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ats2012

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Not able to get to DFS share on 2003 Server

I have a DFS share that points to \\domain\dfs and when I try to get to it from one of our servers I keep getting The specified path does not exist. Check the path, and then try again.

I am able to get to this path from other machines. We have been seeing this issue alot lately. Usually a reboot fixes this but I am not able to reboot this right now. Seeing if anyone has any troubleshooting ideas I can try.

Thanks
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Member_2_6582184
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Allow me some questions to narrow the issue down:

- Do you have this problem on a isolated server, or since you said you have this alot lately, on many systems?
- Do you have this issue after some time, it worked first?
- Do you have issues with the direct paths, too? Meaning 'DFS: Access error' but \\fileserver\share works (I mean the share for that particular folder target which does not work via DFS)?
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ats2012

ASKER

We have been seeing this on Windows XP, 7 and Server 2003 machines. It happens sometimes when a user reboots there computer. Does not happen everything. Its very random.

I tried to get to the DFS share going directly to the dfs server and I am still not able to get to the share. when I go \\server I can see that its there but when I try to go into it it says it can't find the path. Whats weird is dfs share is the only one I can't get to.
The next time you have this try to log the user out and long in again, do not reboot. Maybe you have expiring Kerberos tickets for some reason.
Check the system time of the affected computer and your DC. It may not vary by more then a few minutes - this is already bad then. Ask the user if he had done something like writing a big file before loosing connection (I had this lately. Drove me crazy; turned out to be a driver issue - but I would not suspect this is the case with your Domain)
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start by identifying a DNS or other issue. Try to access the server and share using IP of the Server..  \\(ServerIP)\ShareName .

If you can reach the server with IP, [run command - > \\(ServerIP) -> window opens], then it is a DNS issue. If you can get to the Server but not the Share, verify it is still shared out and verify the Share name. Even if a computer has a different IP scheme you should still get to the Server via IP without issue.
I thought of this too, but since It works after reboots it is most likely no DNS issue ...
Really?
The user in this thread had trouble with a slow link to a remote site. ats2012, I assumed your DFS targets are all local, can you please clarify whatever your targets are remote or local?
If they are remote, give this a try and disable slow link detection via GPO as well as offline files for the share.
Are there any errors in the event logs on your DFS server?
Are you using a stand-alone or domain DFS?
How many servers make up DFS structure?

Have you read the following MS KB article on how to troubleshoot Windows 2003 DFS?

As other experts pointed out earlier you may have name resolution issues on your network..

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975440
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ats2012

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Contacted Microsoft about this issue. The fix was a hotfix