Note
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try signing in or changing directories.
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try changing directories.
Question
Monday, October 17, 2016 5:54 AM
Hi,
A client of mine have his Offline Files menu all greyed out: Enable offline files, Open Sync Center, View your offline files
also, there is only 1 tab: General, as oppose to General, Disk usage, Encryption, Network
Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/2YokS1Q.png
In addition, the OfflineFiles service found in services.msc is not running. Whenever I tried starting it, its evoking:
"Windows could not start the offline files service on local Computer. Error: 3: The system cannot find the path specified."
I've tried the following:
-Created an action in task scheduler: /crd c:\windows\csc /s /q
-run gpupdate /force
-run sfc /scannow
-Tweaked gp: computer configuration\administrative templates\network\offline files
-Tweaked CSC and CscService registry
But all of these do not produce any result. I've exhausted 4 pages of google search.
Got any ideas?
Cheers
All replies (12)
Thursday, October 27, 2016 5:57 PM âś…Answered
Did reimaging the machine work? Sorry I couldn't be of much more help, reimaging is probably the best idea at this point, as long as it isn't too much of an inconvenience to do so.
Rory Fewell
(CCNA, MOS)
Windows Server 2012 and Networking Fundamentals Apprentice
Monday, October 17, 2016 8:52 AM
Searching around for your issue - I found a thread with the following response which a lot of people found to work for them:
Hello, I'm writing this, cause I know this is a big help when there is problems and people like me count on it to solve them. I was having problems with offline files, I got frustrated with it, it took me all weekend but after all i got to solve it!! I was getting the error 3 The system cannot find the path specified. when I was manually starting the offline files service. I tried all I read outthere but nothing worked, here is how I solved it;
By the way i read this also on one of the threads!!: * rename or append Old or whatever to the folder inside the CSC folder on windows!! Take ownership or whaterver it takes to rename it!!, Disable offline files!! reboot Pc, * enable offline files, it shows that it created a new folder inside CSC and it's working!! Disable Offline Files, rename the new folder it created and the other one that you rename or append something to it and put it as the original. Now enable offline files reboot Pc and it should be working!!!
This was the only thing that worked for me after a lot of trying everything on the net!! I hope this can help everybody else just having problems!!
By the way, Offline Files always worked super great for me, Just now that I'm self studying for the certification of Windows 7 that I messed it and had this problem, I tried to retrace every step I took but no luck, Also I did system restores and everything but still the problem with offline files remained, again that was all it took to fix it!!
I hope this can help every Body out there having problems!! Good Day!!!
Could you try the solution specified in that post and let me know if it works?
Hope this helps!
Rory Fewell
Windows Server 2012 and Networking Fundamentals Apprentice
Tuesday, October 18, 2016 12:37 AM
Hi Rory,
Thanks for your reply. In this particular instance, the CSC folder do not exists in C:\Windows\
It seems like the sync center/csc is corrupted...
Tuesday, October 18, 2016 7:10 AM
Hmmmm... perhaps you could try reformatting the Offline Files cache - in this Microsoft article, you should find guidelines on how to do this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/230738
From the article, to reformat the Offline Files cache, do the following:
- Open a Command Prompt window as Administrator
- Run this command: REG.EXE. REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache" /v FormatDatabase /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
- Restart your computer
Let us know here if this fixes anything for you. :)
Rory Fewell
(CCNA, MOS)
Windows Server 2012 and Networking Fundamentals Apprentice
Tuesday, October 18, 2016 7:45 AM
Hi Rory,
Thanks for your suggestion, but I've already tried tweaking the following registry:
- HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache as you suggested
- HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CSC
- HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CscService
- There's a few more registries related to OfflineFiles, but I couldn't remember.
But no dice so far.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016 7:49 AM
Have you got "Show Hidden Files/Folders" enabled in Folder Options? C:\Windows\CSC is a hidden folder by default - so it should still be there...
Rory Fewell
(CCNA, MOS)
Windows Server 2012 and Networking Fundamentals Apprentice
Wednesday, October 19, 2016 5:15 AM
Hi Rory,
Good point that you mentioned hidden folders, but unfortunately it's not hidden.
Created a new folder called CSC and give a reboot, but still nil.
I wish there's a way from Microsoft to re-"install" Sync Center.
Edit: And it is a new machine, freshly image. Though we didn't check trivial things like Sync Center. Other builds are fine, it is just this particular build that the OfflineFiles in Sync Center is nowhere.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016 7:06 AM
What edition of Windows are they using? Home or Professional?
Rory Fewell
(CCNA, MOS)
Windows Server 2012 and Networking Fundamentals Apprentice
Thursday, October 20, 2016 12:32 AM
Hi Rory,
Its Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit.
I just checked that everyone else's offline file/sync center seem to have no issue, but just this one particular system.
Thursday, October 20, 2016 10:17 AM
Do you use Group Policy on your network? If so, check that Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > Offline Files > Allow or Disallow use of the Offline Files feature has not been Disabled in a policy applied to the machine.
Rory Fewell
(CCNA, MOS)
Windows Server 2012 and Networking Fundamentals Apprentice
Sunday, October 23, 2016 11:44 PM
Hi Rory,
Thanks for the reply. Yes we do, but as noted in my initial post, I've tweaked the group policy under that same path and enabled whichever is appropriate but still came up with nothing. It's probably easier to reimage the whole system.
Monday, October 31, 2016 2:54 AM | 1 vote
Hi Rory,
Thanks for following up. I end up reimaging the system as I've tried everything that I can find online.
So reimage definitely does the trick. I'm guessing its just one of those build issues.
Cheers!