A better option for OneDrive Sync App in Multi-User Desktop/Remote App Scenario

As part of your M365 adoption journey, migrating users' data from an old file server to OneDrive can present several challenges. How do you handle the migration process? How can you support users effectively? And what about shared desktop environments?

In this post, I’ll demonstrate how Cloud Drive Mapper (CDM) can address the challenges specific to shared desktop scenarios.

While the OneDrive Sync app works well for individual workstations, shared environments like server pools present unique difficulties. In these scenarios, users are often assigned servers from a pool, making syncing data across all servers inefficient and impractical. Additionally, even if you're using FSLogix, syncing OneDrive data isn’t necessary. Unlike local desktops, you can’t take an Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) session offline to work, so syncing adds unnecessary complexity to the environment and increases the storage footprint of user profiles.

By utilizing CDM, you can streamline access to OneDrive in shared environments without the need for synchronization, simplifying your infrastructure and improving the user experience.

How to configure Folder Redirection using CDM

On my previous post I've showed how to setup CDM and configure mapping groups, one of the types of mapping groups you can use is OneDrive.

Select OneDrive as Type enable Folder Redirection and create a new folder redirection policy.

Select the folders you would like to redirect to OneDrive

And that's it, now when your users logon to their Remote App or Shared Desktop session and sign-in to CDM their folders will automatically redirect to OneDrive, no sync required.

There are 3 options for starting the CDM client software that you can review here

Staged Migration to Cloud Drive Mapper

Cloud Drive Mapper needs to run in the user context to authenticate with SharePoint and OneDrive using the logged-in user's credentials.

There are several ways to configure this, which are documented here.

In some cases, you might want to migrate users in phases, such as starting with a trial group or onboarding one department at a time to provide better support. To facilitate this gradual rollout, you can use a scheduled task to automate the process for specific users or groups.

1- First thing you'll need is to configure the startup script to start CDM, instructions here.

Copy that to a txt file and save it on your preferred location that is reachable by all users, I've used "C:\Program Files\IAM Cloud\CDM"

:: Cloud Drive Mapper startup script
Start "" "C:\Program Files\IAM Cloud\Cloud Drive Mapper\CloudDriveMapper.exe" -r

exit 0

2- Now create an AD security group to use as a condition to launch CDM.

3- Create a new Schedule Task either on the desired machine or via a management tool such as Intune or GPO and give it a meaningful name, click Change User or Group... here select the group you've created in the previous step, this will ensure the task will only run if you're a member of this group.

4- Under Triggers ensure the task is set to run At log on for Any User and it's Enabled

5- Under Actions choose Start a Program and point it at the file you created on step 1.

6- Under Settings ensure you have Run a new instance in parallel selected.

This will ensure only members of the AD group assigned will launch CDM at startup allowing you to target specific individuals in multi-session environments. when the users logs on they will see the configured drive and their redirected folders