Manage transactional folders
A transactional folder refers to a folder that contains interdependent files, where one file references other files. The Folders to mirror policy ensures the integrity of transactional folders during profile synchronization. With this policy, Profile Management mirrors the entire transactional folder between the user store and the local user profile.
The Accelerate folder mirroring policy is available with Profile Management 2106 and later.
This article guides you through the process of managing transactional folders using the Folders to mirror policy. It also gives an example of how to manage Internet Explorer cookie folders using this policy.
How the folder mirroring works
Generally, when Profile Management synchronizes user profiles between the user store and the local profiles, it synchronizes only updated files by comparing time stamps. However, in a transactional folder, files in it are associated, and Profile Management must synchronize the entire folder to avoid integrity issues. An example of transactional folders is a folder that contains transaction log files and the corresponding database files. Mixing transaction log files and database files from different sessions can cause transactional integrity issues.
To synchronize transactional folders correctly, Profile Management provides the Folders to mirror policy. When synchronizing a transactional folder to the destination, Profile Management mirrors the folder to the destination by using the following steps:
- Copies all contents in the folder to the destination, ignoring time stamps.
- Deletes any additional contents in the destination.
Caution:
Mirroring transactional folders means the “last write wins.” Files that are modified in more than one session are overwritten by the latest update and profile changes might be lost.
Specify folders to mirror
Enable the Folders to mirror policy and specify the folders to mirror.
Let’s take Google Chrome as an example. The bookmark-related files and subfolders in AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default are interdependent and must be processed as a whole during profile synchronization. To achieve this goal, you need to add this folder to the Folders to mirror policy.
You can also exclude files and subfolders from a folder to mirror. In the previous example, the AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default folder also contains files and subfolders unrelated to bookmarks. You can use the Exclusion list – directories and Exclusion list – files policies to exclude them.
Detailed steps are as follows:
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Go to Profile Management > File system > Synchronization, and then double-click the Folders to mirror policy.
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Select Enabled.
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In the List of folders to mirror field, type the list of folders that you want to mirror in the format of relative paths to the user store. Type
Enterto separate folders.Note:
This policy works recursively. Don’t add subfolders to the list.
For example, if you add
AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies, don’t addAppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies\Low. -
Click OK.
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To exclude certain files and subfolders in a mirrored folder from the mirroring process, follow these steps:
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Go to Profile Management > File system, and then double-click the Exclusion list – directories policy or the Exclusion list – files policy.
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Specify thee files and subfolders to exclude.
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Configuration precedence:
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If this policy isn’t configured here, the value from the .ini file is used.
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If this setting is not configured either here or in the .ini file, no folders are mirrored.
Accelerate folder mirroring
Starting with Profile Management 2106, you can accelerate folder mirroring by enabling the Accelerate folder mirroring policy.
With this policy enabled, Profile Management stores mirrored folders on a VHDX-based virtual disk. Profile Management attaches the virtual disk during logons and detaches it during logoffs, eliminating the need to copy the folders between the user store and the local profiles.
To enable this policy, follow these steps:
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Under Profile Management > File system > Synchronization, double-click the Accelerate folder mirroring policy.
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Select Enabled.
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Click OK.
Configuration precedence:
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If this policy isn’t configured here, the value from the .ini file is used.
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If this setting is not configured either here or in the .ini file, the policy is disabled.
Example: Manage Internet Explorer cookie folders
When managing the Internet Explorer cookies folder, you need to ensure transactional integrity while reducing profile bloat. To achieve this goal, use the Folders to mirror and Process Internet cookie files on logoff policies.
Detailed steps are as follows:
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If the profile bloat issue occurs, enable deletion of stale cookies on user logoff.
For your changes to take effect, run the gpupdate /force command from the command prompt, as documented in this Microsoft article.
Overview
This section explains how the two policies help manage cookies folders.
Let’s take the Internet Explorer 8 cookies folder as an example. That folder contains index.dat and cookies files. Index.dat references cookie files when users browse the Internet. For example, a user has two Internet Explorer sessions, each from a different device, and the user visits different sites in each session. Cookies from each site are added to the corresponding devices.
How to ensure transactional integrity
Let’s see what happens when the user logs off from both sessions in the preceding example. Cookies from the sessions are merged while the index.dat file is synchronized with the one from the last logged off session. As a result, the cookies files and the references to those cookie files in index.dat become unmatched.
The Folders to mirror policy resolves the issue. With this policy set, Profile Management copies the entire folder to the destination during profile synchronization. For more information about how this policy works, see Manage transactional folders.
How to avoid profile bloat
Browsing in new sessions results in a bloated cookie folder. Also, when websites are revisited, stale cookies build up. The Process Internet cookie files on logoff policy resolves the issue by removing stale cookies from the profile on user logoff.
Note:
Cookies and browsing history information from Internet Explorer 9 and earlier are not compatible with cookies and browsing history information from Internet Explorer 10 and later. Users are advised not to move across multiple systems that have different versions of Internet Explorer installed. [#474200]
Specify cookie folders to mirror
Enable the Folders to mirror policy. In the policy, based on the OS versions supported in your deployment, specify the cookie folders to mirror.
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Go to Profile Management > File system > Synchronization.
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Double-click the Folders to mirror policy.
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Select Enabled.
- In the List of folders to mirror field, add the following cookie folders. Use
Enterto separate folders.-
AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookiesfor Version 2 profiles. -
AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCookies(cookies folder for Windows 8.1 and later) -
AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies(cookies folder for Windows 7 and Windows 8) -
AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCache(folder available for Internet Explorer 10 and later where the cookie database fileWebcache01.datis stored)
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Click OK.
- If you’re using Profile Management 2106 or later, double-click the Accelerate folder mirroring policy, and then select Enabled.
(Optional) Delete stale cookies on logoff
To have Profile Management delete stale cookies on user logoff, enable the Process Internet cookie files on logoff policy.
The policy increases the logoff time, so enable it only when you experience profile bloat issues.
- Go to Profile Management > Advanced Settings.
- Double-click the Process Internet cookie files on logoff policy.
- Select Enabled.
- Click OK.