UEM Folder Redirection - Wrong Folders (Language)

[SummaCollege]

We are testing out using Folder Redirection with UEM.

The problem we have is that using GPO we have everything set up like this:

Desktop

Setting: Basic (Redirect everyone's folder to the same location)

   Path: \\<networkpath>\%username%\Bureaublad

Options

Grant user exclusive rights to Desktop	Disabled
Move the contents of Desktop to the new location	Disabled
Also apply redirection policy to Windows 2000, Windows 2000 server, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems	Disabled
Policy Removal Behavior	Leave contents

As you might have noticed we use a Dutch version.: Bureaublad means Desktop.

The same goes for Documents (Documenten), Favorites (Favorieten) etc..

Now when migrating to UEM, all Folder Redirection settings go to the English folders. Net result is that all folders are newly created in English.

Anyone have a solution for this? Migrating all userdata is not a real option for several thousands of users.

[Pim_van_de_Vis]

Is the Windows version you users are running in the English user language or in Dutch?

And if you are running Windows in Dutch, is that with a Dutch language pack or do you use a native Dutch Windows ISO?

[SummaCollege]

We are running a native Dutch ISO, no language pack.

W10 Enterprise NL build 1703

[DEMdev]

Hi SummaCollege,

Thank you for pointing out this issue – this is something we were not aware of.

I just played around with this on a native German Win 10 1703 install (ik had geen Nederlandse ISO bij de hand :-), and my understanding is that the "physical" folder names are actually still in English (you can check that from a command prompt), but that the (hidden) Desktop.ini file in each of the folders makes it show up with a localized name in Explorer.

As a test, I created a quick and dirty script (attached) that can be run after UEM has applied its folder redirection settings, for instance as a UEM logon task:

The script marks the folder redirection "destination" folders as system folders (which is necessary for Explorer to even consider the Desktop.ini file) and copies over the Desktop.ini files from the standard user profile folders.

The following part of the script needs a bit of configuration:

[...]

REM Specify the "root" folder where you're redirecting to

SET TARGET=\\server\share\%username%

REM Call :FixLocalization for each folder you're redirecting

CALL :FixLocalization Documents

CALL :FixLocalization Downloads

[...]

Be sure to update the TARGET variable so it reflects your folder redirection "root" folder, and to add or remove CALL :FixLocalization SomeFolder statements so that all the folders you're redirecting are covered.

We will look into addressing this in a future release, but I'd very much appreciate it if you could try this workaround and let us know the results. And thanks again for bringing this to our attention!

[SummaCollege]

Thx for the quick follow up!

I have tested your quick fix for a bit and it doesn't seem to work.

This is the command i use to run the script:

cmd.exe /c \\<domain>.nl\SYSVOL\<domain>.nl\scripts\FixFolderLocalization.cmd >> c:\logs\fix.log

Result in the log is 6x "0 file(s) copied" (6 redirected folders)

This tells me that it does enter the "IF exist" loop and also the "IF NOT exists", but no files are copied.

Also, there are still duplicate directories created in English.

Don't know exactly if i did something wrong or if i am missing something here...

[DEMdev]

Could you check if there are any Desktop.ini files in the original C:\Users\username\Desktop (and Documents, Videos, etc) folders? Just so you know, these are hidden files 🙂

[SummaCollege]

I'll check in a moment. Just to let you know, at this moment we are running floating desktops only.

[SummaCollege]

This is directly after login on a floating desktop, without folder redirection applied:

[DEMdev]

Hmmm, that looks OK. Good thing I called this a quick and dirty script, but ideally it should also work, of course 🙂

Can you remove the @ECHO OFF to see what exactly is going on? If that doesn't shed light on the problem, maybe play with the xcopy.exe arguments? Maybe try without the /o, and also without the /k.

Also, maybe try running it manually, after logging on to a session in which UEM has performed the folder redirection.

[SummaCollege]

UEMdev​

Just did some more testing, and it seems your script is partially working. At least, the localization is fixed. The redirection however is not.

For example, the Music folder is available in explorer with it's localized name "Muziek". At a file level it's named "Music" and has a desktop.ini file in it. In that way, the script is working. If the desktop.ini file does not exist, the desktop.ini file is copied.

The net result however is still the same, folder redirection is not functional for us. For example:

Homedirectory of the user holds a copy of the Music folder ("Muziek" in it's localized name: \\<server>\%username%\Muziek).

User is logging in.

Folders get redirected.

Music folder gets redirected to "\\<server>\%username%\Music" as per setting in UEM.

Music folder does not exist and gets created.

Desktop.ini

Music folder appears empty to the user.

The problem i think, is the folder redirection is pointing towards the English folders. Those don't exist because all our folders were created towards the Dutch language.

"\\<server>\%username%\Muziek"

"\\<server>\%username%\Bureablad"

"\\<server>\%username%\Fotos"

"\\<server>\%username%\Mijn Documenten"

etc...

