ClickOnce on Roaming Profile

  
  
 Let’s first talk about Roaming Profile:  
 Roaming Profile allows users with computers on a Windows Server domain to log on to any computer 
 on the same network and access its documents. While on Roaming Profile, the user profile information 
 is stored on a centralized file server accessible from any network-joined desktop computer instead of 
 local storage.
 Here’s a link to a guide to managing Roaming Profile data:
 https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766489%28v=ws.10%29.aspx
 
 Why isn’t ClickOnce supported on Roaming Profile? 
 ClickOnce is a per user installation. When the application is deployed through ClickOnce, its files are 
 stored under the profile folder of the user ( <USER PROFILE>\AppData\Local\Apps) .
 By default, the Appdata\Local folders and all their subfolder like History, Temp, and Temporary 
 Internet Files folders are excluded from the user's Roaming Profile. So when the user logs off the 
 machine on Roaming Profiles, these folders are not copied to the centralized server. Interestingly, 
 shortcuts created by the application will be copied to the centralized location and will roam with 
 the user profile (Shortcuts and desktop folders are allowed to roam). However when users launch 
 such a shortcut, it will try to search for the files under the current user profile (Appdata\Local), but 
 it fails to find it as this folder is not copied to the centralized location. 
 This in turn may ask users to reinstall the application. 

Can folder redirection make Clickonce work with Roaming Profile?

The answer unfortunately is No. Folder redirection can only be done for only some of the shell known

folders. And “AppData\Local” is not a shell known folder. Also ClickOnce can install files at a very

deep level (upto N+10th folder)

eg.

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“C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0\Data\RNLVHZMG.D0C\Z3MKJ8WN.00D

                                      \1 \2 \3 \4 \5 \6 \7

\ngim..tion_c3bce3770c238a49_000f.0001_16a9459e29f27733\Data\15.0.225.0”
\8 \9 \10

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This article contains the list of the folder’s that can be redirected :

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732275.aspx

Note: A few application models for roaming settings are available, however these variation have not

been tested for this requirement.

Content by-

Keshav Deo Jain, Soumitra Mondal