[SOLVED] Regarding Microsoft Sharepoint Workspace and upload of data

[Oblivion77]

Hello everyone

I have Office 2010 package

When i:
Right click on folder
Sync of shared folder
When I press “Yes”, and the login / create user window appears, then GROOVE.exe (Office) uploads / sends data in the range of 15 byte/s - 600 byte/s

What is this data being sent / uploaded?
Is it the folder selected that is being uploaded?

I do not have a user for Sharepoint Workspace or have been logged in
I monitored network activity using Resource Monitor in Windows

I have asked Microsoft Community aswell, but I thought, I would give this forum a shot aswell

Thank you for reading and replying

Best regards

 

[Ralston18]

My thoughts:

Likely just some "handshake" and/or some admin activity to get the sharing set up and synced.

You would need to do some sort of sniffing to see the actual bytes being communicated. May or may not be human readable.

 

[USAFRet]

(I'm a SharePoint guy in a different life)
Where is this SharePoint workspace located/hosted?

There is a lot of back and forth between a sharepoint space and your local Office files.

 

[Oblivion77]

(I'm a SharePoint guy in a different life)
Where is this SharePoint workspace located/hosted?

Just on my own PC
Not any local network or work

There is a lot of back and forth between a sharepoint space and your local Office files.

But does that only happen, when I have logged in? I have not logged in, neither a user

What local office files? Like document, pictures etc.?

 

[USAFRet]

Sharepoint is a server....a shared server.
Unless you are wanting to learn the ins and out of SP, there is zero reason to run that on your single user PC.

But...that sync between Office and SP, is a lot of underlying Office functionality. Temp files, user config, etc, etc.
SharePoint can be considered the online component of your Office install. In your case, pseudo-online, because it is in the same system.


For instance:
A SharePoint server, with some Word/Excel/Powerpoint files on it.
You open one of those for editing.
SP creates a temp copy on your local system, tied to your user account. That is all the back and forth data you're seeing.
Anyone else who wants to open that file will see YOU has having it open for editing. In SP parlance, 'Checked Out'.


Again, your "sharepoint workspace' is a "server". It is interacting with your Office install and files.

 

[Oblivion77]

Sharepoint is a server....a shared server.
Unless you are wanting to learn the ins and out of SP, there is zero reason to run that on your single user PC.

But...that sync between Office and SP, is a lot of underlying Office functionality. Temp files, user config, etc, etc.
SharePoint can be considered the online component of your Office install. In your case, pseudo-online, because it is in the same system.

For instance:
A SharePoint server, with some Word/Excel/Powerpoint files on it.
You open one of those for editing.
SP creates a temp copy on your local system, tied to your user account. That is all the back and forth data you're seeing.
Anyone else who wants to open that file will see YOU has having it open for editing. In SP parlance, 'Checked Out'.


Again, your "sharepoint workspace' is a "server". It is interacting with your Office install and files.

But I can still upload any kind of file to the SP server, not only Office files? Since the option is viable when right clicking on a folder.

Regarding my main concern:
Right click on folder
Sync of shared folder
When I press “Yes”, and the login / create user window appears - there is som upload of data from SP / Office
Still I have not logged in

Has any of my data / content of the folder i right clicked, been uploaded to a SP server?
When does SP actually start uploading data / files?

 

[USAFRet]

You can 'upload' most files types.
Only MS Office file types can be edited directly within SharePoint.

When you "sync", it does a lot of back and forth syncing your 'user'. It creates a record in the User Information table, a User profile in the SP profile location, generates a temp folder somewhere on your PS, and within the sharepoint foundation 'server'.

There is a LOT of interaction going on.
Again, what are you wanting to do with this SP instance? There are a multitude of books regarding the ins and out of SP. It is a large complex beast.

 

[Oblivion77]

Was just wondering, if any of my files might been uploaded to the SP server, despite being offline in SP and not logged on - hence the small network activity when selecting af folder for syncing

Like if, SP was preparing / sending the folder to the server before even logging on

 

[USAFRet]

Was just wondering, if any of my files might been uploaded to the SP server, despite being offline in SP and not logged on - hence the small network activity when selecting af folder for syncing

Like if, SP was preparing / sending the folder to the server before even logging on

And that depends on where this SP server actually is.
If just an instance on your local PC, no problem.

I have a couple of Virtual machines, with Server 2012 or 2016, and a SP server isntalled. Other VM's with client OS of Win 10.
There is a LOT of activity between the client and server systems. Yes, files and data are transferred in both directions.

 

[Oblivion77]

And that depends on where this SP server actually is.

Where the server is?

If just an instance on your local PC, no problem.

What do you mean? Please elaborate

 

[USAFRet]

When you first saw the word "SharePoint", where was this and what did you click on?