Using the regular group policies you are able to redirect the folders to whatever folder you like. If you want to redirect the Music folder to "\\server\%username%\HeadlessMonster" that's also possible and fully functional. The UEM interface however provides no option to specify foldernames and assumes everyone uses the English ones.

Renaming the folders on the homedir is not an option, as we use a mixed environment and the GPO's targeting the Dutch folders need to remain functional. Our users use both physical and VDI.

I hope the situation is clear to you now

[DEMdev]

Hi SummaCollege,

Thank you for the update.

The problem i think, is the folder redirection is pointing towards the English folders. Those don't exist because all our folders were created towards the Dutch language.

"\\<server>\%username%\Muziek"

"\\<server>\%username%\Bureablad"

"\\<server>\%username%\Fotos"

"\\<server>\%username%\Mijn Documenten"

etc...

Ah, I hadn't picked up on the fact that you want to "reuse" previously redirected folders...

Using the regular group policies you are able to redirect the folders to whatever folder you like. If you want to redirect the Music folder to "\\server\%username%\HeadlessMonster" that's also possible and fully functional. The UEM interface however provides no option to specify foldernames and assumes everyone uses the English ones.

Yep, that was an explicit choice on our end, thinking that that would be more convenient, as you wouldn't have to specify any additional configuration 😞

I'm afraid I don't have any solutions to offer for the "reuse previously configured redirected folder locations" scenario, sorry.

[ijdemes]

Hi,

I was following this interesting thread and was thinking, maybe this can be added as an "advanced" option in the UEM interface?

I still prefer to configure as much as possible of these settings in the UEM Management Console.

Probably have to fill in the below form, right UEMdev​?

https://www.vmware.com/company/contact/contactus.html?department=prod_request

[DEMdev]

Hi Ivan,

Ideally, that URL would indeed be the channel for feature requests, but I've heard rumours that, umm, not every submission ends up where it should... So, let me pick up this one and discuss it with product management.

Basically, what you're looking for is an option to control the full destination path (similar to what we already support for Roaming AppData), instead of having UEM just append "Documents", "Downloads", etc. to the Remote path setting?

Would it be sufficient (unlike the current Roaming AppData behavior) to have an option to specify just the "final" sub folder part, and have UEM append that to the Remote path setting? So you would be able to redirect the Desktop folder to \\someserver\someshare\%username%\Bureaublad (or \\someserver\someshare\%username%\HeadlessMonster, for that matter :-), but only the Bureaublad part would be configured in the context of Desktop redirection, with the rest of the path coming from the Remote path setting? (So, basically, with the exception of Roaming AppData, all folders are redirected to the same root location, but you'd be in control of the final path component of each.)

Any other wishes w.r.t. folder redirection while we're at it? 🙂

Just in case: no guarantees when/whether this might be changed, etc, etc. I just build stuff; I don't (fully 🙂 decide what makes it into a release.

[ijdemes]

Great! Thanks for picking this one up. I understand the when/whether part .

I think the greatest flexibility is achieved by giving the option to choose the full path for each part (Desktops, Documents, Downloads, etc.). In most cases appending the parts to the same remote path would probably be sufficient, however, there are always exceptions. And before someone else comes up with the idea of using different remote paths for different parts. I would personally choose to have an option for specifying each (full) remote path for each part.

But that's just my 2 cents :smileysilly:

[SummaCollege]

UEMdev and ijdemes Many thanks for acting on this issue!

For us it would be sufficient to only be able to provide the final "subfolder" part, but i could imagine that some more advanced configuration like Ivan is describing could help out some other people.

I also understand that this kind of change isn't implemented overnight and might take a while. For us/me, i guess i will need to create some sort of loginscript to do the Folder Redirecting  instead of relying on UEM (or GPO).

You might ask why i am not simply using GPO, a valid question. Atm we are looking to see if it's possible to transfer all user settings from GPO to UEM to see if this gives us more flexibility and/or speed.

[DEMdev]

UEM 9.3 has been released, with a fix for the issue where redirected folders don’t have localized name.

[SummaCollege]

Thx UEMdev​!

I think i already know the answer, but does 9.3 also happen to include a method for providing a subfoldername for folder redirection as mentioned in this thread (https://communities.vmware.com/message/2708414#2708414)?

[DEMdev]

Hi SummaCollege,

No, sorry, 9.3 only contains the localization fix.

[SummaCollege]

Thx UEMdev​ for the feedback.

Release notes for 9.3 makes notice of the following:

• Integration with Horizon View Logon Monitor. VMware Logon Monitor monitors Windows user logins and reports a wide variety of performance metrics intended to help administrators, support staff, and developers troubleshoot login performance. Now, VMware User Environment manager also sends login  information to this service.

How does this change reflect in real use? Do i need to check different logfiles (View) from now on?

---

Happy new year btw

[DEMdev]

Happy New Year to you too, SummaCollege!

Nothing has changed in what UEM logs to its own log file; the integration with VMware Logon Monitor is just a bit of additional logging, to provide some UEM information in relation to the other logon activities that VMLM already collects and logs.