Tutorial: Configure Office Container to redirect Microsoft Office user data
Office Container redirects only areas of the profile that are specific to Microsoft Office, and is a subset of Profile Container. Office Container enables and enhances the Microsoft Office experience in non-persistent environments. Office Container will generally be implemented with another profile solution. Other solutions must be configured to exclude the portions of the profile managed by Office Container.
When using Office Container, both applications and users see the portions of the profile managed by Office Container as if they're located on the local drive.
All benefits of Office Container are automatic when using Profile Container. There is no need to implement Office Container if Profile Container is your primary solution for managing profiles. Office Container could optionally be used in conjunction with Profile Container, to place Office Data in a location separate from the rest of the user's profile.
In this tutorial, learn how to:
- Configure Office Container Registry settings
- Set up Include and Exclude User Groups
- Configure third party profile exclusions
Prerequisites
Before configuring Office Container:
- Verify that you meet all entitlement and configuration requirements
- Download and install FSLogix Software
- Consider the storage and network requirements for your users' Office Containers
- Verify that your users have appropriate storage permissions where Office Containers will be placed
- Office Container is installed and configured only after configuring other profile solutions to exclude profile areas managed by Office Container
- Exclude the VHD(X) files for Office Container from Anti Virus (AV) scanning
Configure Office Container Registry settings
The configuration of Office Container is accomplished through registry settings and user groups. Registry settings may be managed manually, with GPOs, or using alternate preferred methods. Configuration settings for Profile Container are set in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\FSLogix\ODFC.
These settings are required to enable Office Container and to specify the location for the profile VHD to be stored. The minimum required settings to enable Office Container is:
| Value | Type | Configured Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enabled (required setting) | DWORD | 1 | 0: Profile Containers disabled. 1: Profile Containers enabled |
| VHDLocations (required setting) | MULTI_SZ or REG_SZ | <Profile Path> | A list of file system locations to search for the user's profile VHD(X) file. If one isn't found, one will be created in the first listed location. If the VHD path doesn't exist, it will be created before it checks if a VHD(X) exists in the path. These values can contain variables that will be resolved. Supported variables are %username%, %userdomain%, %sid%, %osmajor%, %osminor%, %osbuild%, %osservicepack%, %profileversion%, and any environment variable available at time of use. When specified as a REG_SZ value, multiple locations can be separated with a semi-colon. |

VHDLocations may be replaced by CCDLocations when using Cloud Cache
These settings are often helpful when configuring Office Container but are not required.
| Value | Type | Configured Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeleteLocalProfileWhenVHDShouldApply | DWORD | 0 | 0: no deletion. 1: delete local profile if exists and matches the profile being loaded from VHD. NOTE: Use caution with this setting. When the FSLogix Profiles system determines a user should have a FSLogix profile, but a local profile exists, Profile Container permanently deletes the local profile. The user will then be signed in with an FSLogix profile. |
| FlipFlopProfileDirectoryName | DWORD | 0 | When set to '1' the SID folder is created as "%username%%sid%" instead of the default "%sid%%username%". This setting has the same effect as setting SIDDirNamePattern = "%username%%sid%" and SIDDirNameMatch = "%username%%sid%". |
| PreventLoginWithFailure | DWORD | 0 | If set to 1 Profile Container will load FRXShell if there's a failure attaching to, or using an existing profile VHD(X). The user will receive the FRXShell prompt - default prompt to call support, and the users only option will be to sign out. |
| PreventLoginWithTempProfile | DWORD | 0 | If set to 1 Profile Container will load FRXShell if it's determined a temp profile has been created. The user will receive the FRXShell prompt - default prompt to call support, and the users only option will be to sign out. |
| IncludeOneDrive | DWORD | 1 | 1: OneDrive cache is redirected to the container. 0: OneDrive cache isn't redirected to the container. |
| IncludeOneNote | DWORD | 0 | 1: OneNote notebook files are redirected to the container. 0: OneNote notebook files aren't redirected to the container. |
| IncludeOneNote_UWP | DWORD | 0 | 1: OneNote UWP notebook files are redirected to the container. 0: OneNote UWP notebook files aren't redirected to the container. |
| IncludeOutlook | DWORD | 1 | 1: Outlook data is redirected to the container. 0: Outlook data isn't redirected to the container. |
| IncludeOutlookPersonalization | DWORD | 1 | 1: Outlook personalization data is redirected to the container. 0: Outlook personalization data isn't redirected to the container. |
| IncludeSharepoint | DWORD | 1 | 1: Sharepoint data is redirected to the container. 0: Sharepoint data isn't redirected to the container. |
| IncludeSkype | DWORD | 1 | 1: Skype for Business Global Address List is redirected to the container. 0: Skype for Business Global Address List isn't redirected to the container. |
| IncludeTeams | DWORD | 0 | 1: Teams data is redirected to the container. 0: Teams data isn't redirected to the container. NOTE: User will be required to sign in to teams at the beginning of each session. |

Set up Include and Exclude User Groups
There are often users, such as local administrators, that have profiles that should remain local. During installation, four user groups are created to manage users who's profiles are included and excluded from Profile Container and Office Container redirection.

By default Everyone is added to the FSLogix ODFC Include List group.

Adding a user to the FSLogix ODFC Exclude List group means that the FSLogix agent will not attach a FSLogix office container for the user. In the case where a user is a member of both the exclude and include groups, exclude takes priority.

Office Containers is now configured and ready to be used. To verify Office Container is working, sign in as a user included in the Include List group. Using File Manager, navigate to the location specified in VHDLocations. Verify a folder, with the user name and SID has been created.

Configure third-party exclusions
When the FSLogix Office Container is used with any other profile solution, exclusions must be configured. The following folders must be excluded from handling by the third-party profile solution, or errors may occur. It isn't necessary to configure exclusions when Office Container with local profiles.
OneDrive
Exclude profile solution (except FSLogix Profile Container) syncing for the following directories (and subdirectories):
- Users<Username><OneDrive folder name>
- This folder name depends on your Office 365 subscription, so it isn't a fixed name. If you have a question what this folder name is, set HKLM\Software\FSLogix\Logging\LoggingEnabled = 2 and sign out and back on. Then look in c:\programdata\fslogix\logs\odfc<find file with todays date>. In the log file, search for "OneDrive folder is" and you'll see which folder needs to be excluded.
- Users<Username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive
These exclusions fix the following warning found in the FSLogix Profile log when users logon: "<name> is not your original OneDrive folder"
Outlook
Exclude the following directory (and subdirectories):
- \Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
Search
Exclude the following directory (and subdirectories):
- \Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\FSLogix\WSearch
Skype for Business
Exclude the following directory (and subdirectories):
- \Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Lync
- "16.0" is specific to office 2016. This may change depending on the version of Office/Skype used, so the exclusion may be different if using something other than Office 2016
Licensing
Exclude the following directory (and subdirectories):
- \Users<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Licensing
- "16.0" is specific to office 2016. This may change depending on the version of Office used, so the exclusion may be different if using something other than Office 2016
Microsoft UPD
Using Microsoft UPD disks currently requires use of the UPD 'include' mode configuration not the 'exclude' mode configuration. UPD exclude mode isn't supported currently as it doesn't work correctly (November 15, 2018).
Next Steps
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