Windows 7 Offline files behaviour - automatically making 'shortcutted' files available

Question

I am a sysadmin with a few Windows 7 Professional machines in our network.
The current setup for our users is folder-redirection, with offline files enabled for users with laptops (some of which are said Win7 users).
This works fine, just, any shortcut files that are in the users profile (that are made available offline) make the target of the shortcut available offline aswell. Though I see the benefit of this, it is not a behaviour we want.
For example if user 'dave' has a shortcut on \\server1\users\dave\desktop, that points to \\server2\files\shortcut_target.doc (i.e. a directory we don't want to have offline file behaviour with) - it will make both files available offline.
I'm positive it is related to shortcuts, as the files are always shortcutted somewhere in the users profile and the majority of these files come from word's recent documents folder, and other similar folders for different program.
If theres anyway to change this behaviour please let me know, even if it is just a registry edit.
Thanks Dan

Answer 1

Hi,
“For example if user 'dave' has a shortcut on
\\server1\users\dave\desktop, that points to
\\server2\files\shortcut_target.doc (i.e. a
directory we don't want to have offline file behaviour with) - it will make both files available offline.”
Based on my knowledge, Windows only synchronous the shortcut in this offline folder. What do you mean “it will make both files available offline.”
For further research, I suggest you may enable sync log and try to repro this problem. Then move to Event Viewer -> Applications and Service Logs ->
Microsoft -> Windows -> OfflineFiles, right click SyncLog and chose “Save all event as…” to export these event log.  Here is my e-mail:
[email protected].  You could contact me, then
I would assist you for this problem.
Please refer following to enable SyncLog:
How to enable the "SyncLog Channel"
===========================================
Offline Files defines four event channels through the Windows Event Viewer.
The channels are listed under the following hierarchy in the left-most pane of the viewer,
Event Viewer -> Applications and Service Logs -> Microsoft -> Windows -> OfflineFiles
If you see only one channel in the event viewer it will be the "Operational" channel. The remaining channels are known as Analytic or Debug
channels. The Windows Event Viewer does not display these additional channels by default. They must first be enabled.
To enable Analytic and Debug logs, highlight the "OfflineFiles" entry in the Event Viewer left pane. Select the "View" menu and check the
option titled "Show Analytic and Debug Logs".
While four channels are defined, only two are currently in use in Windows 7.
SyncLog Channel
================
This channel is of the "Analytic" type as defined by the Windows Event viewer. Because this is an "Analytic" channel, you must enable the
channel before events are generated to the associated log. To enable this channel, right click on the "SyncLog" entry in the left pane of the Event Viewer. Select the "Enable Log"
option.
This may also be configured using the channel’s Properties page, also accessible through the Event Viewer. When you no longer want
to collect SyncLog events, disable the channel using the same method ("Disable Log" option).
The purpose of this channel is to generate events specific to synchronization activities within the Offline Files service.
This may be helpful when questions arise about why a particular item is or is not being synchronized or questions about why a particular
sync operation is failing.
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