Configure User's Folder Redirection with Group Policy | Windows OS Hub (2024)

Folder Redirection enables you to store some user profile folders (special folders like Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Downloads, etc.) in a shared network folder on your file server. Redirected folders work similarly to mapped network drives (users access files in their profile over the network on a file server). In this article, we’ll look at how to use Group Policy to enable folder redirection on user computers in an Active Directory domain.

Advantages of using redirected folders:

  • You can configure centralized user data backup on your file server (instead of enabling backup on each workstation);
  • When a user logs on to any computer, they have access to their personal profile files;
  • You can manage allowed content in different files (using the FSRM role in Windows Server) or restrict the size of a user profile using NTFS disk quotas;
  • You may use redirected folders both for workstations and terminal servers (Remote Desktop Services/RDS farm);
  • You may use Folder Redirection in RDS together with roaming profiles (User Profile Disks or FSLogix profile containers). This can reduce the load on the network and speed up the loading of profiles because you do not have to copy the data from the redirected folders to an RDS host when you log in, and back again when you log out.

You can configure redirected folders in an Active Directory environment in two steps:

  1. Create a shared network folder on a file server and grant permissions;
  2. Configure Folder Redirection options with Group Policy.

Create a domain group of users you want to enable Folder Redirection for. You may create a new AD group and add users to it using PowerShell or the ADUC mmc snap-in:

New-ADGroup munFolderRedirection -path 'OU=Groups,OU=Munich,dc=woshub,DC=com' -GroupScope Global -PassThru –Verbose
Add-AdGroupMember -Identity munFolderRedirection -Members user1,user2,user3

Create a shared folder share to store the user’s redirected folders on your file server.

It is better to use a high availability configuration with Windows Failover Cluster or DFS, and/or provide resiliency at the virtualization level (VMware HA, Hyper-V cluster, etc.) for a file server running Windows Server on which you will store personal user folders.

To store user folders, it is recommended to use a separate disk (other than the system drive C:). Create and share a network folder with Windows Explorer or using the New-SmbShare PowerShell cmdlet:

New-SmbShare -Name RedirFolder -Path D:\RedirFolder –description "Target location for user's redirected folders"

Then you need to configure correct NTFS permissions on the folder so that each user can access only their own files.

Open the folder properties and navigate to the Security tab. Click Advanced, then click Disable Inheritance. When a warning appears, select Convert inherited permissions into explicit permissions on the object.

Configure User's Folder Redirection with Group Policy | Windows OS Hub (1)

Remove Users/Authenticated Users from the list of NTFS permissions, and leave the following permissions:

  • Administrators (Full control, This folder, subfolders and files)
  • SYSTEM (Full control, This folder, subfolders and files)
  • CREATOR OWNER (Full control, Subfolders and files only)

Now add the munFolderRedirection security group and grant the following permissions on the root folder (Applies to -> This folder only):

  • Traverse Folder/Execute File
  • List Folder/Read Data
  • Read Attributes
  • Read Extended Attributes
  • Create Folder/Append Data
  • Read Permissions

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Grant Full Control permissions for the Authenticated Users group in the network share properties (Sharing –> Advanced Sharing -> Permissions).

Configure User's Folder Redirection with Group Policy | Windows OS Hub (3)

With such a configuration, users are allowed to create folders in the directory root, and only owners can access the contents of subfolders.

Then you can create a Folder Redirection Group Policy for users. Open the domain Group Policy Management console (gpmc.msc), create a new GPO, and link it to the Organizational Unit (OU) with target user accounts.

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To apply the policy to specific users only, remove the Authenticated Users group from the Security Filtering and add munFolderRedirection and Domain Computers groups instead.

Edit your new GPO and expand User Configuration -> Policies -> Windows Settings -> Folder Redirection.

Here are options to redirect different user profile folders. In this example, I will configure redirection for the Documents folder only (you can enable folder redirection for other profile folders in the same way).

The redirection of the AppData (roaming) folder is rarely used.

Open the Documents folder properties and configure the following Folder Redirection options:

  • Settings: – Basic, Redirect everyone’s folder to the same location
  • Target folder location: Create a folder for each user under the root path
  • Root path: \\mun-fs1\RedirFolder (specify a UNC path to the previously created shared folder)

Configure User's Folder Redirection with Group Policy | Windows OS Hub (5)

The Settings tab has some options:

  • Grant the user exclusive rights to Documents – can be disabled, since we have already configured the correct NTFS permissions in advance;
  • Move the contents of Documents to the new location – whether existing files in the user’s documents should be moved to a redirected folder on the file server;
  • Redirect the folder back to the local user profile location when the policy is removed – this option enables offline access to the data (using Offline Files in Windows) and determines the behavior when the GPO is disabled. Configure User's Folder Redirection with Group Policy | Windows OS Hub (6)

Add your file server and/or domain to the trusted local intranet using the Site to Zone Assignment List GPO setting under Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Internet Explorer -> Internet Control Panel -> Security Page.

