Offline Files in Windows 7 is very broken. We have 2003 file servers and Win7 Pro clients. In XP, making files available offline on the same 2003 servers worked flawlessly. Win7, not so much. SOMETIMES, when Win7 users make files available offline, the files DISAPPEAR from the file server. Other times, the files are made available offline, but don't sync back. Still others, they disappear from the server AND from the client's cache. Further, we have user's desktops redirected to DFS shares. Win7 users can no longer create files on their desktops, even while online. This worked properly on WinXP. FWIW, we redirect to DFS so: a. remote office user's desktop content is available to their RDSH sessions in the data center's DFS target b. we don't have to use roaming profiles except when in RDSH Session Hosts (terminals) farm- why... because they suck c. we can at least get consistent desktops between XP logins and Win7 logins Any insight is appreciated.DLovitt

Hi, Thank you for your question. I am trying to involve someone familiar with this topic to further look at this issue. Regards, Leo Huang TechNet Subscriber Support in forum. If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.comLeo Huang TechNet Community Support

Overall recommendation: You should open up a support ticket as there is not a lot that can be done over a forum post. This would require the collection of logs and possibly sensitive data. We would also need etl tracing for the Offline files Synchronization that only we here can translate. This is not a simple case that would require no user data. There are a lot of variables that can come into play here. Offline Files: ============================== What settings are being used for this? Are these users staying offline for a period of time? Are they logging on to multiple locations without syncing files back up which cause conflicts? When they say "files disappear" do they have auditing in place on the location so they can see who or what deleted it? Files should not just disappear. Does the client ever come back online after being offline? Do they try to sync every logoff/logon? Desktop Issues: ================================ When they say they cannot create a file, what error do they get? Can they create a file and then not open it? Does it give an error when they try to create one? Does this file just not replicate back up to the file server? Logging ================================ Userenv/GPSVC debug logging: Value Path: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Diagnostics Value Name: GPSvcDebugLevel Value Type: REG_DWORD Value Data: 30002 (hex) Output: %windir%\debug\usermode\gpsvc.log Screen Shot of Desktop file creation error Directory Service MPS report -> Event logs would be helpful here. Client Side Caching ETL trace. Possibly ETL tracing for Profiles Packet Trace of the file replicating back up to the server Enable file auditing for the file server so you can see if a file is deleted. You can send email to blrforum-at-microsoft-com for any data sharing.Ketan Thakkar | Microsoft Online Community Support

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprogeneral/thread/c79057d2-62b2-404c-a884-89e6a9d36628/ See above thread. This is describing the problem very well. This is obviously a problem for other admins out there. I need answers to this problem immediately. SMB is VERY broken between win2k3 and win7. DLovitt