Configuring Target Folder Location

If you select either the Basic Redirection or Advanced Redirection option on the Target tab, you have three possible target folder locations from which to choose, plus a fourth location for the Documents folder:

• Create A Folder For Each User Under The Root Path This is the default setting for the target folder location option. Choosing this option lets you specify a root path for redirecting the selected folder for all users targeted by the GPO. You must specify this path as a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path. For example, if you select this option for the Documents policy setting and the root path \\DOCSRV\DOCS is specified, any users targeted by this GPO will have a folder named \\DOCSRV\DOCS\user_name \Documents created on the file server the next time they start their computers, where user_name is a folder named after the user name of each user targeted by the GPO.
• Redirect To The Following Location Choose this option if you want to redirect several users to the same redirected folder using the specified UNC path. For example, if you redirect the Desktop folder to \\DOCSRV\DESKTOP and select this option, all users targeted by the GPO will load the same desktop environment when they log on to their computers.
  Another use for this option is to redirect the Start Menu folder to ensure that all targeted users have the same Start menu. If you do this, be sure to configure suitable permissions on the redirected folder to allow all users to access it.
• Redirect To The Local UserProfile Location Choose this option if you want to redirect a previously redirected folder back to its local user profile location. For example, selecting this option for the Documents policy setting redirects the Documents folder back to %SystemDrive%\Users\user_name\Documents.
• Redirect To The User's Home Directory This option is available only for the Documents folder. Choosing this option redirects the Documents folder to the user's home folder. (The user's home folder is configured on the Profile tab of the properties sheet for the user's account in Active Directory Users And Computers.) If you also want the Pictures, Music, and Videos folders to follow the Documents folder to the user's home folder, select the Also Apply Redirection Policy To Windows 2000, Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP And Windows Server 2003 Operating Systems option on the Settings tab of the policy setting.

Note You can specify only a UNC path for the root path when redirecting folders to a network share. You cannot specify a mapped drive for this path because network drives are mapped only after all Group Policy extensions have been processed on the client computer.

Note You can use any of the following environment variables within the UNC path you specify for a target folder location in a Folder Redirection policy: %USERNAME%, %USERPROFILE%, %HOMESHARE%, and %HOMEPA TH%. You cannot use any other environment variables for UNC paths specified in Folder Redirection policies because other environment variables are not defined when the Group Policy service loads the Folder Redirection extension (Fdeploy.dll) during the logon process.