I recently set up a new file share on a new server for Folder Redirection for a subset of our users. I robocopied the files, applied the policy last week, replacing the old policy, tested with a few users, and all seemed well.
This week, I'm hearing that some users are getting an error that they can't connect to \oldserver\users$\jsmith\desktop, where folder redirection SHOULD be pointing them to \newserver\users$\jsmith\desktop
I've attempted to clear out C:\ProgramData\Application Data\Microsoft\Group Policy\History on each machine, but we're a university and the quantity of users and computers is fairly large. Unfortunately, even after doing so, I've heard that the issue has persisted in one computer lab.
I even had someone reboot all the machines this morning, thinking that a reboot would force a policy refresh.
gpupdate /force seems to fix the issue, so it appears to be a stale cached GPO.
So – My questions are these:
- By default, how long are group policies cached? Where is this setting?
- How can I fix this WITHOUT telling my users to run gpupdate /force? It needs to work when they log in, without them needing to take a step and then log out/back in (preferably, of course!)
- gpupdate /force only seems to update policy for logged in users (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134201.aspx). Even if I run this, does this mean I need to catch it failing in the act?
(Offline files is disabled. Unfortunately, that's the only type of caching noted here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc739647(v=ws.10).aspx)
Best Answer
My first usual suspect would be a bug in the Windows client. GPO's may not be re-applied unless the client detects that they have changed or if not on a slow link.
You may want to test if the following setting helps:
Computer > Policies > Administrative Templates > System > Group Policy: Folder Redirection Policy Processing
Note this is a computer setting, and may need to be in a GPO separate from the Folder Redirection GPO.