Prehashing and Preloading Content on Hosted Cache Servers (Optional)

• Applies to:

  ✅ Windows Server 2025, ✅ Windows Server 2022, ✅ Windows Server 2019, ✅ Windows Server 2016

You can use this procedure to force the creation of content information - also called hashes - on BranchCache-enabled Web and file servers. You can also gather the data on file and web servers into packages that can be transferred to remote hosted cache servers. This provides you with the ability to preload content on remote hosted cache servers so that data is available for the first client access.

You must be a member of Administrators, or equivalent to perform this procedure.

To prehash content and preload the content on hosted cache servers

1. Log on to the file or Web server that contains the data that you wish to preload, and identify the folders and files that you wish to load on one or more remote hosted cache servers.

2. Run Windows PowerShell as an Administrator. For each folder and file, run either the Publish-BCFileContent command or the Publish-BCWebContent command, depending on the type of content server, to trigger hash generation and to add data to a data package.

3. After all the data has been added to the data package, export it by using the Export-BCCachePackage command to produce a data package file.

4. Move the data package file to the remote hosted cache servers by using your choice of file transfer technology. FTP, SMB, HTTP, DVD and portable hard disks are all viable transports.

5. Import the data package file on the remote hosted cache servers by using the Import-BCCachePackage command.