Folder Redirection - Working Offline

[The Apprentice]

Hi

I'm trying to find out how to stop a laptop that has folder redirection (that is working at home or off premise) producing errors due to not being on the network. This is about to become more prevalent at work with the issuing of mobile devices. Fairly new to this but have been looking at offline files and certain configurations related to this, just wondered if anyone else has experienced this and if there was a particular setting that overcame this.

Currently using Windows Server 2012 R2

Any guidance on this would be much appreciated

Thank you

 

[cyabro]

Install the Essentials experience on the server and setup remote access.
Install the essentials connection tool on those mobile devices and they’ll be connected to the server remotely wherever they are via SSTP VPN.
I’ve got a fairly big client, around 40 staff, that has 3 offices around the country and their server is located in one office.
Works well.
Of course you do need a good internet connection where the server is located. My client has 1gb fibre.
They’ve also stopped using offline files and folder redirection, as they can always get access to the files on the server and we use onedrive backups for their personal folders.

 

[The Apprentice]

Thank you very much for your advice on this, we will be looking into this soon and see if it works with our setup.

Much appreciated

 

[putz]

Folder redirection really shouldn't be an issue as long as Offline Files are enabled and you have the permissions configured on your Folder Redirection share per Microsoft's guidelines.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/folder-redirection/deploy-folder-redirection

Where I have found folder redirection to be a pain is when its enabled on a device, but slow link detection is not properly configured so if for some reason the end users connect back to the network via something slower like a VPN and try and access their files, even doing something as simple as managing items on the desktop is extremely slow because its trying to work online instead of working offline.

If you know you are going to have a lot of remote workers that need not only files but also access to applications, I would setup some RDS servers and use those instead. Less headaches.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Or you put all this away, use Onedrive via Teams like someone that lives in 2020, and never have to do anything else.

It really is a ton less work, less expensive too.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

You've got to look at what errors those are..and go from there.
Sometimes the issue is related to the sync schedule/interval, other times..due to corrupted offline files.

But these days, I've been working to get rid of folder redirection, replacing it with OneDrive via O365 for those user libraries, and...for the centrally shared files (aka file server)...ditch the VPN and go with Teams/Sharepoint.