6 Appendix A: Product Behavior

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The information in this specification is applicable to the following Microsoft products or supplemental software. References to product versions include updates to those products.

  • Windows 2000 operating system

  • Windows XP operating system

  • Windows Server 2003 operating system

  • Windows Vista operating system

  • Windows Server 2008 operating system

  • Windows 7 operating system

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system

  • Windows 8 operating system

  • Windows Server 2012 operating system

  • Windows 8.1 operating system

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system

  • Windows 10 operating system

  • Windows Server 2016 operating system

  • Windows Server 2019 operating system

  • Windows Server 2022 operating system

  • Windows 11 operating system

  • Windows Server 2025 operating system

Exceptions, if any, are noted in this section. If an update version, service pack or Knowledge Base (KB) number appears with a product name, the behavior changed in that update. The new behavior also applies to subsequent updates unless otherwise specified. If a product edition appears with the product version, behavior is different in that product edition.

Unless otherwise specified, any statement of optional behavior in this specification that is prescribed using the terms "SHOULD" or "SHOULD NOT" implies product behavior in accordance with the SHOULD or SHOULD NOT prescription. Unless otherwise specified, the term "MAY" implies that the product does not follow the prescription.

<1> Section 2.2.1: Except in Windows 2000 Server operating system, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, the set of folders that can be redirected is extensible and includes, by default, the additional folders Music, Videos, Favorites, Contacts, Downloads, Links, Saved Games, and Searches. In Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, a constant list of exactly five user profile folders can be redirected, including My Documents, My Pictures, Desktop, Start Menu, and Application Data.

<2> Section 2.2.1.1: For each file with versions present in the source location of the user profile folder and in the redirected location, the version in the default location is copied to the redirected location only if its file system time stamp is newer than the version to be replaced.

<3> Section 2.2.1.1: If the destination folder does not exist, the folder redirection subsystem creates the folder and modifies the file system ACL on the destination folder to ensure that only the user has access to the contents of the destination folder. A destination folder implemented over a Windows FAT32 File System will not provide the requisite operations.

<4> Section 2.2.1.2: Except in Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003,  Windows supports, by default, the 13 well-known user profile folders listed in section 1.9 and is vendor-extensible to support additional user profile folders.

<5> Section 2.2.2: Version One configuration data is not supported in Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. These versions do not accept or process such a file.

<6> Section 2.2.2:  Windows supports relocating the My Documents and Favorites user profile folder. When the administrator uses the Folder Redirection Administrative-Side Plug-in to define folder redirection policies for My Documents and Favorites for a user, the administrative-side plug-in generates a Version One configuration file.

<7> Section 2.2.2.2.1: For each file with versions present in the source location of the user profile folder and in the redirected location, the version in the default location is copied to the redirected location only if its file system time stamp is newer than the version to be replaced. Once the move is completed, the folder redirection subsystem deletes the user profile folder and all its contents from the source location.

<8> Section 2.2.2.2.1: If this flag is not set, the folder redirection subsystem prevents the user from explicitly changing how this user profile folder is redirected. If this flag is set, the folder redirection subsystem allows the user to change where the user profile is redirected.

<9> Section 2.2.2.2.1: The Exclusve Access flag is not supported in Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.

<10> Section 3.1.4.2: In Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, the administrative-side plug-in stores only a Version Zero file.

<11> Section 3.2.1: In Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, the removal policy configuration is persisted in:

  • %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\File Deployment\{25537BA6-77A8-11D2-9B6C-0000F8080861}.ini

Except in Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, the removal data is stored under this registry key:

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\<User's SID>\fdeploy\

Under that key, there is a REG_DWORD value for each redirected folder. The folders are identified by their well-known user profile folder GUIDs (see section 1.9), and the values are set using the flags defined in section 2.2.2.2.1.

<12> Section 3.2.1: In Windows, this is not configured by default. It can be configured via Group Policy settings, and the default behavior can be modified in the computer-specific Registry Policy file in the following location.

Key: Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Value: SyncForegroundPolicy

Type: REG_DWORD

Size: 4

Data:

  • Wait for network: 0x1

  • Don’t wait for network: 0x0

<13> Section 3.2.5.2:  Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 implement only Version Zero of the protocol.

<14> Section 3.2.5.3: Windows interprets the value as a file system path in which components are delimited by the backslash "\" character. By convention, substrings of the path of the form %USERNAME% are understood to be replaced by the value of an operating system environment variable before the path is interpreted by the operating system file subsystem.