Configuring Windows 7 Libraries using Group Policy Preferences

One of the most useful features in Windows 7 is Libraries. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most painful to administer in a domain. In an ideal world you'd be able to use Group Policy to add or remove whatever library locations you desired. However Microsoft seems to have forgot about Libraries when they updated Group Policy for Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 as there is no Group Policy to control Libraries.

Thankfully, there is a solution! Using Group Policy Preferences, the library settings files can be copied over the existing library settings upon login allowing you to set your library to whatever location you want.

Locating the Library Files

The library files are located in C:\Users\Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Library Name.library-ms and they won't show an extension unless you open them in a text editor. This can be tricky because they act as a shortcut so when you click on them you typically just end up at the location. I use Notepad++ and it has an option to Edit with Notepad++ in the context menu that allows me to get around this.

Simplifying the file

Microsoft provides detailed explanations on most of the tags and attributes that you should see in your .library-ms files. There are a few tags that should be cleared in order for the .library-ms file to be applicable to any user.

• <ownerSID> - contains the owners security identifier (SID). I have verified it is inserted on the first load of the library.
• <serialized> - contains a base64-encoded ShellLink pointing to the location defined in the <url> element. This is also updated on the first load of the library and should be left blank.

Sidenote: Although I'm not sure if the <ownerSID> tag must be cleared, I can verify it is recreated in my environment (SBS 2011 and W7 Pro). The <serialized> tag on the other hand definitely must be cleared, Microsoft states this at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd940482(v=vs.85).aspx and I have experienced it causing the incorrect path to be added to the library first hand.

Creating the Group Policy Preference

The following steps should be sufficient to create the necessary Group Policy. If you want to remap Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos you will need to create four different File rules.

• Create a new Group Policy and go to the User Configuration / Preferences / Windows Settings / Files and create a new file.
• Set the Action to Replace and manually type the path or at least the filename into the Source field.
• In the Destination field enter the following %userprofile%\Appdata\roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries\Library Name.library-ms
• Switch over to the Common tab and check the Run in logged-on user's security context (user policy option) this is important as the group policy will now use the user's environmental variables

You should now be ready to go! Run gpupdate /force on a client computer and logoff if it asks you to. When you log back on you should see your new library locations.

My library locations

Here are the library locations I am currently using on one of my networks.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<libraryDescription xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2009/library">
<name>@shell32.dll,-34575</name>
<version>4</version>
<isLibraryPinned>true</isLibraryPinned>
<iconReference>imageres.dll,-1002</iconReference>
<templateInfo>
<folderType>{7d49d726-3c21-4f05-99aa-fdc2c9474656}</folderType>
</templateInfo>
<propertyStore>
<property name="HasModifiedLocations" type="boolean"><![CDATA[true]]></property>
</propertyStore>
<searchConnectorDescriptionList>
<searchConnectorDescription>
<isDefaultSaveLocation>true</isDefaultSaveLocation>
<isSupported>true</isSupported>
<simpleLocation>
<url>\\sbsserver\Public\Documents</url>
</simpleLocation>
</searchConnectorDescription>
</searchConnectorDescriptionList>
</libraryDescription>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<libraryDescription xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2009/library">
<name>@shell32.dll,-34584</name>
<version>2</version>
<isLibraryPinned>true</isLibraryPinned>
<iconReference>imageres.dll,-1004</iconReference>
<templateInfo>
<folderType>{94d6ddcc-4a68-4175-a374-bd584a510b78}</folderType>
</templateInfo>
<propertyStore>
<property name="HasModifiedLocations" type="boolean"><![CDATA[true]]></property>
</propertyStore>
<searchConnectorDescriptionList>
<searchConnectorDescription>
<isDefaultSaveLocation>true</isDefaultSaveLocation>
<isSupported>true</isSupported>
<simpleLocation>
<url>\\sbsserver\Public\Music</url>
</simpleLocation>
</searchConnectorDescription>
</searchConnectorDescriptionList>
</libraryDescription>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<libraryDescription xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2009/library">
<name>@shell32.dll,-34595</name>
<version>2</version>
<isLibraryPinned>true</isLibraryPinned>
<iconReference>imageres.dll,-1003</iconReference>
<templateInfo>
<folderType>{b3690e58-e961-423b-b687-386ebfd83239}</folderType>
</templateInfo>
<propertyStore>
<property name="HasModifiedLocations" type="boolean"><![CDATA[true]]></property>
</propertyStore>
<searchConnectorDescriptionList>
<searchConnectorDescription>
<isDefaultSaveLocation>true</isDefaultSaveLocation>
<isSupported>true</isSupported>
<simpleLocation>
<url>\\sbsserver\Public\Pictures</url>
</simpleLocation>
</searchConnectorDescription>
</searchConnectorDescriptionList>
</libraryDescription>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<libraryDescription xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2009/library">
<name>@shell32.dll,-34620</name>
<version>2</version>
<isLibraryPinned>true</isLibraryPinned>
<iconReference>imageres.dll,-1005</iconReference>
<templateInfo>
<folderType>{5fa96407-7e77-483c-ac93-691d05850de8}</folderType>
</templateInfo>
<propertyStore>
<property name="HasModifiedLocations" type="boolean"><![CDATA[true]]></property>
</propertyStore>
<searchConnectorDescriptionList>
<searchConnectorDescription>
<isDefaultSaveLocation>true</isDefaultSaveLocation>
<isSupported>true</isSupported>
<simpleLocation>
<url>\\sbsserver\Public\Videos</url>
</simpleLocation>
</searchConnectorDescription>
</searchConnectorDescriptionList>
</libraryDescription>