Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

A fifth thing to check

Jonathan Hardwick [MSFT] — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 16:44:00 GMT

Dangali pointed out another condition that should be made more explicit: offline files is not enabled if you have fast user switching turned on. It's strictly a one user, one box kind of thing!

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

Joyce Hettenbach — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 01:21:00 GMT

Sorry, I pass all of the tests, but offlines files continue to "uncheck" themselves after reboot.
1. CSC is not enabled on Home Edition - Using Windows XP Pro
2. CSC is not enabled when terminal server is configured for multiple concurrent users - We do not use Terminal Services and the service is disabled.
3. CSC is not enabled when either the user’s (admin user) preference or Group Policy says it should be disabled - no preference or policy in place.
4. CSC is not enabled when either of the following REG_DWORD registry values is set to zero:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache\Enabled - set to 1
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\NetCache\Enabled - does not exist
5. Fast user switching is turned off.

If I create the regsitry key HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\NetCache\Enabled and set it to 1 then the offline files check box becomes grayed out so i can't even check it. If I have it checked then enable the policy it becomes grayed out but on reboot the check still disappears, but it remains grayed out. I have to remove the registry key HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\NetCache\Enabled=1 so that I can check the box.

What is unchecking that darn box???

What does putting a check in the "enable offlines files" box trigger on the computer... a registyr key, ini file, what does it do????

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

Jonathan Hardwick [MSFT] — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 17:23:00 GMT

Hi Joyce - I should have said that those are just the user-visible conditions that can disable offline files. There are other failure checks in the code that aren't exposed in the UI but can still prevent it from starting up. I've passed on your case (and a couple of others) to the CSC team, and I'll let you know if anything happens. Maybe we can develop a little mini-FAQ of other things to check?

To explain your other symptom: if the Enabled key is present in HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\NetCache, the CSC startup code assumes that Group Policy is in effect, so it won't allow the user to alter the setting through the UI. That's why the box is grayed out.

offline file related problems

Ryan P — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 20:59:00 GMT

I have a problem on a Win XP SP1 machine that a user is trying to utilize the offline file capabilities. After he has selected the files to work off line with and then logs off and goes home he encounters a problem. He connects back to work via dial up which runs a log script that maps his drives. He tries to browse the network drive that the files were on and he sees that multiple folders are missing on the mapped drive. When he comes back to work the files are available, but his logon script gives him troubles when it tries to connect his H:\ drive. The script prompts for a user name and password. He can enter his credentials and it seems ok after that. Has anybody seen this particular problem and can you point me to a fix for it??

thanks..

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

Brian Cuneo — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 21:08:00 GMT

I have this exact same problem with 3 XP laptops (Dell, Toshiba, Sony). The only thing in common is SP2 and Norton AV Corporate Edition.

I thought that it was related to a service that was disabled, but I ruled that out. I'd sure like to see a fix for this or some sort of work around. Thanks for your help.

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

Jonathan Hardwick [MSFT] — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 02:41:00 GMT

Brian - Thanks for the problem report. The more examples the product team have of when this doesn't work, the better.

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

Jonathan Hardwick [MSFT] — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 02:44:00 GMT

Ryan - If your user has reconnected to the network but not synchronized, they should only be seeing the files and folders they marked for offline use.

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

Lanny Hinton — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 20:37:00 GMT

I'm seeing the same symptoms on an XP sp2 laptop. I can manually setup offline files. Reboot and it is disabled again. I have this working well on several other computers. This one user is all I've seen this issue with. I'm really in need of a work around or patch or just an answer. Thanks.

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

P. Nath — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:56:00 GMT

I am having the same problem with an XP SP2 laptop. Enable offline files becomes unchecked on reboot. Any developments?

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

Roger Wilson — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 17:21:00 GMT

I have a Toshiba M200 Tablet PC and had enabled the Toshiba Tablet Access Code Logon Utility. This utility replaces the Welcome screen. When I did this the Fast User Switching was still enabled which cased Offline Files to be unchecked on startup.

I've disabled the Tablet Access Code Logon Utility and disabled the Fast User Switching and everything is working now.

Thanks for this excellent article - it helped me fix my problem.

Roger Wilson (email: firstname dot lastname at ronaco.com)

re: Why does &quot;Enable offline files&quot; uncheck itself after a reboot?

ericb — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 20:32:57 GMT

I have these same symptoms on a XP SP2 workstation. The "enable offline files" box unchecks itself on reboot. FUS is disabled (greyed out). The machine is on a P2P network with no domain controller. I've enabled the CAS (Ctrl-Alt-Del) for logon. The symptoms do not replicate on other W2KPro and XP SP1 machines. Help!

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

jonathanh — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 18:06:55 GMT

Eric - Try the solution from this later blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/jonathanh/archive/2005/01/16/354049.aspx

It includes contributions from a couple of readers who found they needed extra steps to solve their problems. So far I haven't had feedback from anyone who this *hasn't* worked for. Let me know either way!

Offline files unchecks itself

Marsha — Wed, 04 May 2005 03:26:27 GMT

Hi everyone...I've tried all of the great ideas posted and I'm still without a solution. I've checked all reg keys and group policy and everything is set correctly, yet the check box still unchecks after a reboot on an HP laptop running Windows xp pro sp2. Has anyone run across anything else that can be tried? Please help, its the CIO's laptop and he refuses to have a rebuild and I'm out of options.
Thanks,Marsha

In the Trenches » Offline Files

In the Trenches » Offline Files — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 02:04:52 GMT

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Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

A fifth thing to check

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

offline file related problems

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

re: Why does &amp;quot;Enable offline files&amp;quot; uncheck itself after a reboot?

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?

Offline files unchecks itself

In the Trenches » Offline Files

re: Why does "Enable offline files" uncheck itself after a reboot?