Working with Offline Files CHAPTER 15 603 If you do not configure this policy setting, the system limits the space that offline files occupy to 25 percent of the total space on the drive where the Offline Files cache is located. The limit for automatically cached files is 100 percent of the total disk space limit. However, the users can change these values using the Offline Files Control Panel tool. If you enable this setting and specify a total size limit greater than the size of the drive hosting the Offline Files cache and that drive is the system drive, the total size limit is automatically adjusted downward to 75 percent of the size of the drive. If the cache is located on a drive other than the system drive, the limit is automatically adjusted downward to 100 percent of the size of the drive. If you enable this setting and specify a total size limit less than the amount of space currently used by the Offline Files cache, the total size limit is automatically adjusted upward to the amount of space currently used by offline files. The cache is then con- sidered full. If you enable this setting and specify an auto-cached space limit greater than the total size limit, the auto-cached limit is automatically adjusted downward to equal the total size limit. note The Limit Disk Space Used By Offline Files policy setting replaces the Default Cache Size policy setting used by earlier versions of Windows. n Turn On Economical Application Of Administratively Assigned Offline Files This policy setting allows you to turn on economical application of administratively assigned Offline Files. If you enable this policy setting, only new files and folders in administratively assigned folders are synchronized at logon. Files and folders that are already available offline are skipped and are synchronized later. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, all administratively assigned folders are synchronized at logon. ADDITIONAL OFFLINE FILES POLICY SETTINGS FOR WINDOWS 7 The following Group Policy settings for managing Offline Files are new in Windows 7: n Configure Background Sync This policy setting applies to any user who logs on to the specified machine while this policy is in effect. This policy is in effect when a net- work folder is determined by the Configure Slow-Link Mode policy to be in slow-link mode. For network folders in slow-link mode, a sync will be initiated in the background on a regular basis, according to these settings, to synchronize the files in those shares/fold- ers between the client and server. By default, network folders in slow-link mode will be synchronized with the server every 360 minutes, with the start of the sync varying between 0 and 60 additional minutes (as shown in Figure 15-18). Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CHAPTER 15 Managing Users and User Data 604 FIGURE 15-18 The new Configure Background Sync policy setting in Windows 7 You can override the default sync interval and variance by setting Sync Interval and Sync Variance values. You can also set a period of time in which background sync is disabled by setting Blockout Start Time and Blockout Duration values. To ensure that all the network folders on the machine are synchronized with the server on a regular basis, you may also set the Maximum Allowed Time Without A Sync value. You may also configure Background Sync for network shares that are in user-selected Work Offline mode. This mode is in effect when a user selects the Work Offline option for a specific share. When selected, all configured settings will apply to shares in user- selected Work Offline mode as well. n Enable Transparent Caching Enabling this policy optimizes subsequent reads to network files by a user or an application. This is done by caching reads to remote files over a slow network in the Offline Files cache. Subsequent reads to the same file are then satisfied from the client after verifying the integrity of the cached copy. This policy not only improves user response times but also decreases bandwidth consumption over the WAN links to the server. The cached files are temporary and are not available to the user when offline. The cached files are not kept in sync with the version on the server, and the most current version from the server is always available for subsequent reads. This policy is triggered by the configured round-trip network latency value (shown in Figure 15-19). We recommend using this policy when the network connection to the server is slow. For example, you can configure a value of 60 milliseconds as the round- trip latency of the network above which files should be transparently cached in the Offline Files cache. If the round-trip latency of the network is less than 60 milliseconds, reads to remote files will not be cached. If you do not configure this setting, remote files will not be transparently cached on user clients. