5.9 Enabling Offline Files Support

Offline Files helps you be more productive. You can use this feature on a portable computer, or on a desktop computer that occasionally connects to your workplace network. For example, this feature is useful if you are working at home on a desktop computer, and need to automatically get files off the network whenever you connect.

The files that you select are automatically downloaded from shared folders on the network and stored on your computer. When you disconnect, the files are available to use. When you reconnect to the network, your changes are added to the files on the network in a process called synchronization. If someone else on the network made changes to the same file, you can save your version, keep the other version, or save both.

You can enable client-side caching by using the following command:

novcifs [--csc= 0|1|2|3]

This feature configures the client-side caching feature that can be used to store frequently used information on the client's machine.

  • 0 Enables Windows clients to cache files for offline use. Does not permit automatic file-by-file re-integration. (Default)
  • 1 Enables Windows clients to cache files for offline use. Permits automatic file-by-file reintegration.
  • 2 Enables Windows clients to cache files for offline use. Clients are permitted to work from their local cache even while online.
  • 3 Does not permit Windows client to cache files for offline use.

For information on configuring workstations to use offline files, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article.