Preserve file state when changing a redirected-folder server path

Source facts

Microsoft’s optimized-move policy lets the client rename cached content in Offline Files when an administrator relocates the share and updates the redirected-folder target path. With that policy disabled or unconfigured, a server-path change causes the client to copy the redirected content to the new location and then remove it from the old location. The source warns that open files or failure to preserve the complete file state can cause conflicts, poor performance, or data loss. Microsoft documentation.

Applicability

Review the existing Folder Redirection configuration, supported client versions, cache state, and proposed share migration. Identify how user activity will be coordinated and how file state will be preserved throughout the move.

DSE recommendation

Prepare a coordinated plan for the file transfer, policy setting, and target-path update. Ask the data owner to approve the source of truth and the period during which users should stop editing. Record the original paths and a recovery decision before changing policy.

Verification

Pilot the move with a representative user and a controlled file set. Compare files and metadata before and after the move, then inspect synchronization and sign-in behavior. Reconcile local edits and conflicts explicitly before accepting the new path; keep an unresolved cache discrepancy open rather than treating a successful sign-in as completion.

Official references

Microsoft Learn: Enable optimized moves of redirected folders. Source reviewed September 8, 2026.