DFS namespace access denied error while UNC path to server works fine
22. May 2015
Today I had an interesting issue with DFS shares. I created a new user which was not able to access the DFS share via FQDN (\\domain\dfsspace\sharename) but was able to access the UNC path (\\servername\sharename).
After some research I found out that the DFS cache sometimes creates this issue and needs to be wiped before proceeding. There are two ways to handle this:
Enter this in an elevated command prompt on the client and reboot:
reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Csc\Parameters /v FormatDatabase /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
Or as an alternative create a new .reg file containing this, execute on the client and reboot:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\CSC\Parameters] "FormatDatabase"=dword:00000001