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Troubleshoot dfs connectivity on clients

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title: 'Troubleshoot DFS Connectivity on Clients'
date: '2012-11-06T01:54:22-06:00'
status: publish
permalink: /troubleshoot-dfs-connectivity-on-clients
author: admin
excerpt: ''
type: post
id: 40
category:
    - DFS
tag: []
post_format: []

To troubleshoot when clients have issues accessing DFS shares. This occurs mostly over VPN connections. Just a few notes to help troubleshooting these cases. Mostly this happens on Windows XP or when DNS settings are incorrect.

  • Make sure machines can see each other, for example ping both ends.
  • Make sure you enable file sharing.
  • Make sure client is in the same DOMAIN.
  • Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.
  • Make sure no firewall/security software block sharing.
  • Create the same username and password on all shared computers.
  • Disable the IPv6 from the property page of the NIC.
  • Reset Network Security LAN Manager Authentication Level from the default setting (NTLMv2 only) to Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session if negotiated.
  • To rule out permissions test the users account on a different XP client. For instance a Windows XP client hooked up to a guest Internet port, logged in locally as relevant user, using user’s own VPN account and then trying DFS. This will ensure it is a DFS/DNS issue on client’s pc or network and not a generic permissions issue.
    Check general requirements (VPN interface):``` ipconfig /all 
    Check for correct DNS servers, WINS servers and DNS suffix. While connected to VPN use nslookup to check if correct DNS server is being used.

\*\*Note if you are experiencing DNS hijacking as done by some ISP's, it is out of scope of this document and need to be resolved first.

**Check output of this DNS command for DFS and/or DNS server entries:**
    ipconfig /displaydns 
    **Test basic non DNS Windows file sharing:**
    start \172.20.10.222 ** You should see an explorer window displaying the volumes of this server.

C:\Program Files\Support Tools>net view \172.20.10.222 Shared resources at \172.20.10.222 Share name Type Used as Comment

NETLOGON Disk Logon server share SYSVOL Disk Logon server share The command completed successfully. 

**Try DFS share from command line:**
net use * \YOUR_DOMAIN\TOP_LEVEL_SHARE 
**Install Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools:**  
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=49ae8576-9bb9-4126-9761-ba8011fabf38&displaylang=en

**Run dfsutil /pktinfo and record results:**
dfsutil /pktinfo --mup.sys-- 3 entries... Entry: \domain.com\SysVol ShortEntry: \domain.com\SysVol Expires in 0 seconds UseCount: 0 Type:0x1 ( DFS ) 0:[\server0.domain.com\SysVol] State:0x131 ( ACTIVE ) 1:[\server1.domain.com\SysVol] State:0x21 ( ) ...snip 16:[\server16.domain.com\SysVol] State:0x21 ( )

Entry: \domain.com\corp ShortEntry: \domain.com\corp Expires in 0 seconds UseCount: 2 Type:0x8081 ( REFERRAL_SVC DFS ) 0:[\server0\Corp] State:0x119 ( ACTIVE ) 1:[\server1\Corp] State:0x09 ( ) ...snip 11:[\server11\Corp] State:0x09 ( )

Entry: \domain.com\corp\us ShortEntry: \domain.com\corp\us Expires in 360 seconds UseCount: 0 Type:0x8001 ( DFS ) 0:[\server0\DFSData$\usdfs101_data1\corp\US] State:0x131 ( ACTIVE )

Done processing this command. 

**Run dfsutil /spcinfo and record results:**
dfsutil /spcinfo [][server.sonosite.com] [][DOMAIN] [*][domain.com] [+][domain.com] [+server0.sonosite.com] ...snip Done processing this command. ```

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