Some DFS links do not appear on your Windows 2000 DFS server (826120)

Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry

SYMPTOMS

When you connect to a Distributed File System (DFS) share, some of the DFS links may not appear. Therefore, you cannot use the DFS links to access data, or you find that access is inconsistent.

When you try to use the DFS snap-in to view the DFS links on several different Microsoft Windows 2000 DFS root replica servers, the DFS links that appear in the DFS root share may not be the same on the different DFS root replicas. For example, after you add or remove DFS links, some of the new DFS links may not appear on some DFS root replicas, and some of the removed links are not deleted from some DFS root replicas. Because the DFS links vary from root replica to root replica, your access to DFS links depends on the DFS root replica server that you connect to.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if the short name of the folder that corresponds to a DFS link in the DFS root share is different from the short name of the DFS link that is stored in the Partition Knowledge Table (PKT) in Active Directory.

Note The short name for a folder or for a DFS link is assigned by the file system. Windows 2000 uses the first six characters of the folder name or of the DFS link name and then appends "~x", where x represents a number. For example, if you have a folder that is named Longfoldername, the short name for the folder becomes Longfo~1.

RESOLUTION

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that this article describes. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

Prerequisites

This hotfix requires Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or later.

Restart requirement

You must restart your computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

Date         Time   Version            Size    File name
--------------------------------------------------------------
29-Jan-2004  20:56  5.0.2195.6895     75,504   Dfs.sys

MORE INFORMATION

By default, after you apply the hotfix, the hotfix is disabled. If you enable the hotfix, you can no longer use a short file name to access a DFS link. (The short file name uses the 8.3 naming convention format.) To enable the hotfix, you must add a registry value to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DfsDriver registry subkey. To do so, follow these steps:

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DfsDriver
Right-click DfsDriver, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
Type DfsDisableShortPrefix as the value name, and then press ENTER.
Right-click the DfsDisableShortPrefix value, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.

Note If you set the DfsDisableShortPrefix value to 1, you enable the hotfix, and you cannot use short file names to access a DFS link. If you set the DfsDisableShortPrefix value to 0, you disable the hotfix, and you can use short file names to access a DFS link.
Quit Registry Editor.
Restart the computer.

For more information about DFS, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

812487 Overview of DFS in Windows 2000

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

816915 New file naming schema for Microsoft Windows software update packages