Work Folders is available on Windows 7 client

Summary

This article introduces the Work Folders feature on Windows 7. You can also find update information and known issues for this release. To install this feature, you must have Windows 7 Service Pack 1 installed on the computer.

Introduction

Work Folders is a place to store your work files so that you can open them from all computers and devices, even when you are offline.
Work Folders for Windows 7 enables you to use a Windows 7 computer to access your Work Folders if the following conditions are true:

• Your organization offers Work Folders, and has set it up for your domain account.

• You have a Windows 7 computer that is joined to your organization's domain.

Update information

Known issues

• Assume that a user upgrades from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1, and the data is kept on the computer without the partnership information. If the local folder that stores Work Folders (by default, it is located in C:\Users\<username>\Work Folders) is encrypted on Windows 7, the same path cannot be used again on Windows 8.1. 
  This issue occurs because different encryption mechanisms are used on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. 
  To work around this issue, use one of the following methods:

  • You can open File Explorer in Windows 8.1, right-click the folder that stores Work Folders, and then click Properties. Click Advanced, and then clear the Encrypt contents to secure data check box. Click OK, select the Apply changes to this folder, subfolders, and files check box, and then click OK.

  • You can select a different path for the Work Folders, and optionally delete the old folder. You must make sure all the content was synced to the server before the upgrade, or move the files that are not synced to the new Work Folders location before removing the old Work Folders path.

• When the sync server authentication uses Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) and uses form-based authentication in your environment, client computers must use Internet Explorer 9, Internet Explorer 10, or Internet Explorer 11. Otherwise, users cannot be authenticated against the server.

• Work Folders client experiences slow sync performance in some environments that use Internet Protocol Security (Ipsec). To resolve this issue, install hotfix 2665206.

• The Work Folders Group Policy setting can also be applied to Windows 7, although the description text of Work Folders Group Policy template indicates that it only applies to Windows 8.1 computers.

• The Work Folders shortcut is added to user's Favorites folder in Windows Explorer on Windows 7. If the Favorites folder is redirected to a network share, the shortcut for Work Folders will not be present. This is because the Work Folders path is local to a client computer, so the shortcut has no meaning on other client computers when it is presented through a network share.

• When a user migrates the computer from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 by using User State Migration Tool (USMT) and configures the migrate settings to include the user partnership information, the Work Folders data is not migrated. After the user logs on the new computer, the partnership is established, and data is synced down to the computer. However, the shell namespace under the This PC column for Work Folders is not created. To obtain the shell namespace under the This PC column for Work Folders, you can click Stop Work Folders in the Work Folders Control Panel, and then set up Work Folders again. This enables the namespace to be created as part of the partnership creation.

• Assume that the client installs a localized (non-English) version of the Work Folders on Windows 7. After migration, the Work Folders shortcut under the Favorite folder is displayed in English.

Status

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

More Information

For more information about Work Folders, go to the following Microsoft website:

General information about Work Folders For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates