How to Setup Folder Redirection in Citrix

Folder redirection is setup to minimize network load and enhance the user logon process, consider redirecting user profile folders, such as Documents, Downloads, Desktop, Pictures, etc., to a network share.

Combining Folder Redirection with the Citrix Profile Management solution enhances the end-user experience. This integration not only accelerates profile loading times but also ensures a smoother sign-in and sign-out process.

You have the flexibility, to begin with redirecting Windows known folders to a shared folder on a remote file server or redirect and move Windows Known folders to OneDrive for an optimized experience.

The choice between using a shared folder or OneDrive for the redirection of known folders depends on your current infrastructure. If all users are already using OneDrive, migrating known folders to OneDrive is a more straightforward configuration. This approach is easier to manage, and it ensures that the data remains with the users in their personal OneDrive.

The following step-by-step process outlines how to configure folder redirection in Citrix using a shared folder on a file server. This configuration example is demonstrated using a single domain controller, which also functions as a file server.

How to Set Up Citrix User Profiles using FSLogix

Step-by-step Guide

Steps to Complete Folder Redirection Configuration

1. Create a Network Share:
   • Establish a network share and configure both Share Permissions and NTFS Permissions.
2. Group Policy Object (GPO) Configuration:
   • Create an Active Directory Group Policy Object.
   • Apply the group policy to end users.

Step 1 – Create a Network Share and Configure Permissions

• Create a Shared Folder on the File Server
  • Log in to your File Server and identify a drive with sufficient free space to store the data for redirected folders. Create a new folder, naming it ‘ctx_redirectedfolders‘ or any other suitable name.

• Right-click on the folder and select ‘Properties‘.
• Navigate to the ‘Sharing‘ tab, then click on ‘Advanced Sharing‘.

• Tick the checkbox for ‘Share this folder‘ and click on the ‘Permissions‘ button. Set ‘Everyone‘ with Full Control for Share Permissions. Click ‘OK‘ to save.

• Click on the ‘Caching‘ button. Choose the option to disable shared folder availability offline. Click ‘OK‘ to save.

• After configuring share permissions and caching options, you will observe that the folder is now shared, and it will display the UNC path of the shared folder.

• Next, configure the NTFS Permissions for the shared folder. Click on the ‘Security‘ tab, and then click on the ‘Advanced‘ button.

• Disable folder permissions inheritance and select the highlighted option to convert inherited permissions to explicit permissions.

• Now, click on the ‘Add‘ button to add the permissions.

• Click ‘Select a principal‘ and choose ‘Everyone‘, then click ‘OK‘. In my demo, I used the ‘Everyone‘ group, but you can also use ‘yourdomainname\users’ (e.g., corp.techpress.net\users).

• Ensure that ‘Applies to’ is set to ‘This folder only‘ to prevent users from getting permissions on other user’s redirected folders.

• Configure the NTFS permissions as depicted in the screenshot.

• Ensure you can access the folder using the UNC path. Note down this location, as it will be used during the configuration of a group policy for folder redirection.

Step 2 – Create a Group Policy Object for Folder redirection

After creating a shared folder and configuring Share and NTFS permissions, the next step is to create a Group Policy object in Active Directory. Follow the steps below to create a Group Policy Object (GPO).

1. Log in to one of your Active Directory Domain Controllers.
2. Click on Start > Run > type gpmc.msc to open the Group Policy Management Console.

3. Right-click on Group Policy Objects and click ‘New‘ to create a new Group Policy Object.

4. Provide a name for the GPO, for example, ‘Citrix – Folder Redirection‘ and click ‘OK‘ to create”.

5. Right-click on the ‘Citrix – Folder Redirection’ GPO and click on ‘Edit‘ to configure the Group Policy settings.

6. 1. Open Group Policy Editor:

      • Once in the Group Policy Editor, expand the User Configuration section.

      Navigate to Folder Redirection Settings:

      • Go to Policies -> Windows Settings -> Folder Redirection.

      Configure Desktop Folder Redirection:

      • Right-click on ‘Desktop’ and click on ‘Properties’ to configure the redirection of the Desktop folder.

