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I just setup a new server for my work. With the server hostname change, this ended up breaking everyones file shares so looking into future proofing solutions and I came across DFS. I set it up and changed all of our group policy to point at the DFS namespace which all has been working fine.

We also have some personal devices and other users who VPN in. I gave people instruction on how to connect to the new fileshares with the DFS path but turns out it didnt work for them. What I just learned is that the short DFS name doesn't work on non domain joined computers. Example:

//mydomain/public/documentation - Works on domain joined, not on VPN or non-domain joined computers (but plugged into our network)
//mydomain.local/public/documentation - Works everywhere

I'm not a huge fan of having to put ".local" in the UNC path. Is there a way to get it so non-domain joined computers can access it via the short domain name instead of FQDN?

Non domain joined computers use our DNS/DHCP server hosted on the domain controller. Same for VPN - can ping by hostname or other DNS records in the domain.

All clients are Windows 10.

Joe Jankowiak
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  • I don't understand how this goes from "changing the server name breaks everything that uses the server name" to ... what ever this is. Why not keep the same name, or create a CNAME in DNS? Also it seems like the question is how to resolve single label names on non-domain joined computers. – Greg Askew Sep 28 '22 at 11:25
  • `1.` So you set up DFS and changed your GPO's to reference the DFS path? Why not just change your GPO's to reference the new server name? `2`. **I'm not a huge fan of having to put ".local" in the UNC path** - If that works for domain joined clients and non-domain joined clients then I'd be a fan of that. What reservations do you have about that? The client computers don't care. `3.` Are you assigning a DNS suffix to these computers via DHCP? If not, then that's the problem. – joeqwerty Sep 28 '22 at 12:22
  • Issue isn't the domain joined computers, but everyone that had shares mapped on their own computers. I'm looking to future proof it so if the server needs to change, everyone doesn't need to remap everything. Trying to leave it better for the next IT guy than I got it. Only reason I don't like having to put ".local" is just getting people to understand it. On work computers I've always given instruction to use the short DN. I did setup a CNAME to the fileserver, but DFS is the better solution, no? – Joe Jankowiak Sep 28 '22 at 21:55
  • I'm just trying to understand why the short name doesnt resolve but the FQDN does. Computer is configured to use domains DNS server and can ping any host on the network. I think I need to learn more about how DNS and Netbios work together. – Joe Jankowiak Sep 28 '22 at 22:10

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