Fix. The DFS Replication service stopped replication on the folder with the following local path: C:\Windows\SYSVOL\domain
You may be notice that your Active Directory domain controller misbehaves pointing to replication issue. You may sometimes wonder that you are just with a single DC and why replication issue. This happens in sudden and in very rare scenario. If you note in event logs the typical error will be,
The DFS Replication service stopped replication on the folder with the following local path: C:\Windows\SYSVOL\domain…
Root Cause:
Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) requires that replication partners be in regular communication. If a server or partition is unable to communicate with a partner for a long time, replication is disabled on that server. This happens rarely even though we have all set correct and we don’t see any manual mistakes.
Resolution:
In this scenario we need to make an authoritative sync of SYSVOL to resume the replication. Follow the steps below to do it.
Open RUN (Win+R) in your DC system and type adsiedit.msc.
- If Default naming context is already listed in the left pane, go step 4. Otherwise, perform the following steps to connect to the default naming context:
Right-click the ADSI Edit header in the left pane and select Connect to
- Select the radio button labeled Select a well known Naming Context and select Default naming context from the dropdown list. And click OK.
Under the default naming context, browse to DC=yourdomain >> OU=Domain Controllers >> CN=yourServerName >> CN=DFSR-LocalSettings >> CN=Domain System Volume.
Right-click CN=SY
- Double-click the msDFSR-Enabled attribute and set its value to FALSE.
- The same way Double-click the msDFSR-Options attribute and set its value to 1.
- Force Active Directory replication throughout the domain using repadmin /syncall /AeD.
- Make sure you have DFS Management Tools installed. If not do it using Add Roles and Features wizard.
- Now run the command dfsrdiag pollad.
- In the event logs for DFS Replication 4614 and 4604 will appear. These events indicate that those DCs have performed a non-authoritative sync of SYSVOL. Just make sure these logs are appearing.
From now your DFS Replication should be working properly. Just have a monitor on your event log for a short time.