I came across an obscure issue that I can easily reproduce. If I Disable offline files on a domain joined machine the pin items on my Windows 7 task bar dissapear after a re-boot and next login. I can then Re-enable offline files, re-start, login and whalla! my pin items re-appear. Is this happening to anyone else?

Hi George, I tried to pin some items to taskbar, disable Offline files in Sync Center and restarted the computer. Items still exists after log on the same account. My test computer is in domain and it is Windows 7 Ultimate RTM. Please let me know:1. The exact programs and locationswe pinned to taskbar if they are related to offline files. Also let's create some files on Desktop and pin them onto taskbar for testing.2. Please let me know the version of the Windows 7 you are using (RC/Ultimate etc.).

Hi Shaon, The pinned items were pre-created using TaskbarLinks in Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup in my unattend xml file. The exact programs are Microsoft Outlook 2007, Word and Excel, and the exact location of these are %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\<xxxxx.lnk> So whenever any new user logs onto the machine they receive the default pinned items that I have pre-created in the allusersprofile. When the user logs in for the first time the pinned items appear but when I log off and log back on again with the same user, all pinned items including the default quick launch no longer appear. This is only happening when Offline Files is disabled within sync center (controlled via GP). If I enable Offline Files and re-start the machine they re-appear again. I am running Windows 7 Enterprise RTM and utilising roaming profiles. Hope this sheds some light.

I think we would like to let the systempin the Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.lnk (and Word/Excel) to Taskbar automatically by running the xml file. Generally this should not relate to Offline Files function. Please help me do a test. Let's find the Outlook shortcut file and manually pin it to Taskbar. Please keep Offline Files disable to see the result. Let me know if it will still disappeared after log off and log on. Meanwhile, please check if the shortcut file and the Outlook.exe file are located in following folders:C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.lnkC:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\outlook.exeIf not please let me know the location of the 2 files. Also please try to find this folder:C:\Users\<user account>\Appdata\roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBarNote: <user account> is the roaming account. Please keep Offline Files disabled and then looking for the folder. We need to confirm if the roaming profile is actually exists in the local computer but not just an offline file (so it cannot be found after disable Offline Files)

Hi Shaon, Here are the results prior to disabling offline files; C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.lnk - Is PresentC:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\outlook.exe - Is Present C:\Users\<user account>\Appdata\roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar - Not Present If I manually pin a shortcut that isn't pinned already e.g. PowerPoint shortcut, the lnk file will only appear underC:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\MicrosoftOffice\ It can be one of two things. I am also using Redirected Desktop so this could be a factor and or Roaming profiles. I can confirm that this behaviour does not occur when the profile is not roaming. Cheers

Hi,From the test, the issue should be caused as the Taskbar folder does not exist:C:\Users\<user account>\Appdata\roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBarWhen we pinned an icon to Taskbar, it will add registry key and put a copy of the icon to above location. The key cannot be found but as there is no such folder exists, we may not able to find the pinned items after disable offline files. Let's keep offline files disable and manually create the TaskBar folder, pin icons again to see the result. Also we can test to create a new account (Roaming or local account) and check the result.

Hi Shaon, My Bad. The User Pinned\TaskBar folder does exist... I had hidden files turned on and hence could not see the folder before. The shortcuts are present, including the PowerPoint one that I had added. The shortcuts are still present after disabling offline files under the User Pinned\Taskbar roaming profile folder.

Hi George, Generally, after change some settings in a roaming profile, when log off it, it will sync all changes to domain server. Next time we log on the same account, it will sync them from server back to local. This function is not related to Offline Files. As for the current issue, the sync function is affected by Offline Files, so I assume that it is possibly caused by group policy or settings on server. If you are the admin of the domain server, let's try to create a test OU in AD without any group policy settings, move your computer to the new OU temporarily to see if issue still exists. If not, add group policy back to see the result. Also I suggest that let's check if other domain users who are using Windows 7 have the same issue. If you are not the domain admin, contact them to help do the suggestion above.

Hi Shaon, I suspect the same, i.e. group policy settings. I am the win admin so I can place it in a new OU. The same Group Policy objects that were being applied to our Vista machines are now applied to our Windows 7 machines with some minor tweaks,i.e. taking advantage of the Windows 7 GP settings. The domain has been updated with the Windows 7 admx templates. Strange that this behaviour never occured with my Vista machines of almost identical setup. I will now have to narrow it down to which GP setting which will be a nightmare as there is a mixture of almost a dozen GPO's being applied to both user and computer. I'll create a vanilla OU and only apply the desktop re-direction and proceed from there. All domain users using Windows 7 is having the same issue which is my pilot group at the moment. Thanks!

Hi Shaon, I have narrowed down my problem to one GP setting. In summary, I created a new OU with no gpo's applied and moved a machine and user into that OU. I logged in and logged off, disabled offline files etc and the pinned task bar items have remained. This user also has a roaming profile. I then added one of my GPO which I suspect is causing the issue which is one that I have specifically setup for Folder Redirections, specifically for Documents and Desktop. I then logged in with my test user, disabled offline files, restarted the machine,logged back in and all my pinned items disappeared. My redirected desktop also contains Office Shortucts. Hope this helps, but I have now narrowed it down to that gp setting. Cheers

Hi George, I'm glad to hear that the cause is found. At current situation, I would like to confirmthe reason to setup the redirection for Documents and Desktop. Our current issue can be caused if the redirection affect the roaming sync function so documents and desktop folders are synced through Offline Files function.Thus if Offline Files is disabled, changes cannot be uploaded to server and causes the pinned icons disappeared. Please understand that as the cause is found, following troubleshooting should related to Server settings which is out of my support boundary. Thus I may not able to help a lot from here. If needed, we can try to contact Server support for further help. Of course if there is anything unclear please just let me know.

We have been redirecting the Desktop and Documents since the days of Windows Vista (i.e. for the last 2 years) and usually have offline files disabled for our desktops and keep them enabled for our laptops. Are we able to pass this thread to server support? Thanks

Hi, I do not believe that this issue has been resolved. Why should re-directed files and disabling offline files cause all pinned items on the task bar to dissappear? Kind regards

As I mentioned, since we narrow down the issue to server settings, I may not able to provide enough help as it is out of my support boundary. I assume the issue can be caused by 2 factors: 1. The part we setup folder redirection is no longer sync when we log off the computer. So it will not be updated if disable Offline Folder. 2. Offline Folder is conflicted with Roaming sync feature. If both Offline Folder and Roaming sync are trying to update the change we made, it will cause unknown issue. Here is a KB article we can have a look: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/287566 Please understand that when we pinned a program to Taskbar, it will add a shortcut to the folder I mentioned: C:\Users\<user account>\Appdata\roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar And modify the key below: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband Thus our issue should be caused if one of both of the settings are not saved/uploaded to server when disable Offline Files. If both Offline Files and Roaming Profile referenced the a same folder, it will cause confliction issue. We can also try following steps to prevent folders from roaming and keep Offline Files enable to see the result. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;814592 If this will work, current issue should be caused by confliction. For further help please submit new thread on our server forum: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windowsserver