How to force the removal of Folder Redirection from specific user accounts

3. April 2009

We have a folder redirection policy in place for all of our users in combination with a roaming profile policy - this policy is applied to the OU that contains our users. Unfortunately this policy was accidently linked to the root of our domain too, causing our Domain Admin users to be redirected too - something we do not want. When the mistake was discovered, the policy was unlinked, but the redirection remained (despite being set to revert when users fall out of scope). I tried re-applying the policy, modifying the out of scope policy and then moving the Domain Admin user out of scope, but it failed to remove the folder redirection.

In the end, the solution was straight forward enough:

Create a new OU (I used "Temp") and move the affected user(s) there:

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Create and link a new Group Policy Object to the new OU. Name it something descriptive so you know what it is in future - Folder Redirection Removal.

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Edit the group policy, drill down to User Configuration > Windows Settings > Folder Redirection and right click - properties on each folder you want to reset. Set the setting to “Basic – Redirect everyone’s folder to the same location” and set the target folder location to “Redirect to the local userprofile location”.

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Select the settings tab and make sure the Policy Removal setting is set to “Redirect the folder back to the local userprofile location when the policy is removed.”

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Set that for each folder you want to reset. Close the Group Policy Object Editor, and GPMC. Log onto the user's account on each computer you want to remove the redirection on - in my case, several servers. Check the location of the redirected folders to make sure it’s been removed. Once you’re sure, you can move your user back to the correct OU.

Active Directory, User Profiles, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP , , , , , , ,

Adding a Windows 2003 domain controller to your existing Windows 2000 domain

8. April 2008

I was adding a shiny new domain controller to my server farm earlier today, we have just two Windows 2000 SP4 domain controllers on old kit and they are due to retire. With the hardware selected, purchased and a fresh copy of Windows Server 2003 R2 installed, I set to installing Active Directory. DCPromo.exe fires up and I go through the configuration steps until...

"The Active Directory Installation Wizard cannot continue because the forest is not prepared for installing Windows Server 2003. Use the Adprep command-line tool to prepare both the forest and the domain. For more information about using the Adprep, see Active Directory Help.

The version of the Active Directory schema of the source forest is not compatible with the version of Active Directory on this computer."

A quick rootle around TechNet shows a simple solution on KB917385 - on your Schema Master (normally your first DC in the domain, unless you've changed it) pop in the second CD of your R2 install and run:

[CD]:\CMPNENTS\R2\ADPREP\Adprep.exe /forestprep

That's as far as the knowledgebase article takes you, which does resolve that specific error, but not the next one you're likely to encounter, especially if you've got more than one DC, and/or more than one domain. For each DC in your domain you will also need to run:

[CD]:\CMPNENTS\R2\ADPREP\Adprep.exe /domainprep /gpprep

Now back on your new R2 server you can fire up DCPromo.exe and install Active Directory as per normal. Daniel Petri has an excellent article on how to install and test your new domain controller that you can follow, I've installed countless domain controllers and I still refer back to that article.

Active Directory, Windows Server 2003 , , , , ,