computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...

, and specifically in the context of

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

, folder redirection refers to automatically re-routing to or from standard folders to use storage elsewhere on a

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

. It is often used in an office network environment to ensure that users do not store data locally when a network device is the preferred storage location. Folder Redirection allows saving data regardless of storage location and separates user data from profile data decreasing the time required to log on. Other advantages include: * Data is stored on a server where it can be backed up * If the same redirection is applied to multiple users, all data is stored in the one location * Allows for sharing of data between users directly from the server rather than creating shares on individual workstations * Allows system administrators to spend less on workstation hard drives, and more on file server hard drives * If all user folders are redirected and caching is disabled, no files are stored on the workstations and thus data is better protected from theft Under Microsoft Windows, the redirection is often performed by

Group Policy Group Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems (including Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11) that controls the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. Group Policy provides centralized mana ...

, when used in an

Active Directory Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. Windows Server operating systems include it as a set of processes and services. Originally, only centralized domain management used Active Direct ...

environment. It can also be performed by manually editing the

Windows Registry The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores low-level settings for the Microsoft Windows operating system and for applications that opt to use the registry. The kernel, device drivers, services, Security Accounts Manager, a ...

, changing library locations, or with tools such as

Tweak UI Tweak UI is a free Application software, application, released in 1996 by Microsoft for customizing the Microsoft Windows operating system's user interface. Tweak UI modifies the Windows Registry in the same way as a user could edit it manually w ...

. Disk quotas can be used to limit the amount of space taken up by users' special folders. The %username% and %userprofile%

environment variable An environment variable is a user-definable value that can affect the way running processes will behave on a computer. Environment variables are part of the environment in which a process runs. For example, a running process can query the va ...

s can also be used with Folder Redirection. Up to

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

, the ''Application Data'', ''Desktop'', ''My Documents'', ''My Pictures'', and ''Start Menu'' special folders can be redirected to a file server. Windows XP also implements a Recycle Bin for the My Documents folder. Windows Vista introduces the ability to independently redirect up to 10 user profile sub-folders to a network location. There is also a Management Console snap-in in Windows Vista to allow users to configure ''Folder Redirection'' for clients running Windows Vista, Windows XP, and

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft, targeting the server and business markets. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RT ...

. Each redirected folder in Vista and later also has a Recycle Bin associated with it. Under

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

and later, the following user folders may be redirected: AppData/Roaming, Contacts, Desktop, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Documents, Pictures, Saved Games, Searches, Start Menu, and Videos. The equivalent functionality is achieved in

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X, *nix or *NIX) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Uni ...

systems by using mount or ln and a NFS or CIF.

References

{{Windows Components Windows administration Windows components

See also

References