Member Avatar for savedlema

Hi all!

IN MY VIRTUALBOX VIRTUAL MACHINE: I had previously installed XP Service Pack 3 and Windows 2003 Server. I configured this server as a DC and other roles such as DNS...I created users who would login to the domain from the XP client machine. I set up group policies and file server, and all were working fine.

Recently, I removed 2003 Server and installed 2008 Server on the same virtual machine hard disk. I moved on to create the DC (with a different domain name) and other server roles. I created users from my Active Directory and set up group policies too. But, I realized that, when users log in to the server, the set group polices are not implemented. Furthermore, I realize that, when this user logs off from the Domain, that messagebox says "...offline files failed to synchronized to [servername]....", but, this [servername] which appears here, is the name of the OLD 2003 Server, not the present 2008.

Why is this user still appear as if connected to the old 2003 server?
I tried to change the client's computer name, no effect.

Any help please?

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Dani AI

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As discovered, the visible symptom ("Offline files failed to synchronize to [old server]") was caused by the client keeping references to the old server’s offline‑files assignments even after the server/AD was rebuilt. That and a mismatched domain/DNS configuration are the two usual causes: the client still had cached offline‑folder metadata pointing at the old UNC, or it wasn’t fully joined/pointing to the new domain controller so new GPOs never applied. ’s reminder about unjoining/rejoining the domain was on target, and ’s question about how the fix was run was answered correctly by (the fix was a .bat).

Practical checklist (order matters):

  • Confirm domain membership and identity (System Properties → Computer Name or check whoami), and rejoin the correct domain if needed.
  • Verify name resolution and DNS: check ipconfig /all and use nslookup so the client resolves the DC name/IP to the new server. Fix DNS if it still points at the old server.
  • Remove old network mappings (net use to list/delete) and any leftover mapped shares that could hold offline assignments.
  • Clear the client offline‑files state: use the OS UI where available (XP: Offline Files control; Vista/7+: Sync Center → Manage offline files) to disable/delete cached data, reboot, then re‑enable. If the UI doesn’t clear the stale assignments, a deliberate reset of the offline‑files database (the approach used) will remove the old references — back up any unsynced local files first because this is destructive.

After the cache/DNS/domain fixes, force and verify policy application with gpupdate /force and gpresult /r (or rsop.msc) and check Group Policy event log entries for errors. For future migrations: demote and decommission the old DC cleanly, ensure DNS records are removed, and remove offline assignments from clients before rebuilding a server to avoid cached references.

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Member Avatar for JorgeM

Did you unjoin the workstations from the old domain and join them to the new one?

Member Avatar for savedlema

Hi!
I was able to solve it with this bat file:

echo off
reg add "hklm\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\netcache" /v FormatDatabase /t reg_dword /d 00000001

reg delete "hkcu\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\netcache\shares" /f
reg add "hkcu\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache\Shares" /ve

reg delete "hkcu\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\netcache\AssignedOfflineFolders" /f

reg add "hkcu\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache\AssignedOfflineFolders" /ve

Thanks for being willing to help so far.
Cheers!

Member Avatar for Fowomola

As regard to the question you and resolved by you, the cmd solution you wrote down,are we going to place it in command console;command prompt: echo off
reg add "hklm\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\netcache" /v FormatDatabase /t reg_dword /d 00000001
reg delete "hkcu\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\netcache\shares" /f
reg add "hkcu\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache\Shares" /ve
reg delete "hkcu\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\netcache\AssignedOfflineFolders" /f
reg add "hkcu\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache\AssignedOfflineFolders" /ve

Thanks for being willing to help so far.
Cheers!

Member Avatar for savedlema

Hi Fowomola!

Notice that I said its a .bat file. You make a .bat file with above lines of code and run it.

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