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Problem with synchronizing offline files

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7 replies

by lauraa

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I have several laptop users whose OS is W2000. I have their My Docs mapped to their network folder, enabled offline files, have them synch on login and log off and also set to be encrypted. The problem arises when they are logged into the network while in the office; any new files made are not marked for synchronization. I have changed some settings to troubleshoot and found that when I take off encryption that the synchronization then occurs. These users are working with confidential information and need both synched and encrypted for HIPAA. I have not found any WinXP users to have this same problem. Any thoughts othen than upgrading to XP?

7 replies

by bfilmfan

Is the Domain EFS recovery agent set in the Default Domain Policy? If not, I have seen this issue occur in the past.

by lauraa

Yes, there is a recovery agent set in the policy, so that's not the cause. Thanks though.

by lauraa

I saw this article when I was searching the KB before I posted here; for the life of me I can't understand why MS would make the ability to encrypt files, but if you want those files offline, they will not be encrypted; what kind of sense does that make. Wait, we're talking MS here....

by bobho

Read the article again. Encrypted files are not a feature that w2k can utilize with offline files. The w2k os uses a per computer local cache but encryption prevents access to a single user. This was changed in winxp. If you try to designate an encrypted file for offline syncing then it will be decrypted.

There might be some 3rd party encrpytion systems that will enable you to use offline files/folders but this would probably be too complicated to enforce. If you want to use encrypted files in an offline senario then you will need to use winxp.

Cheers.

RW

by lauraa

I suppose that this is why the newly made networked files are not marked for synchronization; that was the first thing that was noticed, files not available offline. The users never get a prompt concerning offline files not being encrypted, they are just not available. I was hoping to get around upgrading again, but...

thanx

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