 

[Oblivion77]

When you first saw the word "SharePoint", where was this and what did you click on?

When i right clicked on a folder
There is a function with an "S" icon "Sync of shared folder" (My version is danish, so i am not sure on the exact description in english)
When I press “Yes”, and the login / create user window appears
Then I saw "SharePoint Workspace" for the first time mentioned

Would you kindly answer the above aswell, thank you

 

[USAFRet]

What specific version of Windows do you have?

 

[Oblivion77]

What specific version of Windows do you have?

Windows 10 and my Office is from 2010

 

[USAFRet]

Windows 10 and my Office is from 2010

Win 10 Pro, Home, Enterprise, Edu?

 

[Oblivion77]

Win 10 Pro, Home, Enterprise, Edu?

Windows 10 Home
Why is that relevant?

 

[USAFRet]

Windows 10 Home
Why is that relevant?

Because they have different properties and features.

This 'sync' may have been syncing with your MS account. Are you logged in with a Microsoft account, or a local account?

 

[Oblivion77]

Because they have different properties and features.

This 'sync' may have been syncing with your MS account. Are you logged in with a Microsoft account, or a local account?

I have never logged in SharePoint Workspace, I have never created a user

The only place I login is Windows key + L, using my Outlook / Microsoft account - is that what you mean?

 

[Oblivion77]

After conducting 8 tests with two different folders

I found out something interesting



In Resource Monitor

Every time I clicked “Yes” in the window asking me if I want to sync, and just as the Login window appears

Still, I have never logged in SharePoint Workspace

Two network ID appears / starts:

Explorer.exe

Groove.exe



Their upload / download were almost identical in all the tests:

Test 1:

Explorer 2151 / 688

Groove 688 / 2151

2:

Explorer 538 / 172

Groove 172 / 538

3:

Explorer 2151 / 688

Groove 688 / 2151

4:

Explorer 2151 / 688

Groove 688 / 2151

5:

Explorer 2145 / 688

Groove 688 / 2145

6:
Explorer 165 / 53

Groove 59 / 171

(Upload download combined is identical)

7:
Explorer 2145 / 688

Groove 688 / 2145
8:

Explorer 52 / 17

Groove 21 / 56

(Upload download combined is identical)



Since Explorer.exe is and integrated part of the Windows system and functions as file handling, locally only (not online)

1)
Does that mean, that the above download / upload traffic only happened locally on my system and not

online?

2)
How come it showed up in Network traffic in Resource Monitor then?

 

[USAFRet]

It would seem to be all local.
It shows up as network traffic, because it is talking to a virtual server. This virtual thing still exists on your desktop system.


More info on SP Workspace and Groove:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/op...-ocproto/e81d3298-316b-4268-980c-44cf5fb58ac0

 

[Oblivion77]

It would seem to be all local.
It shows up as network traffic, because it is talking to a virtual server. This virtual thing still exists on your desktop system.

I did some more testing



With all the tests results above, the program was closed from the start



When I have no internet connection and replicates the process mentioned above

The results are the same:

Explorer 2145 / 688

Groove 688/ 2145

This verifies, that the process is local only?



When I start the program, AND THEN do the process:

Explorer starts up /becomes active with the same values

2145 / 688

Groove was already active and values did not change

15 / 40

How can that be?

The results here are the same, wether internet connection or not



When I just open the program, without selecting any folder:

There is no Explorer activity

Groove 15 / 40

 

[Oblivion77]

It would seem to be all local.
It shows up as network traffic, because it is talking to a virtual server. This virtual thing still exists on your desktop system.

In Resoruce Monitor i never looked at the "Network activity", only at "Processes with network activity" (stupid me)

1)
In the "Network activity" there is a column named "Adress" - is that the sender or receiver of data?

2)
When I conduct tests, three different adresses are connected to Explorer.exe and Groove.exe:
(My computer name)
255.255.255.255
127.0.0.1

What does these 3 adresses mean?

3)
In the TCP-connections window

Explorer.exe
Groove.exe
They both have adress and remote adress:
IPv4-feedback

What does that mean?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[USAFRet]

127.0.0.1 is literally localhost. This system that I am running on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Localhost

That traffic is ALL internal.
Again, talking to a virtual 'server' service, living on this same PC.

 

[Oblivion77]

127.0.0.1 is literally localhost. This system that I am running on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Localhost

That traffic is ALL internal.
Again, talking to a virtual 'server' service, living on this same PC.

What about the adresses (My computer name) and 255.255.255.255

Does that mean, that it is only local traffic and not sending data to the internet?

In the TCP-connections window
Explorer.exe
Groove.exe
They both have adress and remote adress:
IPv4-feedback

What does that mean?

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, absolutely local.