Ever had the unfortunate opportunity to deal with Offline Files? If so, then you’ve probably experienced problems. I can’t imagine anybody who hasn’t! Not too long ago, I experienced corruption with the offline files database and something very strange occurred. Fortunately, I found a way to fix it!



The situation I experienced was where a user had logged a fault explaining that they couldn’t open any of their files. I took a look at the machine and, lo and behold, twas true. Whether the machine was connected to the network or not, the error message was the same. Something along the line of “You do not have access to this file”.

The setup is as follows: Each user’s ‘My Documents’ folder is redirected to the file and print server. The redirected folder is then taken offline so that the user can work on their documents on the network when in the office and work on the same files locally when at home. The files sync up when the user logs on/off.

The user couldn’t access any file in any environment. I took a look at the files and they appeared to be 0k in size. Uh-oh. No data? Gulp.
After some searching on the internet I came to the conclusion that the offline files database was corrupt and the only solution was to re-initialise the local offline files cache. However, this would also delete all the files, some of which had been worked on but could not be copied or backed up because the system said that there was no access for anybody. Even the lowly administrator!

The solution is to take the following steps:

1. Log in as administrator

2. Download the updated v1.1 CSCCMD.EXE

3. Extract the csccmd.exe to the root of c:

4. Extract the offline files to the C drive using the following command: csccmd.exe /EXTRACT:\\Server\Share[\Path]] /TARGET:Path. This will extract the FULL contents of the offline files database to the location specified in /TARGET. I highly recommend extracting this to a folder on the C drive, not to the root as you’ll end up in a right pickle.

5. Re-initialise the Offline Files Database: Go to Control Panel > Folder Options and go to the Offline Files tab. Hold down CTRL + SHIFT then click Delete Files. Click Yes to accept any messages and reboot when finished.

6. After the reboot, copy the extracted files back to the server side of the offline files cache.

7. Wait for offline files to start again. This sometimes takes a very long time. I’ve no idea why, but I’ve not usually seen offline files start working again until at least 1 full day has passed. Weird huh?

Anyway, if that’s any help to anybody at all then my work here is done. If you have experienced problems with Offline files and want to share your comments or would like some help with an Offline Files issue, please mail me: nez@britishbrain.com