[Solved] SYSVOL Folders Not Replicating Across Domain Controllers

If you have ever had issues with NETLOGON or SYSVOL folders not replicating across domain controllers you know that it can be a huge pain in the butt. Whether it be your policy definitions folder not replicating or group policy is just out of sync with the rest of your DCs. It’s an issue that many sysadmins over time have had to overcome however, luckily for me, I was fortunate enough to have had it happen in my lab. My issue was sysvol was not replicating on my 2019 domain controllers so not only did I need to be able to force sysvol replication, I needed to get to the root of the issue to figure out why. Today we’re going to fix sysvol folders not replicating across domain controllers.

I have also posted a video of how to fix domain controller replication at the end of this post for those who prefer to watch the demo 🙂

After checking the event viewer I am across several logs that seemed a bit concerning to me.

Log Name: DFS Replication
Source: DFSR
Date: 3/25/2020 1:04:30 PM
Event ID: 4612
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: PAC-DC02.ad.thesysadminchannel.com

Description:
The DFS Replication service initialized SYSVOL at local path C:\Windows\SYSVOL\domain and is waiting to perform initial replication. 
The replicated folder will remain in the initial synchronization state until it has replicated with its partner PAC-DC01.ad.thesysadminchannel.com. 
If the server was in the process of being promoted to a domain controller, the domain controller will not advertise and function as a domain controller until this issue is resolved. 
This can occur if the specified partner is also in the initial synchronization state, or if sharing violations are encountered on this server or the sync partner. 
If this event occurred during the migration of SYSVOL from File Replication service (FRS) to DFS Replication, changes will not replicate out until this issue is resolved. 
This can cause the SYSVOL folder on this server to become out of sync with other domain controllers. 
 
Additional Information: 
Replicated Folder Name: SYSVOL Share 
Replicated Folder ID: 33B02C74-D5A3-41A7-A1EB-7D526AA4A243 
Replication Group Name: Domain System Volume 
Replication Group ID: 3CA9F092-C1B4-4F46-B276-7FD034A8E03C 
Member ID: 2AED3E8C-B864-4939-8969-BC747CD672C5 
Read-Only: 0



Log Name: DFS Replication
Source: DFSR
Date: 3/25/2020 1:04:30 PM
Event ID: 5002
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: PAC-DC02.ad.thesysadminchannel.com
Description:
The DFS Replication service encountered an error communicating with partner PAC-DC01 for replication group Domain System Volume. 
 
Partner DNS address: PAC-DC01.ad.thesysadminchannel.com 
 
Optional data if available: 
Partner WINS Address: PAC-DC01 
Partner IP Address: 172.16.10.101 
 
The service will retry the connection periodically. 
 
Additional Information: 
Error: 1753 (There are no more endpoints available from the endpoint mapper.) 
Connection ID: 3CA9F092-C1B4-4F46-B276-7FD034A8E03C 
Replication Group ID: FD8F1538-9B92-4EF9-9E8E-E74512BC2149

First things first, we need to determine which domain controller is going to act as the master server. This needs to be the most updated DC in terms of policies because this will overwrite anything and everything that doesn’t match.

An example of this is if you create the policies on DC01, and those policies never replicate to DC02. DC01 is more up to date than DC02 so DC01 should be your master.

Once you have that all set, you can follow the steps in the video.

Fix SYSVOL Folders Not Replicating Across Domain Controllers

Hopefully you found that very useful and now your sysvol replication is working as expected. If you still have doubts, you can check out Microsoft’s Documentation for the official page.