Unable to delete DFSR folder on Server 2012

Question

_{Wednesday, April 29, 2015 6:51 PM}

Hello,

I know this should be simple as I have done it several times - just never on Server 2012.  I need to re-create the DFSR DB (it is corrupt).

When I attempt the command ' E:\System Volume Information>rmdir DFSR /s ' I get several errors like the one below.  I usually don't see character/path complaints from a cmd promt.  It is elevated too.

The path DFSR\Private\F9037B4B-5D15-4797-9E30-48EFEB34D787}-{58600AAF-A276-48C3
-B148-2297AABEA84C}\Staging\ContentSet{F9037B4B-5D15-4797-9E30-48EFEB34D787}-{58
600AAF-A276-48C3-B148-2297AABEA84C}\99\299-{34668DCB-CC9D-4980-9032-AE465FBCBAEF
}-v299-{34668DCB-CC9D-4980-9032-AE465FBCBAEF}-v299-Downloaded.frx is too long.

If I attempt from the GUI, nothing happens.  I did give myself FC permissions to the SysVol folder.  I even tried drilling a few folders down using the GUI and same thing, nothing happens.

Thank you!

All replies (2)

_{Monday, May 4, 2015 7:12 AM ✅Answered}

Hi,

Since the command reports filenames being too long, you need to delete files manually using a filemanager that is able to delete file paths longer than 255 chars.

For more detailed information, you could refer to the article below:

Kickstarting Toublesome DFS Replication Groups
https://ourrick.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/kickstarting-toublesome-dfs-replication-groups/

Please Note: Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. The sites are not controlled by Microsoft. Microsoft cannot make any representations regarding the quality, safety, or suitability of any software or information found there.

Best Regards,

Mandy

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_{Thursday, March 8, 2018 11:41 AM | 1 vote}

So, while this is an old thread, I came across it when I was also needing to blast away a corrrupt DFSR database and re-create from scratch.

rather than relying on 3rd party tools to remove paths that are too long, simply use powershell to rename the 2 long GUID folder names as follows:

DFSR\Private\F9037B4B-5D15-4797-9E30-48EFEB34D787}-{58600AAF-A276-48C3
-B148-2297AABEA84C}\Staging\ContentSet{F9037B4B-5D15-4797-9E30-48EFEB34D787}-{58
600AAF-A276-48C3-B148-2297AABEA84C}

DFSR\Private\1\Staging\1

Rename-Item -Path "DFSR\Private\F9037B4B-5D15-4797-9E30-48EFEB34D787}-{58600AAF-A276-48C3
-B148-2297AABEA84C}" -Newname "DFSR\Private\1"

Rename-Item -Path "DFSR\Private\1\Staging\ContentSet{F9037B4B-5D15-4797-9E30-48EFEB34D787}-{58
600AAF-A276-48C3-B148-2297AABEA84C}" -Newname "DFSR\Private\1\Staging\1"

Repeat this for each of the folders in DFSR\Private and then simply use:

Remove-Item -Path "x:\System Volume Information\DFSR" -recurse -force to remove the entire folder.

MCSA Server 2012/2008 MCITP Exchange 2010