I'd like to copy C:\users from every client's computer to a network share \\. Reason being we need to take backups of this folder and its contents prior to maintenance. Is it possible to achieve this via GPO ? If someone wants to suggest a batch please recommend code also
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Have you checked out roaming profiles?– GregLFeb 19, 2016 at 14:40
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As a go forward fix use folder redirection to keep users data both locally and on a server.– Jim BFeb 19, 2016 at 15:01
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Take a hint from GregL and Jim B. Use Folder Redirection or Roaming Profiles. Don't try to copy those folders to a network share as part of your backup plan. If you must, use the built-in Windows backup to back up those folders to a network share.– joeqwertyFeb 19, 2016 at 16:25
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Hi Guys and thanks for your reply. I've tried both, however gpo doesnt give functionality to backup a custom folder (such as C:\users* or C:\Users). We will eventually opt for 1 them when moving forward, however before doing so I'd like to backup all of C:\Users for all clients (many of them at remote locations) in order to ensure I'm backing up all the data. Sadly doesn't seem to be possible using AD GPOs.– joebegborg07Feb 20, 2016 at 11:46
2 Answers
We're using folder redirections for such purposes - this lowers disk space requirements on clients (only minimal stub of profiles on clients) and we get the backups with the regular server backups.
when users are roaming it's also nice as they don't have to wait for the profile to be copied locally (which in case of downloads, appdata and so on may take a while). if you need to have a copy of the users registry and local settings as well you may make use of roaming profile for these data as @strongline suggested.
you can even combine redirection and roaming profiles to get the benefits of both.
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Thanks for your reply. We've tried roaming profiles and they work, and folder redirection is a work in progress. The issue is that none of them give you the possibility of redirecting custom directories such as (C:\users). Any ideas on backing up such a directory ? Feb 22, 2016 at 7:50
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roaming profiles sync the user profile upon logon/logoff. this is the pro and contra of them. large user profiles take very long to sync - therefore folder redirection reduces the profile size. => roaming profiles is some kind of "backup" (if the users logoff/shutdown - never ending sessions are not synchronized) => folder redirection adresses some disadvantages of roaming profiles Feb 22, 2016 at 10:08
You can use GPO to run a login/startup script that copy the content. Startup script will have the privilege to copy all users' profile (if multiple users shared a computer), while logon script has access to current user's profile only.
This is a website to give you pointer, to help each other in general direction, it's not appropriate to ask others to writhe the script for you. Do your own homework.
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I'll check about roaming profiles thanks. I'm not asking anyone to do any homework for me, it's that I've tried robocopy (which doesnt allow passing both admin username and password) and xcopy, which still was not working. I refer to forums only when Im completely stuck Feb 19, 2016 at 14:54