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DFS not working at remote site on laptops

Hi,

I am having trouble with a remote site, where the DFS on the laptops is not working. What I find strange is if I go onto the DNS server at that site the DFS works. Also if the laptops are plugged into the Head Office site we have no issue with the DFS. As well as this if I point the laptop directly to the server it works

Our setup for DFS is as follows -

DFS - \\Domain\folders which points to \\server\folders
The DFS is done by the server hosting the \folders directories.

Our head office site has 2 DNS servers which replicate to the remote site.

I have tried to look at our group policeis, DNS and event viewers on server and client laptop but cannot din any reasons.

Thanks for you help

It sounds like you do have a DNS resolution problem. Did you look at the laptop ipconfig to determine what you are getting for a DNS server? Two things to look at on the laptop. 1- are you getting the correct suffix search list. 2- use nslookup to see if the name server resolves the domain name properly.

ASKER

For a DNS server I am getting 2 DNS servers which are locatd at headoffice.

For point 1 I am assuming you mean when I run ipconfig that teh connection -specific DNS suffix is correct. On the remote laptop this is matching up with my laptop at head office with our domain name in the from as name.com.au

For point 2 I did a nslookup name.com.au and it returned a result form our AD server which is our PDC and it also returns a list of our nameservers.

So all this looks good,

What error message you recieve while acessing the dfs share folder?

ASKER

Windows cannot access \\domain\folders

Check the spelling of the name. Otherwise there might be a problem with your network. To try and identify and resolve network p[roblems, click Diagnose

Erro Code: 0x80004005
Unspecified error

On the laptop having problem In NIC setting ->Advanced TCP/IP settings->DNS Tab

Select this option "Append primary and connection specific DNS suffixes" and "Append parent suffixes of the primary DNS suffix" and reboot the client computer and check.

See this similar thread:https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27930002/DFS-Share-unavailable-to-one-site-but-not-others.html

ASKER

Both these settings are already chosen and still have the same problem

ASKER

I think now this could be a Windows server 2012 firewall issue but not sure where. I turned off the firewall on our File server and ended up with the same problem on my laptop. AS soon as I turned the filewall back on I could see all the folders again. The firewall seems to be blocking \\domain\folders but letting through \\servername\folders

Can the firewall do this?

ASKER

Please disregard my last comment as I just diabled the firewall and it made no difference

Check the below KB http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958285

To work around this issue, restart the computer or disable the IPv6 feature.

Also check remote site subnet are configured in AD and DNS.

Hi, are you using the FQDN for your domain in the DFS path?

What do you get when you type this at the command prompt:

net view domain

You should get NETLOGON, SYSVOL, and the root folder of the NameSpace.

What do you get if you just type \\domain in Explorer?

- gurutc

Can you post the ipconfig /all details of client computer.

ASKER

I have tried to remove the IPv6 and still have the same issue.

Yes we are using the FQDN in the domain in the DFS path

When I type net view domain I get

System error 53 has occured

The network path not found

If I type in \\daomian in explorer I see a list of folders but cannot access any of these as I think the laptop is poitning to the loal server and not the fs0 server whihc is in head office.

Here is the ouput from the ipconfig /all
Ipconfig.PNG

ASKER

If I type in \\server\folders it points to the right shares, but when using \\domain\folders it seems to be looking for an old path which used the local server at the remote site and not the new dfs path which should point back to head office

ASKER

I have just done a further test and if I use the pre-windows 2000 Domainname it works fine

Remove the referral OLD local server in remote site. did you remove the target links pointing to that server.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc783144%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2009/05/01/using-the-windows-server-2008-dfsutil-exe-command-line-to-manage-dfs-namespaces.aspx

ASKER

If I go onto the OLD local server at the remote site and look at the DFS the referral points to the correct server. Also if I use DFS link on this server it works fine.

Yes all target links have been removed to the old server.

I have also attached a copy of the dfsutil root output
dfsutil-root.PNG

if you're getting that error 53 on net view fqdn then you're either not getting the netbios info, not getting the DNS info, or the ports are an issue. Are the remote laptops member computers of the domain? are their accounts in good shape? do they have the fqdn as their default dns suffix?

- gurutc

ASKER

Yes the computers are members of the Domain
The accounts all look good

Yes they have fqdn as their default dns suffix's

This KB has a hotfix that may help. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2194664/en-us

Also make sure SMB 2.0 is enabled on the server.

- gurutc

And to make sure all the DNS records for the Domain are present, you can disable Require Secure Updates for the DNS zone, then on each DC run the command:

netdiag /fix

This will ensure all the LDAP and Domain Services records are present and accurate.

- gurutc

ASKER

I have tried to apply the hotfix and it says it is not applicable to this computer.

Also ran netdaig /fix and no luck there either

Is SMVB 2 enabled on the server??

ASKER

Do you mean the file server hosting the DFS?

ASKER

No SMBv2, has not been enabled on the server. I have entered it intot he registry, but have not restarted the server yet.

ASKER

I have turned on SMBv2 and still no luck. I think it is something to do with Active Directory

You have a real tough one!

-gurutc

ASKER

I am know getting a IT consultant to have a look at this. Will let you know what we find out.

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ASKER

Changing the Group policy removed the timeout issue and the DFS is now roking on remote sites

Good deal

ASKER

After changing group policy we still had this issue when the users in remote sites logged in.

The final fix this once and for good, we disabled Offline files and all seems fine now.