2

Good day everyone, I'm in the midst of testing out Windows 8.1 as an enterprise OS to avoid a crisis when Win7 is no longer supported. One of the problems I've run into is with drive mappings. Most of them are working just fine, but we use one that maps to a user specific folder, sort of like their home drive.

In WinXP and Win7 it worked fine, we just mapped the drive to \share\folder\%username% and it was golden, that same GPP drive map in Win8.1 just maps to \share\folder. The name of the folder comes up correct, which also just uses %username% so I'm having trouble finding the disconnect. When I do a Get-GPResultantSetOfPolicy I can see that there is a 'AD / SYSVOL version mismatch' so, maybe I just need to update my templates, but I'm pretty sure that we updated to the WS 2012 adm/admx. DC are on WS2k8 R2.

I'd read on this blog that %LogonUser% might be the correct way to do this, as when GPOs are processed as 'Administrator' then that is where the drive mapping wants to point. Anyone have any experience with this?

I also read on Group Policy Central about the 'Set users home folder' GPO, but I don't have that template.

6
  • 1
    Not that it's a bad question, but you're planning too far ahead. The end of extended support (meaning free security patches) is currently slated for October 30th, 2020. Planning for something that's almost 7 years out in this industry... is a total waste of time, at best. By the time you even need to start thinking about migrating/upgrading to stay supported, Windows 9 will be old news... which makes planning an upgrade to Windows 8 seem all the sillier. If you elect to go to Windows 8, instead of 9, it will be at least a service pack or two more mature by the time you do. Jan 27, 2014 at 18:38
  • In addition, what type of crisis do you envision? The product will continue to work when mainstream and extended support expires.
    – joeqwerty
    Jan 27, 2014 at 18:41
  • Well, retail support for Windows 7 will be gone long before extended support is. What we don't want, is to be downgrading Win8+ workstations to Win7 in 5 years, and then be faced with the end of patch support. I suppose that 'crisis' was a poor choice of words, I'm just testing viability of Windows 8.1 so that when OEM Windows 7 is no longer available, we can use Windows 8.1.
    – mortenya
    Jan 27, 2014 at 18:46
  • 2
    An "AD / SYSVOL version mismatch" doesn't mean that something is wrong with your Administrative Templates. It means that the version number in the GPT.INI file inside the GPO's directory of the SYSVOL doesn't match the version number on the corresponding gPO object in Active Directory. Jan 27, 2014 at 18:49
  • @mortenya Well, that's a wee bit different, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. The way the OEMs are still pushing 7 over 8 or 8.1, it's likely that MS will have to extend the end of OEM sales out at least once before they end it. Having said that, I guess I could use this as an excuse to spin up a Windows 8.1 template and play around myself... though, it sounds like the problem is what EvanAnderson pointed out, and not anything with Windows 8. Jan 27, 2014 at 18:53

2 Answers 2

2

February Update Rollup seems to have fixed the issue.

1

Well, after looking around more, this Microsoft KB article describes exactly my problem. Only issue now is that I'm on Windows 8.1, and this fix is only for Windows 8...

So, a known issue in Windows 8 gets a hotfix, but the issue is still present in Windows 8.1, but there is not 8.1 hotfix.

7
  • So, your users have "Administrator" rights locally? Jan 29, 2014 at 17:37
  • Actually yes, yes they do.
    – mortenya
    Jan 29, 2014 at 17:49
  • 1
    I bet it works fine for users w/o local "Administrator" rights. Jan 29, 2014 at 18:46
  • You're right, if I log in with my non-admin test account, it maps correctly. I was hoping the "Run in logged-on user's security context (user policy option)" would get me past that. Is there a way around this issue, I can't exactly remove local admin rights for the users.
    – mortenya
    Jan 29, 2014 at 19:37
  • 1
    Perhaps you should consider implementing early 2000's security best practices and stop giving users local Administrator rights. It looks like you've be having better luck w/ the product and, I daresay, a lot of other things, too. Jan 29, 2014 at 20:39

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .