled on
the server. On your SBS, go to the properties of the shared folder.
On the Sharing tab, click the Caching button and see if it's set for
files opened by a user to automatically be available offline.

If so, you may have files cached despite the fact that the remote PC
won't let you set it to cache. What I would do is to delete the
offline files as I described before, but without first connecting the
VPN or opening the remote desktop client.

Actually, even if Caching is not set to automatically make the files
available offline, there could still be files in the offline cache on
the remote client PC. Can you try logging in from a different remote
PC to see what happens?


"Siv" <dotnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e7iIxVaLGHA.2704@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dave,
I looked at the D: drive on the server using Computer Management and
selecting the "Disk Management" tool. When I looked at the "shadow
copies" tab of the disk properties dialog it says that the D: drive's
"Next Run Time" is disabled and in the list below there are no
shadow copies dates listed. There are on the C: drive, but none of
the shares I am having this problem with are on the C: drive.

What the hell is it?

Siv

"Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]" <gwdibble@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:OvY3%23DaLGHA.3460@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
AFAIK shadow copies can only be accessed using the Shadow Copy
Client, so I doubt it's related to that. More likely the remote PC
is accessing locally cached copies of the data instead of the live
versions. I'd start by deleting the offline files to test this.

Before connecting the VPN, on the remote PC go to Windows Explorer
Tools -> Folder Options -> Offline Files. Click the Delete Files
button. Then connect the VPN and see if you're seeing the expected
files. Offline files are profile-specific, so if you have a separate
profile on your home computer that you use when VPN'ing, you'll want
to do the Delete Files from that profile.


"Siv" <dotnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Ou6vx5ZLGHA.4052@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,
I have discovered a strange effect, if I work on some files in one
of the SBS2003 server's shared folders when logged in on the
internal LAN, then go home and log in remotely using a VPN and
Remote Desktop to the server and browse to the same folder, the
contents I see do not match what I see when in teh office. The
files I see are old versions, indeed some files are not present,
yet if I ring someone in the office and ask them to read me what
they can see from their machine they can see the file that I could
see when i was in teh office.

Is this some kind of Shadow Copy issue, ie when logged in remotely
I am seeing one of the older copies of the folder? If so how do I
stop it doing it, it is just so frustrating!

Siv
Martley, Near Worcester UK

















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