Tech Note: DFS Replication Failing after an Unexpected Shutdown

Problem: If a member server of a DFS share experiences a dirty or otherwise unexpected shutdown, DFS won’t necessarily continue to replicate.

Fix: Microsoft have disabled DFS auto-recovery following unexpected shutdowns by default.

To resolve replication issues following an unexpected shutdown, open the registry editor on the system which experienced the improper shutdown, and in the navigate to the key below, and change:

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\DFSR\Parameters\StopReplicationOnAutoRecovery

from 1 to 0

0 = autorecovery enabled

1 = autorecovery disabled

IF the key is not present, then this is equivalent to having a key value of 0

Then open services.msc console, and stop the DFS Replication service, then start it again.

Now, repeat the above process on all other DFS members.

You can confirm that auto recover is running by executing a DFS Health report from within the DFS MMC and looking at the State of the problem server in the output table of the generated report.

source for registry fix: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2663685