Turn off “Offline Files” on Windows 7 using Group Policy

To turn off Sync Centre/Offline Files using Group Policy for Windows 7 clients, edit the registry key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\CSC

“Start”=dword:00000004

Then export the .reg file and save it to a share that is accessible on your server which you wish to deploy it to.

Next create a batch script and save it to the same share which will run the .reg file at logon.

Two examples are below.

.reg example ->

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\CSC]
“Start”=dword:00000004
“DisplayName”=”@%systemroot%\system32\cscsvc.dll,-202″
“ErrorControl”=dword:00000001
“Group”=”network”
“ImagePath”=hex(2):73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,64,00,\
72,00,69,00,76,00,65,00,72,00,73,00,5c,00,63,00,73,00,63,00,2e,00,73,00,79,\
00,73,00,00,00
“Tag”=dword:00000009
“Type”=dword:00000001
“Description”=”@%systemroot%\system32\cscsvc.dll,-203″
“DependOnService”=hex(7):72,00,64,00,62,00,73,00,73,00,00,00,00,00

.bat file example ->

%systemroot%\regedit.exe /s \server\scripts$\TurnOffOfflineFiles.reg