How to change the Microsoft Edge Favorites folder location through GPO?

Question

_{Friday, January 8, 2016 12:31 AM}

Why would you have a Favorites folder at the root of the user's profil if your storing the favorites in some weird place where no users are ever going to go... not to say "%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\AC\MicrosoftEdge\User\Default\Favorites."

So the idea is simple, any ways to change this to the typical Favorites folder for everyone in the office

Thank you

All replies (7)

_{Sunday, January 10, 2016 4:02 AM ✅Answered}

Personally, I would vote for the following Feedback item that requests that the Favorites location be changed to the standard C:\Users\USERNAME>\Favorites location:

Windows-Feedback:?contextid=345&feedbackid=e0212b6f-9e56-47af-938c-4939fea8f196&form=1&src=2

It has 106 votes as of right now.

_{Friday, January 8, 2016 12:52 AM}

Not available using default GPO's : 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt270204.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

Arnav Sharma | http://arnavsharma.net/ Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

_{Saturday, January 9, 2016 1:01 AM}

Unfortunately there is no such option but you can 'Configure Favorites' that will help to  decide what sites appear on the default Favorites list

S.Sengupta, Windows Experience MVP

_{Saturday, January 9, 2016 10:41 PM}

So the idea is simple, any ways to change this to the typical Favorites folder 

There must be.  Some are getting universal support on their OneDrive.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_internet-insider_spartan/edge-favorites-sync-or-save-to-onedrive/857ee246-912b-4c42-9886-8d162b9e1f5f?page=7

Does this work?

http://blog.thomasnigro.fr/2015/08/10/useful-edge-tip-syncing-your-favorites-with-onedrive/

(BING search for
    favorites onedrive edge
)

Robert Aldwinckle

_{Monday, January 11, 2016 5:18 AM}

Hi Matt_1689,

Currently it seems that there is no available method to change the favorites location in Microsoft Edge, with group policy.

So please do as what Jason suggested, vote in the Feedback Tool and wait for the updates.

Thanks for your understanding.

Regards

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help, and unmark the answers if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected].

_{Thursday, February 4, 2016 1:21 AM}

There is no GPO for this, and Microsoft uses a ESE database for the favorites in Edge (v1511+), so you can't simply redirect it to the old favorites location.

So... Rather than muck with symbolic links, or change undocumented registry keys, we simply copy the favorites database from/to a network location during logon and logoff...

Notes:

• Our computers are domain-joined
• We sync the favorites to a hidden/system Windows folder in the user's home folder (but you can store the files anywhere)
• Specify the following PowerShell script as a Logon and Logoff script via GPO.
• If the user runs Edge on several computers simultaneously, then it's not perfect.  But, it's excellent for people who use one computer at-a-time.

$NetworkEdgeDataPath = "$env:HOMESHARE\Windows\EdgeFavorites"
$LocalEdgePackagePath = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe"
$LocalEdgeDataPath = "$LocalEdgePackagePath\AC\MicrosoftEdge\User\Default\DataStore"
$EdgeFavoritesDBfile = "Data\nouser1\120712-0049\DBStore\spartan.edb"

function SyncDirFromFile([string] $File1, [string] $File2, [string] $Dir1, [string] $Dir2) {

    if (!(Test-Path $File1) -and !(Test-Path $File2)) { "Neither compare file exists. Aborting" ; return }

    $File1Date = get-Item $File1 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | foreach-Object {$_.LastWriteTimeUTC}
    $File2Date = get-Item $File2 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | foreach-Object {$_.LastWriteTimeUTC}

    if ($File1Date -eq $File2Date)  { "Files have same date. Aborting" ; return }

    if ($File1Date -gt $File2Date) {
        "$File1 is Newer" ; $source = $Dir1 ; $dest = $Dir2
    } else {
        "$File2 is Newer" ; $source = $Dir2 ; $dest = $Dir1
    }

    robocopy "$source" "$dest" /MIR /R:2 /W:2
}

if (Test-Path $LocalEdgePackagePath) {
    SyncDirFromFile "$NetworkEdgeDataPath\$EdgeFavoritesDBfile" "$LocalEdgeDataPath\$EdgeFavoritesDBfile" $NetworkEdgeDataPath $LocalEdgeDataPath
} else { "Microsoft Edge is not installed" }

You should only have to change the first line to the location where you want to store the favorites.

-Tony

_{Sunday, June 26, 2016 2:37 AM}

For those who are still wanting to use a network share (or other such storage services) instead of the built-in Edge synchronization feature... there is now another option

Take a look at this article about a 3rd-party application called EdgeSync.  It will allow you to use a network share to keep a "master" copy of your favorites that can be used to synchronize with other PCs at login.  It is NOT a redirection tool... it is a synchronization tool, so it takes a few minutes to configure the first time.

It's still a beta, but is suitable for use

http://www.emmet-gray.com/Articles/EdgeSync.html