How to clear Vista’s offline folders cache

If you are using Vista’s offline folders feature and you suspect that the offline cache has gone corrupt, or if you simply want to reset the cache, follow these steps.

1. Open up registry editor (WARNING: Only for Advanced Users)
2. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Csc
3. Add a new key (folder) called Parameters
4. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Csc\Parameters, add a new DWORD called FormatDatabase and set its value to 1

If you want to completely disable the offline folders functionality, you must also stop and disable the offline folders service:

net stop "Offline Files"

WMIC SERVICE WHERE Caption="Offline Files" CALL ChangeStartMode "Disabled"