Removing old "connection" to Windows XP offline folder server

[Clive Long]

I use Windows offline folders (the "Explorer" version, not Outlook) to keep local copies on my laptop and automatically sync updates back to the server. This isn't about version control , checking things in an out, etc. since I am only interested in personal folders and files that have copies on my laptop and on a server somewhere.

The facilitiy works well for me.

However, I have an "old" definition on the laptop that "points" to an "old" server - let's call it \\London1. My current files are held on a server called say \\Slough1. Whenever (well most times) I sync the laptop when connected to the folder file share held on \\Slough1, the Offline folders service on my laptop tries to synchronise to \\London1 as well as \\Slough1.

The folder that contains laptop local copies does NOT contain any files with a source location of \\London1\folder\folder\ .. etc. So I don't know why Offline folders is trying to sync to that server (which is on a different organisation's network, hence unreachable)

All I want to do is have a few folders synched between the laptop and the \\Slough1 server.

I have tried various things

1. Deleting all file copies in the offline local folder on the laptop

2. Disabling Offline folders on the laptop then re-enabling and re-marking all the remote folders I wish to sync offline.

Nothing gets rid of the laptop's desire to sync to \\London1

I have googled several times on this problem and not found a fix. I am guessing there is a registry entry that defines the servers with which to synchronise - but where to start looking so I can hack out that entry?

Has anyone come across this before and fixed it?


Clive

[Warwick]

Has anyone come across this before and fixed it?

Clive

Open Explorer. Tools - Sychronize - Setup. You should be able to deselect the \\london1 occurence from in there. Bear in mind you'll need to deselect it from the On Idle tab as well as the logon/off tab.

[El Salsero Gringo]

of course if it was \\Slough you were trying to get rid of then a few \\friendly_bombs might help.

[Clive Long]

Open Explorer. Tools - Sychronize - Setup. You should be able to deselect the \\london1 occurrence from in there. Bear in mind you'll need to deselect it from the On Idle tab as well as the logon/off tab.
I have tried that and it "inhibits" the attempt to synch to \\london1 but it doesn't "remove" \\london1. So the next time I attempt to sync , away offline folders goes and attempts to sync with \\london1 - even though there are no file updates for directories on it.

Clive

[Clive Long]

of course if it was \\Slough you were trying to get rid of then a few \\friendly_bombs might help.
Slough, Swindon, Ipswich, Grimsby, Hull, Rotherham, Rochdale, Tranmere, Bracknell, Croydon, Reigate, Middlesborough.

My "career" has taken me to all the glamour centres of the UK. They all have the appeal of Slough Bus Station at night. :ducks:

[Warwick]

I have tried that and it "inhibits" the attempt to synch to \\london1 but it doesn't "remove" \\london1. So the next time I attempt to sync , away offline folders goes and attempts to sync with \\london1 - even though there are no file updates for directories on it.

Clive

OK then you'll need to reset the offline cache.

Open My Computer
Go to Tools -> Folder Options
Go to Offline Files
Hold down Ctrl+Shift and press the Delete files button.
You will be warned that you're about to reset your cache and the computer will need restarting.

It'll delete the local copy of \\slough too so probably best do it when you're in the office so you can set that one back to offline and re-synch it

[Clive Long]

OK then you'll need to reset the offline cache.

Open My Computer
Go to Tools -> Folder Options
Go to Offline Files
Hold down Ctrl+Shift and press the Delete files button.
You will be warned that you're about to reset your cache and the computer will need restarting.

It'll delete the local copy of \\slough too so probably best do it when you're in the office so you can set that one back to offline and re-synch it

Thanks for the idea but I tried that too. Indeed it did remove all the offline copies and the "flags" that indicated local copies were to be kept. However, the laptop is still trying to synch to \\London1. :(

Clive

[El Salsero Gringo]

If you're feeling brave, you can always run regedit, search from the registry root for "\\london" (or "london") and delete all the entries that crop up...

Just a thought

[Warwick]

Thanks for the idea but I tried that too. Indeed it did remove all the offline copies and the "flags" that indicated local copies were to be kept. However, the laptop is still trying to synch to \\London1. :(

Clive

OK...

regedit

hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\windows\curre ntversion\netcache\assignedofflinefolders

delete the \\london entries.

[Clive Long]

OK...

regedit

hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\windows\curre ntversion\netcache\assignedofflinefolders

delete the \\london entries.
I found the entries in ..\netcache\shares - but your lead was good.

Don't say it too loud, this is MS software, but ... that registry update seems to have fixed the problem .. :worthy:

[Warwick]

I found the entries in ..\netcache\shares - but your lead was good.

Don't say it too loud, this is MS software, but ... that registry update seems to have fixed the problem .. :worthy:

I had a lovely one once where most of the users in a company had laptops running offline folders. The server completely failed and their backups were a bit dubious. I disaster recovered the server and put signs on all the doors that nobody should plug their laptop into the network until we'd been to see them. All of them but one managed to do this. We were taking a copy of the laptop's offline cache to external drives so that when the laptops were plugged into the network we'd be able to restore the files because when the laptops were plugged in they found their network copy was empty and newer so deleted the offline copy too. The one user who plugged in found this out the hard way and lost a presentation she'd worked on for over a week.