Re: GPO - Getting rid of My Documents



I'm not sure how the roaming profiles effect this - I don't use them.

If you have a PC where the My Docs folder is not redirected, and then you
start redirecting it, the My Docs contents get moved to the location
specified in the GPO, and removed from the local PC. However, the user
experience is the same - everything on the local PC that indicated "My
Documents" continues to do so - for example, when you go to open or save a
doc in Word, it still defaults to the My Documents directory. It's just
that the My Documents directory it's pointing to now lives on the server
rather than the local PC.

Also by default, synchronization for the redirected My Docs is enabled on
the local PC. That means that a copy of the My Docs is stored locally in
the client-side cache. So if there's no network access, the user works from
the cached copy, which then synchronizes back to the server when the
connection is restored. So even while disconnected, My Docs appears as it
always does, and works the same.

It seems like roaming profiles would still point to the redirected My Docs
on the server, as configured in the GPO. I can't see any reason why this
would work differently with roaming profiles than it does with local
profiles, but as I said, I have very limited experience with roaming
profiles. I prefer to redirect My Docs and the desktop rather than roaming
profiles, so there's probably a lot I don't know about them.

As an aside, your users should be testing their laptops before they leave,
to make sure that when they get to their destination, everything is going to
work as needed. I never leave town without verifying that my laptop has all
the files I need, and that my remote access is working as I need it to while
I'm gone. If a user is in the office for a period of time, synchronization
could be failing without them knowing it until they get to an outside
meeting, and that's clearly not the time you want to discover a failure.

"KDawg44" <KDawg44@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1193318902.934891.236970@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Oct 24, 2:50 pm, "Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]"
<gwdib...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm not sure what you're seeing - using group policy folder redirection
does
remove the My Documents directory and all its contents from the local PC.
You should be able to see this by r-clicking the My Documents link on the
Start menu -> Properties. Or, open Word and go to Tools -> Options and
look
at the File Locations tab.

If the local PC contains My Documents directories after redirection,
there's
a problem with your group policies - either configured incorrectly, or
not
applying.

"KDawg44" <KDaw...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1193250971.993744.162240@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Oct 24, 11:23 am, "Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]"
<gwdib...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This is probably even easier than you think. In the Server Mgmt
Console,
go
to the Backup page and click Configure My Documents Redirection. On
the
first screen that pops up, click More Information to see what that
wizard
will do. That wizard should seamlessly configure everything and move
the
documents when the user logs in. (For users with large My Documents
folders, you might prepare them for the time it'll take for the docs
to
move). If you don't like the way the wizard does it, you can
configure
it
manually in group policy - it's fairly straightforward, but post back
if
you
have questions.

This is all fairly transparent to the users - they'll still click the
My
Documents links anywhere they do now, just that it'll be pointing to
the
server rather than to a local My Documents folder (which will be
gone).

"KDawg44" <KDaw...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1193237028.893986.191270@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi,

I know there is a way but I am not sure what it is or how exactly to
do what i need to do.

How can I get rid of My Documents completely? I want to force
everyone to always save on their network drive or their local
computer. Is it possible to remove My Documents completely, move
everything that is currently in My Documents to their personal
directory in a folder (probably a script?), and then make the
default
place they save to this network share?

Thanks for any help.

Kevin

Thanks very much for the reply.

That is the way i had this, but we have many laptops and they are
getting confused between My Documents, the server, VPNs, Roaming
Profiles, etc. That's why I was hoping to completely turn this off so
they have no choice but to save to the server, and then I can't here
the backlash of "I was at a presentation, I tried to go to My
Documents and it wasn't there and I didn't have an internet connection
and..." etc.

I know there has to be a way to completely remove it.

Thanks.

Kevin

Okay, I think I might know the problem but I am not sure the best way
to fix it.

I believe that the My Documents part is coming through as part of the
roaming profiles. So I need to get rid of this somehow, but make sure
all the documents from that folder for each user is copied to their
home directory.

Does this sound like this would cause the problem I am having? And if
I get rid of My Documents as part of the profile, then do the
redirection, the users will not see the My Documents folder AT ALL?

Thanks very much for your help.

Kevin



.



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