Can I redirect local OneDrive folders from c:\users to network share?

Calum Morrison 116 Reputation points
2021-04-07T15:21:35.157+00:00

This may sound a bit crazy, but I'm not ready to move my users' data to OneDrive yet; they aren't particularly mobile, I don't have the budget for backup and I have a great Veeam setup on my VMWare infrastructure that keeps everything safe.

As we have M365 in place, some users are migrating themselves over to OneDrive which I'm OK with, but I'd like some security - some files have already gone missing. As data is syncing to the local pc, I figured it'd be a snap to use Group Policy to redirect the local folder (c:\users\username\OneDrive) to the same location as I already have their desktops, documents etc.

I've searched online and downloaded the latest admx files (for my Server 2012R2 AD) but I can't find a way. The opposite seems to be east (redirect all the known folders to OneDrive) but not the method I want. Is it really that much of an edge-case I've dreamt up? Is there another method of doing it outside of GP? I don't want the whole user folder as they have huge OST files from Outlook hanging around there. Would a PowerShell script be my only way?

thanks for reading

Calum

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OneDrive Management
OneDrive: A Microsoft file hosting and synchronization service.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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Windows Server Backup
Windows Server: A family of Microsoft server operating systems that support enterprise-level management, data storage, applications, and communications.Backup: A duplicate copy of a program, a disk, or data, made either for archiving purposes or for safeguarding valuable files from loss should the active copy be damaged or destroyed.
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  1. Emily Hua-MSFT 27,711 Reputation points
    2021-04-08T06:50:07.333+00:00

    @Calum Morrison

    Based on my research, I do not think you may redirect/move local OneDrive folders from c:\users to a network shared folder.

    According to the article "Using Folder Redirection in Group Policy", OneDrive folder is not included in those folders that can be redirected.

    Besides, we could change the location of your OneDrive folder, but we can't add a network or mapped drive as your OneDrive sync location. Because of OneDrive restrictions, OneDrive doesn't support syncing using symbolic links or junction points, so the method of changing the location does not work either.


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  1. Calum Morrison 116 Reputation points
    2021-04-08T08:09:03.357+00:00

    Thanks; that's confirmed my suspicions.

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