Can someone please explain how shared application folders in Windows work?

Question

I was reading about shared folders in Windows and then I found this:

Use shared folders to provide users with access to files and folders across a network. Users can connect to the shared folder over the network to access the folders and files they contain. Shared folders can contain applications, data, or a user's personal data. Using shared application folders centralizes administration by allowing you to install and maintain applications on a server instead of on client computers. Using shared data folders provides a central location for users to gain access to common files and makes it easier for you to back up data contained in those files.

Can anyone please provide an example for “shared application folders?” Are they the same as publishing applications through active directory Policy since the applications need to be in a shared folder?

Answer 1

What you are reading is a bit outdated. It refers to a vision of Windows system administration before laptops, Wifi, and Internet connections comparable to the speed of LANs were common. It's also before the prevalence of cloud services, Microsoft as a cloud services provider, and file-sync applications like Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.

Shared folders can contain applications

It's definitely possible to put an .exe file and any supporting .dll's and other files it needs on a network share and "run" it right from the network share. Windows has mechanisms through Group Policy to automatically map drives and desktop shortcuts. So... it would be convenient for an IT department or system administrator to keep an application on a network drive and then push out the drive mapping + shortcuts through Group Policy, because if a program needs to be updated, the network administrator can just copy new files to one place, instead of coordinating an install among multiple computers.

If this is done: frequently this is slower than loading from the local hard drive and network issues of any type can interfere with program loading or cause strange errors if network issues happen while the program is running.

In modern times, people might have laptops, phones, BYOD, and people might be working from home, not always connected to a VPN, etc. You also have heavyweight professional applications like AutoCAD that are sometimes 50+GB in size, which if many people are using such an application from a network share, could be an extreme load on even gigabit LANs. So putting applications on network shares is often not really a viable solution unless you have people that come into an office and work on desktops that are always connected to the network physically.