Folder redirection for users to Google Drive

[ahilfiker]

An inquiry of if this is possible or something Google is looking into. Please remove if in wrong group or question has been asked or it violates anything.

We have multiple schools where students are all chromebooks and staff are some chromebooks & some Windows.

We have local redirected folders through Windows server but would like to see if this is possible through Google Drive. So far I have not had success with my own testing (since Google File Stream was merged into Google Drive) and have seen no Google supported documentation.

The goal would be to have a user login and upon signing into the Windows laptop having Google Drive auto start, like it normally does, and then have there Desktop, Documents, and Picture folders automatically show up. Then they would also be backed up to Google Drive as well. Would also be nice if it functioned similarly to where if the user logged in to another Windows laptop/desktop and had Google Drive on it would populate Documents, Desktop, Pictures.

Might be a pipe dream but that is something I would like to look into. Curious if others have had this same thought.

[ajojose33333344]

@ahilfiker  Have you tried drive for desktop  ?

[ahilfiker]

Yes I have and it is something currently used. I guess I should have clarified better in my question/inquiry.

Similar to how Windows server can have GPOs setup to do Redirected Profiles, I am curious if Google ever plans on having something like that tie in with Google Drive. The closest I have got is using Google Drive for Desktop --> having the user sign in --> preferences --> and adding folders Desktop, Documents, Pictures, etc.

However this requires more end user setup than typically they are willing to do. Even compared to OneDrive you can setup GPOs to have it log your end user in and preselect Desktop, Documents, Pictures, etc and the end user essentially has to do nothing for setup. However I do recognize that Windows/Microsoft will play better with itself than Google/Windows. I also know that your GPOs for OneDrive and whatnot run during user login where Google Drive tends to run after successful user login.

Another barrier I have seen is when using Google Drive compared to OneDrive or redirected profiles, Google Drive will remember multiple "Computers" for syncing so if you log in to more than one computer you often have to go pull your data down from the Web Google Drive and then sync. Redirected profiles and OneDrive don't have this issue as they seem more profile specific and follow you easily where this part of Google Drive seems to be more device specific. Or maybe an update came out that I am unaware of or haven't tested that has made that process easier.

Thanks for the response and idea! Very appreciated

[ajojose33333344]

@ahilfiker  you might want to check this out, I don't have much idea about Microsoft features, but I will check on this and will let you know if I come across anything useful:

https://jumpcloud.com/blog/g-suite-gpos

[Mark55555555555]

I haven't used the Mirror feature but if the locations exist before Google Drive launches you can use normal folder redirection for that. 

You can't use normal folder redirection with streaming because the locations don't exist until after Google Drive starts. You can do it with File Streaming but you have to do it using scripting. You also have to lock the drive letter Google Drive uses in a way where there won't be conflicts so it will always use that letter (use Google Admin Templates). You can use log in/out scripts or scheduled tasks on log in/out events to make sure the folders you want to redirect exist in their Google Drive, then you can use powershell to manipulate the known folder paths for the folders you want to redirect (Desktop/Documents etc...). After you change the known folder property you have to restart explorer so it picks up the changes. If you're redirecting desktops this way, after you restart windows explorer you see all their desktop files appear. It increases the log in settling process because redirection can't occur until after the Google Drive Process is up and running (you have to check if it's running and wait until it is in your powershell script before you execute the redirection). You have to run a script at log out as well to set the known folder property back to something else (that exists) otherwise the next login they get errors about the folders not existing (because Google Drive isn't running when Windows attempts to access the known folder locations). It does work, but it takes some hacking and is a little dirty. I've been doing it for a few years now.