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Working with Offline Files CHAPTER 15 605 FIGURE 15-19 The new Enable Transparent Caching policy setting in Windows 7 n Exclude Files From Being Cached This policy enables administrators to exclude certain file types from being made available offline. You need to specify the file exten- sions of the file types that should be excluded (shown in Figure 15-20). A user then will be unable to create a file of this type in the folders that are available offline. FIGURE 15-20 The new Exclude Files From Being Cached policy setting in Windows 7 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CHAPTER 15 Managing Users and User Data 606 diReCt FRoM tHe SoURCe Troubleshooting Roaming User Profile Folder Redirection, and Client-Side Caching Issues in Windows Vista and Later Versions Paul D. LeBlanc, Manager Supportability Program T he following lists describe some common support issues with Folder Redirection, RUP, and CSC in Windows Vista and later versions. Roaming User Profile Issue Troubleshooting Symptom: Loading temporary profile error during user logon: “Windows cannot find the local profile and is logging you on with a temporary profile. Changes you make to this profile will be lost when you log off.” n Possible cause #1: SID in ProfileList structure deleted Explanation: Microsoft does not recommend that you delete user profiles using anything other than the Control Panel item (Computer Properties \Advanced System Settings\User Profiles\Settings). When the folder structure for a user profile is deleted using Windows Explorer or the command prompt, the corresponding registry entries under the ProfileList registry key are left behind. Resolution: Remove the corresponding SID entry under the ProfileList registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion \ProfileList. n Possible cause #2: User in Guests group Explanation: During logon, the interactive user is checked for membership in the local Guests group and the domain Guest group (if the user is the mem- ber of a domain). Resolution: If appropriate, remove the affected user from the local Guests /Domain Guest membership (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940453). n Possible cause #3: Insufficient permissions (roaming profile) Explanation: If permissions have been altered on a working roaming profile, the user may encounter this error. Resolution: Correct the permissions so that the user has Full Control over her Roaming User Profile folders. If a locked-down user profile is required, use a mandatory user profile. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Working with Offline Files CHAPTER 15 607 Folder Redirection Troubleshooting Symptom: Duplicate folders in user profile n Possible cause #1: Partial sync Explanation: Users of Windows Vista and later versions can select various folders within their user profiles to redirect to a local or remote drive. If only some of the contents of a folder are moved, the user may see multiple folders under a user profile, such as two folders named Documents or Music. Resolution: Allow the session to complete data transfer before logoff. n Possible cause #2: Local and remote copies of files kept Explanation: When a user’s folder is being redirected, the user will be asked whether she wants to move all current content. If the user chooses not to move the contents but only to copy them, duplicate folders will appear under the user profile—one local, one remote. Resolution: This is by design. n Possible cause #3: Program creating folder locally (application compatibility) Explanation: After a user redirects a user profile folder or folders successfully, on running an application, a local instance of the user profile folder(s) may be created. This behavior is due to the application using only local resources or having a fixed path for resources and not using the environment variables. This is an application-specific issue. Resolution: Update the application or do not redirect the affected user profile folder(s). Client-Side Caching Troubleshooting Symptom: Files/folders not seen while offline n Possible cause #1: Sync has not completed (because it occurs during background) Explanation: This is a fundamental change from Windows XP. In Windows Vista and later versions, Offline Files will synchronize in the background as user activity allows. This means that users will not have to wait for files to synchronize before completing a logoff. However, this also means that, depending on the volume and type of data that is to be synchronized, synchronization may need further logon sessions to complete. Resolution: Allow longer logon sessions for larger amounts of data to be synchronized. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CHAPTER 15 Managing Users and User Data 608 n Possible cause #2: Sync has not completed Explanation: Another possible root cause of incomplete synchronization is the same as in Windows XP—namely, if a file is in use, open file handles will prevent the file from synchronizing. Resolution: This is an unchanged behavior and is by design. n Possible cause #3: Offline files respond slowly over a VPN connection Explanation: On computers running Windows Vista and later versions, you experience slow performance after you establish a VPN connection. Additionally, it may take several minutes to open a redirected shell folder. This problem occurs if the following conditions are true: • Offline files are enabled on the computer. • Some offline files are cached on the local computer. • You logged on to the computer when you were offline. • The VPN connection is based on a slow connection. This problem usually lasts several minutes and then disappears. Resolution: See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934202. (This issue has been fixed in SP1.) n Possible cause #4: Changes to an offline file are not saved to the server when files are synchronized Explanation: