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Sometimes I am connected via VPN to a network containing the server where files are stored which are cached by Windows offline files feature.

Sometimes the connection works good and working this way is not a problem - on other times working is quite a pain because of high latency when working with the files in the Windows explorer.

Is there an interactive way how a user (with admin permissions) can temporary suspend online usage of offline files?

I already activated the "Transparent caching" group policy feature (Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Networks > Offline Files) with a network latency of 200msec but from my experience even if I get ping times to the file server of less than 40msec online usage is quite tenacious. Setting low latency times at this point causes the offline files often to toggle which makes problems with some applications working with several files and requires them to be consistent (like SVN client).

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In Windows Explorer, there is a Work offline command on the menu bar when viewing a folder or library that is redirected. This switches the partnership to offline mode, and the command becomes Work online. The status bar will report the online or offline status.

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The correct settings you are looking for are the "Slow Link Mode" settings. You can just jack up the speed setting to like 99999. Then you can turn it on and off. Have a look here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749449(v=ws.10).aspx

Slow link speed satisfies all reads and writes to the local cache by default. It will either a) go online every five minutes(by default) to check your network speed or b) go online when you tell it to.

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  • Nice idea - just tried it: The slow connection check time is 4 minutes, I activated the "Slow Link Mode" and added the pair "*" "Throughput=10000000" (local computer policy). Then I executed gpupdate /force and waited several minutes. But the offline-status column in the Explorer stays on the "Online" mode. Therefore I assume that this setting requires a restart for being effective?
    – Robert
    Jul 5, 2011 at 12:27
  • It says online, but all reads and writes are through the cache. You can use process explorer or Perfmon to verify.
    – surfasb
    Jul 6, 2011 at 0:00
  • According to my feeling the displayed status was correct - long delays of several seconds do not occur if the offline files from the local machine are used.
    – Robert
    Jul 6, 2011 at 11:30

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