Windows 10 Offline Files - computer thinks its offline, when it's not.

Server is Windows 2012 R2. Clients are Windows 10.

VPN is a Watchguard SSL VPN. Users are connected on fast VDSL connections.

When Offline Files is enabled, users connecting via the VPN can no longer see any folders other than those already synchronised. File explorer shows the computer working in offline mode.

I have checked the network location, and this shows 'domain' as expected.

It appears that when connected to the VPN, Windows is perfectly happy to authenticate against the network, browse network shares it's never seen before, there are no speed issues, etc, but the minute offline files is enabled, Windows (file explorer only) thinks the computer is offline.

There is no GPO set to describe the slow speed threshold, so the default of 500kbps should be true. The connection is operating nearer 80Mbps.

I've set a GPO "Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Network > Offline Files > Configure slow-link mode" to disabled, which seems to have resolved the issue.

However, I'm more concerned that Windows believes the computer to be offline when it isn't, and I wonder if there's a firewall issue I should be aware of?

Any pointers?

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LVL 64

Cliff GaliherCommented: 2017-12-04

The skow-speed policies are probably the most misunderstood. You can find detailed blog posts on them, but suffice it to say things are working as expected. It will also likely never change. Offline files is effectively dead and only gets minimal maintenance and no new features. Microsoft has moved on to more robust solutions.

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LVL 107

JohnBusiness Consultant (Owner)Commented: 2017-12-04

I agree with Cliff and do not even use or consider newer Microsoft solutions until they can prove that they know what they are doing (which they have not done in a decade).

I use Sync Back Pro for this (2brightsparks.com). The files are real physical files on each end and you never see the problem above.

Bombproof.

Joe McDougallAuthor Commented: 2017-12-04

Thanks very much both.

Unfortunately this is an established network I've walked into, so have to be careful in proposing alternative methods. If Offline Folders are not really maintained by MS, then that sounds like a good reason to choose another method.

For in-premises user folders, Microsoft sees Work Folders as the future. For shared folders, offline files always had too many conflicts (two people both edit a file while offline) and so MS has effectively abandoned it. To basically eliminate that issue MS sees SharePoint with check-out/checkin for on-prem, or a cloud based nearly always-on (onedrive of business/office 365 Groups) as the answer. And the sync engine is significantly different than the old CSC/offline files cache engine. Either way, offline files is basically dead.

LVL 40

Aaron TomoskySD-WAN SimplifiedCommented: 2017-12-06

OneDrive/sharepoint/teams is definitely where it's at. However this does require moving away from monolithic shared drives into smaller departmental style shares which can be hard for old school orgs with massive file shares

Windows 10 Offline Files - computer thinks its offline, when it's not.

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