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Client (DFS) set active parameter incorrect

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Matej

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Jan 28, 2007, 4:20:00 AM1/28/07
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I've setup DFS root and created a folder with two links
(\\namespace_root\FOLDER which has links to two servers \\server1\share and
server2\share in 2 sites)

Refferal works and users see content according to their location in site
however we have some users which would occasionally want to access server in
other site and this can easily be done via "set active" button in DFS tab in
Explorer however this action generates parameter incorrect for all domain
users (works ok if i grant domain users local admin rights --> member of
computer\administrators).

Question is: Is it possible in any way to grant domain users permissions to
this action via GP or some other server side setting since i have no desire
to allow users to be local admins?

Jill Zoeller [MSFT]

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Jan 30, 2007, 11:31:48 AM1/30/07
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DFS doesn't have its own permissions for accessing the namespace--this is
all done via NTFS and share permissions on the targets. Therefore I'm not
sure exactly what's going on here. If you can send me the exact error
message, I can try to find past support cases and maybe give you hints on
how to fix this.

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"Matej" <Ma...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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Matej

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Jan 30, 2007, 2:03:04 PM1/30/07
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Perhaps i wasnt totally clear.

DFS works perfectly domain\me account which is local admin (also domain
admin but that doesnt matter in this case) on somethingPC works ok i can
access data on server1\share and use feature from windows explorer (right
click on dfs share and DFS tab and option "set active" to change dfs link aka
active server) to change DFS link to server2\share and view files on server2.
Now here comes the problem there are users (imagine that :) ) on my network
domain\themxy which are regular domain users and also local users on their
machines and while they can see content of DFS share (aka server1(2)\share
depending on their site location) they are unable to use feature from windows
explorer to change active server like i can do (but if i add domain\them
account to local admin group on their pc they can use this feature) Therefore
i must conclude that it has something to do with the way windows security
manages disks - even under DFS). I've so far excluded any other possibility
such as OU, site membership, local machines peculiarities etc.


\\namespace\problemdfsshare\--->server1\share (site1)
--->server2\share (site2)

user has mapped X: to \\namespace\problemdfsshare\ and sees server1 or
server2 depending on their site location

local admin can change between server1 or server2 (different content to be
exact) but if user attempts to do so by clicking on "set active" produces
incorrect parameter error.

I hope this clarifies the problem a bit :).

Jill Zoeller [MSFT]

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Jan 30, 2007, 3:06:41 PM1/30/07
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Ah yes, ok, I've seen this before but I can't recall where. I'll try
searching some of my old posts and emails. I think the answer is going to be
what you already know: this Set Active functionality requires administrator
permissions. It's at the tip of my memory--I just need to find where I got
this info.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.


"Matej" <Ma...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:3C52F23B-0A18-4AE3...@microsoft.com...

Alan Yu [MSFT]

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Jan 30, 2007, 8:35:00 PM1/30/07
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Jill is right. We don't allow non-local admin modify it because all of users
on the machine share the same DFS cache. If normal UserA can change the
active target from serverX to serverY, then to serverZ, UserB may have
problems when he or she read/write files .

On a W2K3 server, you will get error "The parameter is incorrect". On a
Vista machine, you will see "Access Denied".

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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Thanks,
Alan

Matej

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Jan 31, 2007, 12:59:00 AM1/31/07
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Thanx for quick response i guess for poor users another drive in inventory :).

Though it's a neat feature and could save lots of time for users if it
worked.

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