Recommended to disable offline files ?

Posted by mailliwal@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 13 comments

Hi, Currently testing Windows 11 24H2 on VMware but encountered BSOD "PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA" randomly (memory dump showed related to CSC.sys) after logon AD user account (No this issue while do preparation including Windows Update / application installation / etc.). I asked in Reddit and some helpful guys give me suggestion that the root cause may be "Offline files". Since user profile's desktop / documents are redirected to file server. Therefore I would like to know if offline files was disabled, will the performance slower ? Since user need to access to server everytime for r/W. Thanks

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13 Comments

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BlockBannington@reddit

Offline files was the bane of my existence when we were decommisioning homedrives that had known folders redirected there. I wish you good luck.

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Professional_Ant4558@reddit

This is me right now. FML.

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mailliwal@reddit (OP)

Thanks for your advice. Disable should be a better choice.

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mailliwal@reddit (OP)

If the network between clients and file servers is normal. Files properties showed “This files is offline”. Is this means the file is access from file servers directly ?

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mailliwal@reddit (OP)

Thanks for comments. Since currently is enabled. Can I disable directly or need to synchronize then disable ? If synchronization is required, how to make sure everyone's files were synchronized ? Thanks

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tru_power22@reddit

There is NO sync when disabled. The only concern is you might have files in conflict if it's not in sync before disabling it.

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mailliwal@reddit (OP)

Will disable make network traffic more heavy ? Since every time Read/Write to server. This is my concern

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tru_power22@reddit

It's already reading and writing to the server if the connection is good enough.

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mailliwal@reddit (OP)

If the access are from VDI, is offline files not much important ?

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That_Fixed_It@reddit

I've had problems with the offline files feature for decades and nothing has changed. It will stop working without notice, and files saved to the server are really only saved to a local hidden folder, causing data loss if the PC crashes or is stolen or wiped. This feature was not designed to increase performance, why is that your concern?

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mailliwal@reddit (OP)

Technically, offline files are access locally or remotely of network access to files server is normal ? If locally then network may less busy.

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tru_power22@reddit

You fail to understand how offline files work. They only don't use the server when there isn't a connection, otherwise they access the server directly. It shouldn't make a difference in performance. Though frankly we've been trying to get away from Offline Files where we're able as it causes more issues than it fixes in most cases.

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Unexpected_Cranberry@reddit

Mostly true. It has a bit of built in intelligence that checks the performance of the connection. If things like response time and I think packet loss and bandwidth are within configured parameters (defaults are ok for most environments) it will go directly to the server. Otherwise it will use the cache. My experience has been that redirecting start menu, documents, pictures, downloads and similar works fine. However, I'd avoid redirection on appdata and desktop as those tend to produce issues. Relating to OP, for a machine running on a hypevisor in the same datacenter as the file server, offline files make no sense. His issues I suspect are related to vTPM or things like credential guard or other visualization based security features.