In the policy settings, specify the list of trusted servers in the following format:

  • The server or domain name (in the format: file://hostname , \\hostame or its IP address)
  • A zone number ( 1 – for a local intranet)

If you do not configure this option, running shortcuts and executables from a redirected directory may result in Windows security warnings.

Logout and login to the user’s computer (this will update the Group Policy settings on a device).

Then open the Documents folder properties and make sure that the UNC path to your shared folder on a file server is shown as the Location.

Configure User's Folder Redirection with Group Policy | Windows OS Hub (7)

You can create files and folders in the Documents folder and they will be available for a user on any computer in your domain.

Configure User's Folder Redirection with Group Policy | Windows OS Hub (2024)

FAQs

How do you configure user's Folder Redirection with Group Policy? ›

The process to configure folder redirection is straightforward. Within the designated GPO, the administrator should access User Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection. Once IT admins right-click the desired folders and select Properties, they can view the configuration options.

How do I redirect a user folder in Windows? ›

Open User Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection. Right-click Documents and click Properties. Choose Basic - Redirect everyone's folder to the same location.

What is the difference between Folder Redirection and roaming profile? ›

Folder Redirection and Offline Files are used together to redirect the path of local folders, such as the Documents folder, to a network location, while caching the contents locally for increased speed and availability. Roaming User Profiles is used to redirect a user profile to a network location.

What is a Folder Redirection policy? ›

Folder Redirection lets administrators redirect the path of a folder to a new location. You can use Group Policy to configure these locations. The location can be a folder on the local computer or a directory on a network file share.

How to check if Folder Redirection is enabled? ›

How to verify that folder redirection works
  1. In a session, navigate to a folder you directed, right-click the folder, and then select Properties.
  2. In the properties window, navigate to the Shortcut tab and then check the Target field. If the field displays a redirected path, folder redirection works.
Sep 25, 2020

How do I enable user configuration in Group Policy? ›

To enable user configuration only: Select 'Enable User Configuration' from the 'Manage' option located above the GPO list, or, enable the 'User Configuration Settings' and disable the 'Computer Configuration Settings' using the toggle buttons located beside each GPO.

How do I redirect a folder in Command Prompt? ›

Here's one method that requires very little typing: Type cd and then press Space. Press Enter to change the working directory to that folder.

What are the best practices for redirected folders? ›

For optimal performance of the Folder Redirection feature, it is strongly recommended that you create only the root share on the server, and then let the system create the folders for each user. If you must create the folders for users, ensure that you correctly assign permissions.

How do you implement Folder Redirection? ›

Configure Folder Redirection settings under User Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection. Specify the target folder that we want to redirect to the network location. In this demonstration, the document folder is selected to redirect to the E drive on the server.

Should I use Folder Redirection? ›

Folder redirection allows users to use their local directory, but folders/files are stored on the network for better protection (since file servers get backed up, workstations typically don't).

Where is Folder Redirection in registry? ›

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. Windows automatically replaces the %USERNAME% variable with the name of the current user when the policy is applied.

How do I setup Folder Redirection via Group Policy? ›

In Group Policy Management, right-click the domain or OU in which you want to set up Folder Redirection, and then select Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here. In the New GPO dialog box, enter a name for the GPO (for example, Folder Redirection Settings), and then select OK.

How do I fix user Folder Redirection? ›

Check the folder redirection settings in Group Policy to ensure that they are still pointing to the correct server. You can access these settings by opening the Group Policy Management Console, selecting the appropriate policy, and navigating to User Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection.

What are the disadvantages of Folder Redirection? ›

Potential conflicts: If two users access the same redirected folder or file offline and make changes to it, conflicts can arise when they try to sync their changes back to the server. This can result in lost data or data corruption if the conflicts are not resolved properly.

How do I set folder permissions in Group Policy? ›

Right-click the domain you want to apply this GPO to, and then select “Link an Existing GPO…” option from the context menu. “Select GPO” window opens up. Select the new “Assigning Folder Permissions” GPO, then click OK. In the right pane, stay on the “Linked Group Policy Objects” tab that appears by default.

How do I configure folder access for different user groups? ›

You set the permissions on the folder. Right click on it and select Properties → Security → Advanced and then set the permissions. You would be better off adding those users to a Group and setting the permissions on the folder for the group. You should create 2 security groups in the DC…

How do I link a Group Policy in Active Directory? ›

Start → Administrative tools → Group policy management console. Navigate to the desired OU, to which you want to link a GPO. Right click on this OU and select "Link an existing GPO" . In the "Select GPO" dialog under Group Policy Objects, select the GPO you want to link and click OK.

How to configure UAC in Group Policy? ›

  1. Resolution.
  2. Follow the below steps in GPO to resolve the misconfiguration. Configure the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Windows Settings >> Security Settings >> Local Policies >> Security Options >> "User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode" to "Enabled".

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