Folder Redirection Does Not Succeed When You Specify Mapped Network Drive or Environment Variable (321805)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
This article was previously published under Q321805

SYMPTOMS

When you use Group Policy to perform folder redirection of a user's Application Data folder, Desktop, My Documents folder, or Start menu, the folders may not be redirected, or they may be incorrectly redirected.

Additionally, you may notice an Error event logged in the Event Viewer that contains a description similar to the following:
Failed to perform redirection of folder My Documents. The full source path was \\ServerName\ShareName\UserName\Mydocuments. The full destination path was %HOMESHARE%\Users\UserName\Mydocuments. At least one of the shares on which these paths lie is currently offline.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if you use a mapped network drive or user environment variables (for example, %HOMEPATH%) in the Target Folder Location box when you configure folder redirection.

Currently, the use of mapped network drives and environment variables is not supported in folder redirection. To use the Folder Redirection group policy, you must specify a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path such as \\ServerName\ShareName as the target folder location.

NOTE: You can vary this path based on group membership so that different groups of users can have different Start menus or Desktops.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, specify a UNC path in the Target Folder Location box of the Specify Group and Location dialog box when you configure Folder Redirection.

MORE INFORMATION

Group policies are processed during the initial startup process, when mapped network drives and user environment variables are unavailable. Because of this, a group policy cannot redirect folders to a mapped network drive that does not yet "exist".

For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

242557 Registry Settings for Folder Redirection in Windows

232692 Folder Redirection Feature in Windows

221837 Configuration of the My Documents Folder

272723 Administrator Cannot Access Another User's Redirected My Documents Folder

273842 Redirecting My Documents to a Subfolder Produces Unexpected Permissions

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/13/2004
Keywords:kbpending kbprb KB321805
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