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Redirect users' folders

Managing users' data can be a real challenge. Most users aren't very good about backing up their

documents, and many wouldn't know how if they had the inclination. You can reduce

administrative overhead considerably and provide a better experience for users by redirecting their

folders to a server, where you can control how and when they're backed up.



Windows 2000 group policy allows you to redirect the Application Data, Desktop, My Documents,

My Pictures, and Start Menu folders. When the user logs on and group policy is applied, Windows

looks to the specified network location for the folders. For example, you might redirect a user's My

Documents folder to his or her home folder on a network file server. When the user double-clicks

the My Documents icon, Windows displays the contents of the remote folder, rather than the user's

local folder.



Redirecting a user's documents to a network share enables you to easily back them up. You don't

need to worry whether the user has left his or her computer running, and you can schedule the

backup as needed. The capability to back up at the server also eliminates the need to run backup

agents on users' computers.



To configure Folder Redirection policies, open the user's OU in the Active Directory, create or

modify a Group Policy Object (GPO) for it, and configure the policies in the User

Configuration\Windows Settings\Folder Redirection branch as needed to redirect client folders to a

server.

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