Distributed File System (Dfs) Home Directory Prevents Other Dfs Connections

When you use Distributed File System (Dfs) services on a computer running Windows NT 4.0 and you create volumes (leafs) pointing to other shares on the server, (and in User Manager you assign a home directory path to a Dfs volume (leaf)) you will be able to log on to the computer and the home directory connection will be made. However, when you try to connect to the Dfs Root again, the following error message will be displayed:

When you view the sessions for this server in Server Manager you will notice that an administrative connection has been made to the Dfs Root, however, the connection to the volume (leaf) will be displayed as having user credentials. During the logon process the system creates a session to the Dfs Root so the system can read the attached volumes (leafs.) That session is created under the administrative credentials so all future connections will conflict because the user credential is being supplied. Because the system created the original session, stopping the administrative session will not work because the system requires this session for the home directory.

Currently, the only way to resolve this situation is to use standard Server Message Block (SMB) shares and not use Dfs for the home directories.

This behavior is by design.