Files Do Not Synchronize

  • Article

A user cannot synchronize certain files or folders.

Possible Causes:

  • Files with the extensions .mdb, .ldb, .mdw, .mde, .db are not synchronized by default.

  • Network connection problems accessing the files to be synchronized.

  • Insufficient disk space on the client computer to synchronize files.

  • Insufficient user rights to read or write the files to be synchronized.

  • You have configured a Group Policy setting to specify additional file name extensions that cannot be synchronized.

Diagnostic Tests:

Check the extensions of the files that were not synchronized to confirm that they are not on the list of files to exclude.

Check user rights on the unsynchronized files.

To verify that the user can connect to the file share containing the files you want to synchronize

  1. Ping the computer using the computer's IP address to test base-level IP connectivity.

  2. Ping the computer using the server name to test Domain Name System (DNS) name resolution.

  3. Use the net view command to view the computer using the server name to see the available shares. This also verifies that the user has rights to access the shares.

Check the amount of free disk space on the client to make sure there is sufficient disk space to synchronize the missing files.

Check to see if you have applied any Group Policy settings that restrict other extensions from being synchronized.

You should be sure that you have enabled the following Group Policy setting:

  • Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Network\Offline Files\Files not cached

Using this Group Policy setting, you can designate additional file name extensions that cannot be synchronized.

You can also check this on your client by running the Gpresult.exe tool and looking for the following in the output:

KeyName: Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\NetCache

ValueName: ExcludeExtensions

ValueType: REG_SZ

Value: *.xls

Any file name extensions listed in the Value line of the sample output listed earlier will not be synchronized. In this sample output, any files with the extension .xls will not be synchronized. The user cannot override this Group Policy setting.