I recently added a Windows Server 2012 R2 machine to my domain and moved the FSMO roles to it from the old Server 2012 machine. However, when I opened Group Policy Management on the destination, it kept throwing up an error. I eventually ran dcdiag, and saw this complaint about “advertising”:
Testing server: Default-First-Site-Name\\MARS
Starting test: Advertising
Warning: DsGetDcName returned information for \\\\SVR2012.mydomain.local, when we were trying to reach SVR2012R2. SERVER IS NOT RESPONDING or IS NOT CONSIDERED SUITABLE.
……………………. SVR2012R2 failed test Advertising
Following the helpful advice in this SpiceWorks thread, I noticed that C:\Windows\SYSVOL was empty—the GPOs were not getting replicated. The thread advised setting DNS on the destination to point to the source, but that didn’t fix it.
DFSR Warning
Eventually, I realized that the culprit was an obscure warning in the DFS Replication log on the source server:
Log Name: DFS Replication
Source: DFSR
Event ID: 2213
Task Category: None
Level: Warning
Keywords: Classic
Description:
The DFS Replication service stopped replication on volume C:. This occurs when a DFSR JET database is not shut down cleanly and Auto Recovery is disabled. To resolve this issue, back up the files in the affected replicated folders, and then use the ResumeReplication WMI method to resume replication.
Additional Information:
Volume: C:
GUID: F83647D3-3447-11E2-93ED-706E6F6E6963
Recovery Steps
1. Back up the files in all replicated folders on the volume. Failure to do so may result in data loss due to unexpected conflict resolution during the recovery of the replicated folders.
2. To resume the replication for this volume, use the WMI method ResumeReplication of the DfsrVolumeConfig class. For example, from an elevated command prompt, type the following command:
wmic /namespace:\\root\microsoftdfs path dfsrVolumeConfig where volumeGuid="F83647D3-3447-11E2-93ED-706E6F6E6963" call ResumeReplication
I think this "unclean shutdown" must have come from when I used Hyper-V manager on the host to shut down the OS. (I thought that did a clean shutdown.) Once I ran the suggested WMIC command, replication started working again and I got this sweet message on the destination machine:
Log Name: DFS Replication
Source: DFSR
Event ID: 4604
Level: Information
Computer: SVR2012R2.mydomain.local
Description:
The DFS Replication service successfully initialized the SYSVOL replicated folder at local path C:\Windows\SYSVOL\domain. This member has completed initial synchronization of SYSVOL with partner SVR2012.mydomain.local. To check for the presence of the SYSVOL share, open a command prompt window and then type "net share".
Additional Information:
Replicated Folder Name: SYSVOL Share
Replicated Folder ID: 070701AB-BC97-4ACD-B244-516223229E60
Replication Group Name: Domain System Volume
Replication Group ID: E2F2E9F6-7E96-4E50-8A04-9EA9B6CB7A53
Member ID: 22979D37-87D5-4EA1-8263-1A4FBDA33B63
Sync partner: SVR2012.mydomain.local
Now dcdiag on the destination computer reports “passed test Advertising" and I can run Group Policy Management without errors.