User State Virtualisation (a.k.a. Folder Redirection & Roaming Profiles)

While researching into User State Virtualisation to gain a better understanding into how Folder Redirection & Roaming Profiles, specifically under Windows 7, can help deliver a much more dynamic desktop I came across the following resources:

Best Practice Guide for USV:
http://www.grouppolicy.biz/2010/08/best-practice-roaming-profiles-and-folder-redirection-a-k-a-user-virtualization/

This brilliant blog post picks apart all the different terminology and processes, as well as giving some implementation examples, video overviews and the recomendations towards best practice.

Reduce logon times by removing bloat:
http://blog.stealthpuppy.com/virtualisation/reduce-logon-times-by-excluding-the-bloat/

This post points you in the right direction for excluding data from roaming profiles that otherwise would be needlessly sync'd to the servers, causing profile bloat.

Make Office 2010 User Customisations Roam:
http://blog.stealthpuppy.com/applications/roaming-local-settings-in-office-2010/

Again, another useful blog post from Aaron Parker that reminds admins that the Office 2010 GPO setting for "Allow roaming of all user customizations" needs enabling to ensure the customisations are stored in the roaming profile rather than the Local AppData folder.

Script to make desktop gadgets "roam":
https://windowsmasher.wordpress.com/2011/01/29/windows-sidebar-gadgets-and-roaming-profiles/

Files and Settings Guide for Outlook:
http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/filesandsettings.htm

Ever wondered where a file or setting for Outlook is stored and whether it can be made to roam or migrated?  Chances are it's listed here.


Video Series on User State Virtualistion

Part 1 Gives an overview about how Roaming Profiles and Folder Redirection gives you User State Virtualisation.



Part 2 Shows an example of how Roaming Profiles can be used to give your users a better experience.



Part 3 Goes though an example that explains how Folder Redirection can help your roaming user access their files from various desktops and laptops.