When you use the File Replication Service (FRS) in Windows, the replicated files in either the Sysvol or DFS replica sets are unexpectedly deleted on all replication partners after the existing files are replaced by newer versions. The deletions may not be noticed for minutes, hours, or days after the replacement because of replication backlogs and latency between FRS replica members.
Note "Replacement" in this context refers to a series of operations that are performed on the replicated files: a new file is created in the folder (for example, a temporary file) and is then renamed in order to replace an existing file. These file operations are typical of, but are not limited to, the Group Policy Management Console, the Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) MMC, and certain Windows PowerShell cmdlets (for example, Restore-GPO) of Windows Server 2012 and later).
Depending on the use of the deleted files by applications and services, an error may be reported when a file is missing from the replicated folder. For missing Group Policy files in the Sysvol replica set, administrators may find missing policy settings or discover that clients aren't processing expected policy settings sometime after the policy is changed. Other symptoms include the following:
Note "Replacement" in this context refers to a series of operations that are performed on the replicated files: a new file is created in the folder (for example, a temporary file) and is then renamed in order to replace an existing file. These file operations are typical of, but are not limited to, the Group Policy Management Console, the Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) MMC, and certain Windows PowerShell cmdlets (for example, Restore-GPO) of Windows Server 2012 and later).
Depending on the use of the deleted files by applications and services, an error may be reported when a file is missing from the replicated folder. For missing Group Policy files in the Sysvol replica set, administrators may find missing policy settings or discover that clients aren't processing expected policy settings sometime after the policy is changed. Other symptoms include the following:
- For a missing GPT.INI policy file, a client reports event ID 7017 in the Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy/Operational event log channel. The error states the following: The system calls to access specified file completed. <UNC path to the GPT.INI file in the Sysvol share>. The calls failed after X milliseconds." When you run a manual policy update by using gpupdate.exe, it may report "The processing of Group Policy failed. Windows tried to read the file <UNC path to GPT.INI file in the Sysvol share> from a domain controller and was not successful.
- DirectAccess (DA) policy settings aren't applied to clients as expected, and clients can't connect to DirectAccess servers.