Stop the DFS Replication Service and Netlogon Service

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

You can use this procedure to stop the Distributed File System (DFS) Replication service and the Netlogon service when you are performing offline updates to the SYSVOL tree. The Netlogon service advertises the server as a domain controller by sharing out the SYSVOL folder. The services must be turned off until updates to the SYSVOL path information are complete and the SYSVOL junction point has been updated for the new location.

You can use the Windows graphical user interface (GUI) or the command line to stop the DFS Replication service and the Netlogon service.

Note

The staging path junction point is updated automatically when DFS Replication is restarted.

Membership in Domain Admins, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local and Domain Default Groups (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).

To stop the DFS Replication service or Netlogon service, or both, by using the Windows GUI

  1. On the Start menu, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

  2. In the Name column, right-click DFS Replication or Netlogon, and then click Stop.

To stop the DFS Replication service and the Netlogon service by using the command line

  1. Open a Command Prompt as an administrator: On the Start menu, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, provide Domain Admins credentials, if required, and then click Continue.

  2. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    net stop dfsr
    
  3. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    net stop netlogon

After you move or restore SYSVOL, when you update the SYSVOL Netlogon path in the registry, you must also update the SysvolReady parameter in Netlogon parameters, as described in Change the SYSVOL Netlogon Parameters.