Consider the following scenario:

• On a file server, you create a shared folder that contains NT file systems (NTFS) alternate data streams.
• On a Windows-based client computer that has a network connection to the file server, you enable the Offline Files feature on the shared folder. Therefore, the contents of the folder are cached locally on the client computer.
• On the client computer, you disconnect the network connection from the file server, and then you modify or rename the shared folder.
• You re-connect the client computer to the file server, and then you synchronize the shared folder to the file server.

In this scenario, the alternate data streams are lost.

This problem usually occurs when the client computer is running one of the following:

• Windows XP
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2008

On a Windows Vista-based or Windows Server 2008-based client computer, a user encounters an offline file sync conflict shortly after a successful synchronization. When the user opens the Sync Center to view the sync conflict, Sync Center says that the conflict occurs because the file was changed on the client and on the server.

This issue usually occurs when the following conditions are true:

• You enable the offline files feature in a network environment.
• You try to synchronize some .pst files.
• The network connection disconnects during a second synchronization.

Consider the following scenario. On a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, you enable the Always Available Offline setting. Additionally, the offline files in the network folder are synchronized to the cache of the local computer.

If you start a search for the network folder from the toolbar in Windows Explorer when the computer is offline in this scenario, Windows Search may fail. Specifically, no result is returned. However, if you start the search by clicking the Start button, the network folder is successfully found.

This issue may also occur if the network folder is hosted on a non-Windows-based server.

Note: For more information about how to enable the Always Available Offline setting, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/02ecf57a-fa36-40be-a5c2-907f51cda1fe1033.mspx#EHC

When you right-click a shared network folder or a shared network file on a Windows Vista-based computer or on a Windows Server 2008-based computer, and then you click Always Available Offline to pin the network resource, you cannot access the shared file or folder. This problem occurs if only part of the network resource is cached. Additionally, you receive an error message that resembles the following:

Access is denied.

If you synchronize the file or the folder, the synchronization operation is successful. However, you still cannot access the file or the folder.

On a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, you have some offline files that are ghost items. In this situation, you cannot synchronize the offline files on this computer with the corresponding files on a file server. Additionally, you cannot access or delete these offline files.

Note: Ghosting is a new feature for offline files in Windows Vista and in Windows Server 2008. Sometimes, a synchronization process may stop responding because of network issues that occur when the contents of a file or directory are only partly cached. In this case, client-side caching (CSC) creates ghost items on the client computer. Ghost items cannot be deleted. Additionally, the ghosting feature cannot be disabled.

Consider the following scenario that occurs in a domain environment:

• You configure the users in the domain to use roaming profiles.
• The folder redirection feature is enabled in the domain.
• The offline folder feature is enabled on the network share on which the users’ roaming profiles and the redirected folders are located.
• The values of all registry entries under the following registry subkeys have been set to the path of the network share:
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

In this scenario, when you try to log on to the domain from a Windows Vista-based client computer or from a Windows Server 2008-based client computer, the computer may stop responding.

Consider the following scenario:

• On a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, you have some offline files.
• The Desktop folder is redirected to a network folder by a Group Policy setting.

In this scenario, the offline file icons on the desktop randomly change to different icons every time that you refresh the desktop. For example, you expect the offline files to be represented by green synchronization icons. However, these icons may change to other icons, such as to a magnifying glass icon, to a two-person icon, or to a shortcut arrow.

This issue typically occurs when there are many offline files on the desktop.

Consider the following scenario:

• You have a shared folder that is available offline.
• On a Windows Vista-based computer, in an Office application or in WordPad, you use the Open File dialog box to open an offline file that is in the shared folder.

In this scenario, the shared folder goes offline. After the shared folder goes offline, you cannot make the shared folder go online from Windows Explorer.

When files are made available offline in Windows Vista, you cannot rename files by using different case.

For example, you have a file that is named TEXT.txt and you want to rename it to text.txt. However, you will be denied if the file is made available offline.

On a Windows Vista-based computer, files in an offline folder are randomly corrupted.

For example, assume that the offline folder contains an Internet shortcut (URL file). In this case, some files in the folder are empty, and you cannot use the Internet shortcut to open the URL.