I recently set up a DFS server for the first time. It went quite smoothly, but there is one issue that needs to be fixed and I would like a little help with it. One folder that I am syncing is monitored by an application. It keeps an inventory of every subfolder in the root folder. These subfolders are named for the company codes (i.e. ABCD or MSFT). Whenever it sees a new folder it assumes that there is a new company that needs to be populated. To make a long story short, the DfsrPrivate hidden folder is causing problems. I have a solution but I wanted to find out the ramifications before I did anything. I would like to just create a new subfolder in the root folder and copy everything (there are hundreds of folders and GBs worth of data) into that folder EXCEPT for the DfsrPrivate folder. Then I would just point the app to the new subfolder and all should be OK. I would still be replicating the root folder path, so nothing would need to change in the DFS Management program. My question is: Will this simple MOVE, which on a non DFS drive would take seconds, cause the entire structure to be replicated again, or will it just mimic the move command and take seconds on the replica side as well? Thanks in advance!MCP SBSC

Hello, This will see the new subfolder you created will show in replication as new, thus all it's content will be considered as such for the initial sync. In that case I think the entire structure will be replicated again. Let's say on primary serverA you create the new subfolder and move all the companies into it, the secondary serverB will now see only the new subfolder from serverA, thus it will delete all the other company folders it has and create a new subfolder as serverA and then start the replication. You can pre seed the data on both primary and secondary replication partners.Isaac Oben MCITP:EA, MCSE,MCC View my MCP Certifications

So what I will do is this: Stop the DFS service on each end, move the files on both servers and turn the DFS service back on. Only question I have is how will DFS handle the new data? Will each end take inventory and then compare notes seeing that everything is the same? I guess the only thing to do is to do it and let the chips fall where they may. Thanks!MCP SBSC

As Isaac said it will work like a new initial replication, so it should work if you move files and folders to a new subfolder without any change in both sides. DFSR will check all files and as files are still exist, replication should be finished quickly. Actually you can also try to move the dfsrprivate folder to another place to avoid this issue. It can be changed by right click on the folders listed in DFS management --- replication group --- memberships tab.TechNet Subscriber Support in forum |If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tnmff@microsoft.com.

@shaon, your last suggestion, to reposition the dfsrprivate folder to a different location would have fixed my total situation. I wasn't even aware of that 'feature' until you mentioned it and I went looking for it. Having said that, I ended up needing to move the data to a different drive on the Primary Server, so after trying to modify things, I finally deleted the replication group and reconfigured a new one after getting the data moved. I then went in and changed where the dfsrprivate folder would live (since I did not have that option when running the wizard.) True to Microsoft form, I got confused with the naming conventions (connections, memberships, replication groups, etc.) and I ended up with a replication folder pair under a previously created replication group. Everything seems to be working, so I won't be moving the Replicated Folder back into the 'root'. This is a very large folder with 1,038,363 files and 7,375 folders, so I think it will take a while to enumerate and compare contents. I wish there was some sort of indication of progress. Thanks all for the help! RandyMCP SBSC