When you modify an offline file in Windows Vista and later versions, the changes are not saved to the server when files are synchronized. When this problem occurs, you receive the following error message: “Access Denied.” Additionally, a .tmp file that corresponds to the file appears on the server. You may experience this symptom even when you have Change per- missions to the shared resource. Resolution: See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935663. (This issue has been fixed in SP1.) Summary Folder Redirection, Offline Files, and Roaming User Profiles have been enhanced in Windows 7 to provide better support for corporate roaming scenarios and high availability for file server scenarios. You can implement these features using the procedures outlined in this chapter; you can manage various aspects of their behavior using Group Policy and from the user interface. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Additional Resources CHAPTER 15 609 Additional Resources These resources contain additional information and tools related to this chapter. Related Information n “Folder Redirection Overview” found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library /cc732275.aspx. n “File Sharing and Offline Files Enhancements” found at http://technet.microsoft.com /en-us/library/dd637828.aspx. n “Windows Browse and Organize Features” found at http://technet.microsoft.com /en-us/library/dd744693.aspx. n Managing Roaming User Data Deployment Guide found at http://technet.microsoft.com /en-us/library/cc766489.aspx. Note that this information is for Windows Vista, so check first to see whether this topic has been updated for Windows 7 either here or else- where on TechNet. On the Companion Media n AddLocalUserToLocalGroup.ps1 n Change-LocalUserPassword.ps1 n CreateLocalGroup.ps1 n CreateLocalUser.ps1 n Remove-LocalUserFromLocalGroup.ps1 n Get-LocalGroupMembers.ps1 n LocateDisabledUsers.ps1 n Get-LocalGroups.ps1 n Get-LocalUsers.ps1 n LocateLockedOutLocalUsers.ps1 n ListUserLastLogon.ps1 n FindAdmin.ps1 n EnableDisableUser.ps1 n BackupFolderToServer.ps1 n GetSystemRestoreSettings.ps1 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 611 CHAPTER 16 Managing Disks and File Systems n Overview of Partitioning Disks 612 n Working with Volumes 615 n File System Fragmentation 622 n Backup And Restore 624 n Windows ReadyBoost 639 n BitLocker Drive Encryption 641 n Encrypting File System 662 n Symbolic Links 664 n Disk Quotas 670 n Disk Tools 673 n Summary 677 n Additional Resources 678 T he most important aspect of a computer is the user data. Businesses depend on the privacy of their intellectual property to stay competitive, and government organi- zations depend on confidentiality for national security. Thus, it’s critical that Windows protects the availability, integrity, and privacy of the user data on client computers. The Windows 7 operating system provides several important improvements to disk and file management. Windows 7 includes several improvements that both users and administrators will appreciate. By default, backups automatically create a System Image backup of the entire system drive. Additionally, you can store System Image backups to shared folders. System Image backups greatly reduce the time required to restore a computer after a hard disk failure or system corruption. To improve data security, you can use Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption to encrypt an entire volume, protecting the data on the disk even if the disk is physically removed Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. CHAPTER 16 Managing Disks and File Systems 612 from the computer. BitLocker works alongside Encrypting File System (EFS): BitLocker can encrypt system files and the page file along with any other files on the volume, whereas EFS is intended primarily to encrypt user files. Windows 7 supports BitLocker To Go, enabling removable flash drives to be encrypted with BitLocker. The BitLocker To Go Reader enables earlier versions of Windows to read encrypted files from the removable flash drive if the user has the required password. This chapter describes these features, as well as features introduced in Windows Vista, in more detail. Overview of Partitioning Disks Before you can format disks into volumes that applications can access, you must partition them. Windows 7 provides flexible partitioning that you can change even after you have formatted a volume. However, it’s still important to plan ahead when creating partitions for features such as BitLocker Drive Encryption, which has very specific partitioning requirements. note If Windows discovers a problem with a volume, it might schedule ChkDsk to run the next time the computer starts. Large volumes, especially volumes bigger than a terabyte, can take a very long time to check—more than an hour. During this time, the computer will be offline. Therefore, when you plan the size of your partitions, consider the time required for Windows to perform a ChkDsk operation at startup. The sections that follow describe how to partition disks in Windows 7. How to Choose Between MBR or GPT Master Boot Record (MBR) and Globally Unique Identifier Partition Table (GPT) are two dif- ferent disk-partitioning systems. MBR is the most common system and is supported by every version of Windows, including Windows Vista and Windows 7. GPT is an updated and im- proved partitioning system and is supported on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. GPT offers several advantages over MBR: n In Windows, GPT can support up to 128 partitions. MBR supports only four partitions. n GPT accurately describes physical disk geometry, allowing Windows to create partitions and logical drives on cylinder boundaries. Although Windows attempts to do this for MBR, the geometry that MBR reports has no relationship to a modern drive’s physi- cal geometry because it has been altered to enable larger capacities. Different disk vendors have created vendor-specific workarounds for this problem that are difficult to manage. Therefore, partitioning is more reliable when using GPT. