HOW TO: Implement Share Caching Options in Windows 2000

Windows 2000 includes a feature called "Offline Files." You can use Offline Files to cache files that you commonly use from a file share. There are three different share caching modes:

• No Caching: No caching of files or folders occurs.
• Manual: The Manual mode permits the user to specify individual files required for offline access. This operation guarantees a user can obtain access to the specified files whether online or offline.
• Automatic: The Automatic mode is applied to the entire share. When a user uses any file in this share, it is made available to the user for offline access. This operation does not guarantee a user can obtain access to the specified files, because only files that have been uses at least once are cached.

To use Offline Files, the client computer can be any Windows 2000-based computer. The server hosting the network file share to be used does not need to be running Windows 2000. The default mode for all supported operating systems is Manual. Automatic mode is only supported in Windows 2000, but Manual mode can be used in all supported operating systems.

Implementing Share Caching

The NET SHARE tool is available in Windows 2000 to setup and configure the Automatic mode for Offline Files functionality.

1. Connect to your network, and then change to a command prompt.
2. Change to the root folder of the drive letter of the appropriate network share.
3. Create a new folder, and then make this folder a Cached File Share. For example, type net share share name=c:\folder name /cache:automatic, and then press ENTER, where share name is the appropriate share name, and folder name is your folder name.
4. At the command prompt, type net share, and then press ENTER to verify that the file share was created.