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Windows Server Replacement Folder redirection policy won't apply
Good morning! We are hoping someone in the community can guide us in the right direction. We have scoured the internet looking for a solution and nothing we have tried works.
We have a windows server that we set up a very basic folder redirection policy on. We added a user to the OU associated with it, and it worked flawlessly. The user’s account mapped the folders to the correct location and was able to save data.
We then wanted to use a different folder, so we created a second policy identical to the first, but pointing to a different root folder. We applied the group policy to the server, then moved the user from the original OU to the new OU.
The original redirection policy disassociated, but the new one will not apply. We simply get an error message in gpresult that states “Cannot complete this function”.
We have duplicated this in a live environment and a lab environment, so it seems clear that it is something that we are doing wrong or not understanding about how this is supposed to work.
Has anyone run into this\have any guidance for us? Is our expectation of how this should work unrealistic? Our expectation is that the old policy will be removed and the new policy with the new folder would then apply.
Thanks very much.
1 Reply
hi angieonthehelpdesk Your expectation is reasonable, but Folder Redirection can behave differently from a normal Group Policy setting, especially when you're moving a user from one redirection policy to another.
One thing I'd check first is the “Policy Removal” setting in the original Folder Redirection policy. Under the Folder Redirection settings, make sure it's configured appropriately for when the policy is removed. If the old policy is simply removed while the redirected folders still contain data/configuration from the previous policy, the new policy may not apply as expected.
I'd also check the user's gpresult /h report.html and the GroupPolicy Operational log under:
Applications and Services Logs → Microsoft → Windows → GroupPolicy → Operational
The “Cannot complete this function” message is quite generic, so the Group Policy event log may provide the actual reason.
A few other things worth verifying:
- The user is actually in the new OU and isn't still receiving the old GPO through another OU/group.
- Run gpupdate /force and then sign out/in rather than only restarting the Group Policy service.
- Check the NTFS and share permissions on the new target folder.
- Make sure the new policy isn't configured to use the same redirected folder paths as the old policy.
- Check whether Move the contents to the new location is enabled, as that can affect switching between targets.
Since you've reproduced the behavior in both production and a lab, I'd focus on the Folder Redirection policy removal behavior and the Group Policy event logs rather than assuming the OU move itself is the problem.
If you can share the exact Folder Redirection settings from the old and new GPOs (especially the Policy Removal option) and the relevant gpresult/GroupPolicy event, it should be possible to narrow this down.