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. [...]... Windows Vista and Windows 7, and they have the same functionality that basic disks have always had, plus a few extras You can create new partitions (called simple volumes in Windows Vista and Windows 7) , delete partitions, and extend or shrink the existing partitions The ability to extend or shrink an existing partition is an important new feature in Windows Vista and continues to be supported in Windows. .. 12/20/2006 4:42:12 PM Shadow Copy ID: { 271 752a4-e886-4c92-9 671 -10624ca36cd4} Original Volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{3e5 979 6e-cf1b-11da-af4b-806d6 172 696f}\ Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy2 Backup And Restore  Chapter 16 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 635 Originating Machine: WIN7 Service Machine: WIN7 Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow... folder on the target computer File and Folder Backup Structure The Backup tool in Windows XP creates a single file with a bkf extension when you perform a backup Backups in Windows Vista and Windows 7 provide a more flexible and reliable file structure When a user chooses to perform a backup to an external hard disk, Windows 7 automatically creates a folder in the root of the hard disk using the computer... {26fc6f1c-9610-4c0c-b10b-7e9f6fab042c} Original Volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{3e5 979 6e-cf1b-11da-af4b-806d6 172 696f}\ Shadow Copy Volume: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy1 Originating Machine: WIN7 Service Machine: WIN7 Provider: 'Microsoft Software Shadow Copy provider 1.0' Type: DataVolumeRollback Attributes: Persistent, No auto release, No writers, Differential Contents of shadow copy set ID: {d14c728d-ff85-4be1-b048-24f3aced48a9}... (PARTITION_MSFT_RESERVED_GUID, 0xE3C9E316L, 0x0B5C, 0x4DB8, 0x81, 0x7D, 0xF9, 0x2D, 0xF0, 0x02, 0x15, 0xAE) n Data partition  This partition stores Windows 7 system files and user files The data partition has the following partition GUID: DEFINE_GUID (PARTITION_BASIC_DATA_GUID, 0xEBD0A0A2L, 0xB9E5, 0x4433, 0x 87, 0xC0, 0x68, 0xB6, 0xB7, 0x26, 0x99, 0xC7); Additionally, dynamic disks can use two different GPT... multiple versions of a single file, Windows 7 gives users the opportunity to choose from several older copies of a file when using the Previous Versions tool (also described later in this chapter) When you restore files, you only need to restore from a single backup because Windows 7 automatically locates the most recent version of each file In previous versions of Windows, you need to first restore... Virtual Server 2005 or Microsoft Virtual PC Additionally, Complete PC Backup in Windows Vista created a copy of the computer’s hard disk as a VHD disk image Beginning with Windows 7, you can now mount VHDs exactly like a physical disk By mounting a VHD, you can easily copy files to and from the virtual disk Additionally, Windows 7 can be configured to boot from a VHD, as described in Chapter 29 You can... administrative command-line tool (C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp Shadow Copy Storage association For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{3e5 979 6e-cf1b-11da-af4b-806d6 172 696f}\ Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{3e5 979 6e-cf1b-11da-af4b806d6 172 696f}\ Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 32 .70 3 MB (0%) Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 1.904 GB (1%) Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 38.061 GB (30%) n Vssadmin... Volumes In earlier versions of Windows, your choices for resizing volumes and partitions after they have been created are limited If you need to add space to a volume, your only choice is to make the disk a dynamic disk and then create a spanned volume If you want to expand or contract a partition, your only choice is to use third-party tools In Windows Vista and Windows 7, however, you can now expand... structure includes separate folders for each computer, backup set, backup session, and catalog Note  When restoring files, Windows 7 looks for a folder with the current computer’s name in the root of the backup media If you need to restore files created on a different Windows 7 computer, you can either rename the folder to the current computer’s name or perform an Advanced Restore and select the Files . of Windows, including Windows Vista and Windows 7. GPT is an updated and im- proved partitioning system and is supported on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library /cc732 275 .aspx. n “File Sharing and Offline Files Enhancements” found at http://technet.microsoft.com /en-us/library/dd6 378 28.aspx. n Windows Browse