      Configure Additional Folder Redirections:

      • Configure Folder Redirection for additional folders such as Documents, Downloads, Start Menu, Music, Videos, and Pictures.

If you intend to redirect the AppData folder, thoroughly test all applications after setup. AppData redirection can potentially lead to issues such as slowness or other application-related issues. In this setup, I have not included AppData folder redirection and have retained this folder at its original location.

Note

The following folders can be redirected:

• AppData(Roaming)
• Desktop
• Start menu
• Documents
• Pictures
• Music
• Videos
• Favorites
• Contacts
• Downloads
• Links
• Searches
• Saved Games

Configuration of Desktop Folder redirection

• Target Tab
  • Setting: Basic – Redirect everyone’s folder to the same location.
  • Target folder location: Create a folder for each user under the root path.
  • Root Path: This is the UNC path of the shared folder we created which is \\tp-dc1\ctx_redirectedfolders.

• Settings Tab
  • Uncheck ‘Grant the user exclusive rights to Desktop‘, so that administrators can manage this folder, and users do not want the user to have exclusive rights to it.

Configuration of Start Menu, Music, Video, and Pictures Folder Redirection.

We will maintain identical folder redirection configuration settings for Music, Video, and Pictures folders as configured for Start Menu folder redirection. Refer to the screenshot below for Start Menu folder redirection and replicate these settings for the mentioned folders.

• Target Tab
  • Setting: Basic – Redirect everyone’s folder to the same location.
  • Target folder location: Redirect to the local userprofile location.

• Settings Tab
  • Uncheck ‘Grant the user exclusive rights to Desktop‘, so that administrators can manage this folder, and users do not want the user to have exclusive rights to it.

Configuration of Documents Folder Redirection

• Target Tab
  • Setting: Basic – Redirect everyone’s folder to the same location.
  • Target folder location: Create a folder for each user under the root path.
  • Root Path: This is the UNC path of the shared folder we created which is \\tp-dc1\ctx_redirectedfolders.

• Settings Tab
  • Uncheck ‘Grant the user exclusive rights to Desktop‘, so that administrators can manage this folder, and users do not want the user to have exclusive rights to it.

Configuration of Downloads Folder Redirection

• Target Tab
  • Setting: Basic – Redirect everyone’s folder to the same location.
  • Target folder location: Create a folder for each user under the root path.
  • Root Path: This is the UNC path of the shared folder we created which is \\tp-dc1\ctx_redirectedfolders.

• Settings Tab
  • Uncheck ‘Grant the user exclusive rights to Desktop‘, so that administrators can manage this folder, and users do not want the user to have exclusive rights to it.

Configure Loopback Processing Mode

In the same Group Policy (Citrix – Folder Redirection), configure Loopback Processing Mode using the following steps:

• Navigate to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Group Policy.
• Locate the setting named Configure user Group Policy loopback processing mode.
• Set it to Enabled and change the Mode to Merge.

How to Verify if Folder Redirection Is Working?

Once the policy “Citrix – Folder Redirection” is created, assign it to a few users initially and log in to Citrix using an account on which this policy has been applied. There are two ways to verify if Citrix folder redirection is functioning correctly.

1. After establishing a session on the Citrix server, navigate to the redirected folder. Right-click on the folder and select “Properties.” In the Properties window, go to the Shortcut tab and check the Target field. If the field displays a redirected path, folder redirection is working correctly.

2. Additionally, go to your folder redirection file share (e.g., \\tp-dc1\ctx_redirectedfolders) and monitor this location. You will observe a user folder along with redirected folders being created. If you do not see the folders immediately, you may need to log in and log out once or twice for the folders to appear at the specified redirection location.

To apply your changes, run the ‘gpupdate /force‘ command from the command prompt on the Citrix Server. This ensures that the Group Policy for folder redirection is immediately applied. To confirm if the group policy is successfully applied, you can run the ‘gpresult’ command in the command prompt.

Note

Conclusion

In this blog post, we have set up Citrix folder redirection using Active Directory Group Policy. By combining folder redirection with Citrix Profile Management solutions, you can offer the best user logon experience. Redirecting folder redirection to a shared folder reduces the time it takes for the user profile to load on a Citrix server and minimizes issues related to user profiles.