Configuring Windows Profile Folder Redirections with Group Policy
Using group policies, you can assign settings to organizational units (OU) or to a domain. This enables you, for example, to automatically set folder redirections to all users in the OU or domain. If you move the account to a different OU or domain, the settings are removed or updated. Using this way, you do not have to set the redirection manually for each user account.
Using Group Policy Folder Redirection
Using a group policy object (GPO) is the preferred way to set folder redirections.
Windows does not support dynamically-generated user home folders provided by the Samba [homes] section. If you used this way to provide home folders, set up a group policy preference instead. See Using a Group Policy Preference. |
To create a group policy object (GPO) for the domain that automatically redirects profile folders to user's home folder:
- Log in to a computer using an account that is allowed you to edit group policies, such as the AD domain
Administrator
account.
- Open the
Group Policy Management Console
. If you are not having the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) installed on this computer, see Installing RSAT.
- Right-click to your AD domain and select
Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here
.
- Enter a name for the GPO, such as
Folder Redirections
. The new GPO is shown below the domain entry.
- Right-click to the newly-created GPO and select
Edit
to open theGroup Policy Management Editor
.
- Navigate to the
User Configuration
→Policies
→Windows Settings
→Folder Redirection
entry.
- Right-click to the folder to redirect, such as
Documents
, and selectProperties
.
- Set the following:
- On the
Target
tab:
- Setting:
Basic - Redirect everyone's folder to the same location
- Target folder location:
Redirect to the user's home directory
- Setting:
- On the
Settings
tab:
- Unselect
Grant the user exclusive rights.
- Unselect
Move the contents of Documents to the new location.
- Select
Also apply redirection to Windows 2000, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems.
- Select
Leave the folder in the new location when policy is removed.
- Unselect
- On the
(If you choose to set these options differently and run into problems such as Event ID 502 in the application event log when a user logs in, see this Microsoft support article which boils down to either setting both Grant user exclusive and Also apply to Windows 2000 or neither of them.)
- Click
OK
.
- Click
- Optionally, redirect other folders in the same way.
- Close the
Group Policy Management Editor
. The GPOs are automatically saved on theSysvol
share on the domain controller (DC).
- Close the
Group Policy Management Console
.
The policy is applied to users in domain at the next log in.
Using a Group Policy Preference
When you use the Samba [homes]
section to dynamically generate user home folders, you must set registry keys using a group policy preference to redirect folders. If you provide home folders using a different share name, see Using Group Policy Folder Redirection.
To create a group policy preference for the domain that automatically redirects profile folders to user's home folder:
- Log in to a computer using an account that is allowed you to edit group policies, such as the AD domain
Administrator
account.
- Open the
Group Policy Management Console
. If you are not having the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) installed on this computer, see Installing RSAT.
- Right-click to your AD domain and select
Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here
.
- Enter a name for the GPO, such as
Folder Redirections
. The new GPO is shown below the domain entry.
- Right-click to the newly-created GPO and select
Edit
to open theGroup Policy Management Editor
.
- Navigate to the
User Configuration
→Preferences
→Windows Settings
entry.
- Right-click to the
Registry
entry in the navigation and selectNew
→Registry Item
.
- Set the following:
- Action:
Replace
- Hive:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
- Key Path:
Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
- Value name: For example, to redirect the
Documents
folder, enter:Personal
- For a list of other registry keys of folders you can redirect, see the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
entry in your local Windows registry.
- Value type:
REG_EXPAND_SZ
- Value data: For example:
\\server\%USERNAME%\Documents
- Windows automatically replaces the
%USERNAME%
variable with the name of the current user when the policy is applied.
- Action:
- Optionally, redirect other folders in the same way.
- Close the
Group Policy Management Editor
. The GPOs are automatically saved on theSysvol
share on the domain controller (DC).
- Close the
Group Policy Management Console
.
The policy is applied to users in domain at the next log in.