Enabling the Sysvol Share on a Windows DC

Introduction

When you join Windows Server as a domain controller (DC), Windows tries to replicate the content of the Sysvol share from an existing DC. Because Samba currently does not support the DFS-R protocol, the content is not replicated and therefore Windows does not enable the Sysvol share.

This documentation describes how to enable the share manually after you joined the DC to the domain. However, this procedure does not enable Sysvol replication. For a replication workaround between Samba and Windows DCs, see Robocopy-based Sysvol Replication.

Verifying if the Sysvol Share Exists

• Log in to the Windows DC using a domain administrator account.

• Open \\windows_server_name\.

If the Sysvol share exists, it is displayed in the list of shares on this server.

Enabling the Sysvol Share on a Windows DC

To enable the Sysvolshare:

• Log in to the Windows DC using a domain administrator account.

• Save the following content as plain text in a file named, for example, Win-Create-Sysvol-Share.reg:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters]

"SysvolReady"=dword:00000001

Use a text editor that stores files in plain text, such as Editor or Notepad.

• Double-click the file to import the setting to the Windows registry.

• Reboot the server to take the changes effect.