Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

After my two previous posts on debugging offline files, I’ve had four requests via comments and email, all saying pretty much the same thing: “why do offline files stop working after I restart my computer?” The most visible symptom is that the “Enable offline files” checkbox gets cleared after a reboot. I passed this request along to the team responsible for offline files, aka client-side caching, and here’s an explanation from Brian Aust.

These are the checks that are made on CSC startup:

1. CSC is not enabled on Home Edition
2. CSC is not enabled when terminal server is configured for multiple concurrent users
3. CSC is not enabled when either the user’s (admin user) preference or Group Policy says it should be disabled
4. CSC is not enabled when either of the following REG_DWORD registry values is set to zero:
   HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\NetCache\Enabled
   HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\ Windows\NetCache\Enabled

ONLY if all those conditions are met will the checkbox stay enabled over a reboot — so if you’re suffering from this problem, those are the four things to check!

Update: for additional things to check, see the comments below, and this later blog post.

Edit: I've turned off comments on this thread - if you have a question, please go here instead.

Comments

• Anonymous
  December 06, 2004
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• Anonymous
  December 06, 2004
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• Anonymous
  December 08, 2004
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• Anonymous
  December 09, 2004
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• Anonymous
  December 09, 2004
  I have this exact same problem with 3 XP laptops (Dell, Toshiba, Sony). The only thing in common is SP2 and Norton AV Corporate Edition.
  
  I thought that it was related to a service that was disabled, but I ruled that out. I'd sure like to see a fix for this or some sort of work around. Thanks for your help.
• Anonymous
  December 09, 2004
  Brian - Thanks for the problem report. The more examples the product team have of when this doesn't work, the better.
• Anonymous
  December 09, 2004
  Ryan - If your user has reconnected to the network but not synchronized, they should only be seeing the files and folders they marked for offline use.
• Anonymous
  December 13, 2004
  I'm seeing the same symptoms on an XP sp2 laptop. I can manually setup offline files. Reboot and it is disabled again. I have this working well on several other computers. This one user is all I've seen this issue with. I'm really in need of a work around or patch or just an answer. Thanks.
• Anonymous
  December 29, 2004
  I am having the same problem with an XP SP2 laptop. Enable offline files becomes unchecked on reboot. Any developments?
• Anonymous
  January 01, 2005
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• Anonymous
  April 13, 2005
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• Anonymous
  April 14, 2005
  Eric - Try the solution from this later blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/jonathanh/archive/2005/01/16/354049.aspx
  
  It includes contributions from a couple of readers who found they needed extra steps to solve their problems. So far I haven't had feedback from anyone who this hasn't worked for. Let me know either way!
• Anonymous
  May 03, 2005
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• Anonymous
  August 21, 2006
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