Redirect files to a network share

Remap user folders to network share for centralised storage and backup

As a simpler way of having your files follow you around your home network, remap your user folders to a network share.

One downpoint of having a small workgroup of computers is that if you use one computer, and then the other, that file you were working on last is not on the second computer! A solution is to remap your user folders to a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device or a network share on another computer. I have implemented this on a network with 2 computers both running Windows XP. Make sure all users exist on all computers before starting this.

Using a NAS

1. Create a network share on your NAS named the same as each of your users.

2. Move the folders you want remapping to the network share (e.g. move the desktop, documents etc from c:\documents and settings\John to \\NAS\John).

3. Install TweakUI on each computer.

4. In each user, and on each computer, open TweakUI, and expand My Computer, then click on Special Folders.

5. Select the first folder from the drop-down menu you want to remap, in this case, the desktop.

6. Click change location, you will get a warning here, click on Yes.

7. Browse to the network location with your special folders on, then click on the folder you want to be your desktop folder.

8. Repeat for each folder you are remapping.

I would recommend mapping Desktop, Favorites, Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos

Using a network share on another computer

Note: for this to work the computer hosting the files will have to be switched on for users' files to be available on any other computers.

1. Make sure the user you want to host the files for has a user account on the host computer.

2. Open My Computer and navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\, right click the first user's folder, select 'sharing and security' and enable sharing this folder on the network.

3. Repeat this for each user.

4. Depending on your setup before starting this, you may need to move the first user's files over to the host computer, do this now.

5. Carry out above steps from step 3 onwards.