I'm really frustrated. Our file server running Windows Server Data Center 2022 on Azure started acting sluggish today. Amid many user connectivity issues, I decided to reboot it. However, when it came back up, none of the users in my company can access their shares anymore. I checked the permissions, and they've all vanished! It seems like every folder now has only system and domain admins listed with access. I'm at a loss for how this happened or how to rectify it quickly. I could resort to restoring from last night's VM backup if needed, but I'm just unsure of what went wrong and how to fix this problem swiftly.
5 Answers
If you can restore to another location, using robocopy might help you bring back the permissions from a backup to your production share. Check out some guides online on using robocopy just for permissions—might save you a lot of hassle!
Do you have a solid backup? The share data gets stored in the registry, and restoring that hive and rebooting might fix this whole issue. Good to hear you have backups!
Honestly, try rebooting the server again! It may seem a bit odd, but I’ve seen situations where a second reboot helps fix errors that happen during the first one.
Yeah, I can back that up. I've had my share of issues that just required a simple second reboot to sort things out.
If your server is back up and running, check the event logs for NTFS issues. This could provide more insight into what happened.
A good starting point would be the registry locations. You can check `HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesLanmanServerShares` to see the share permissions. Hopefully, you have a system state backup to work with too!
That covers only the share permissions though. From what you mentioned, it sounds like the NTFS permissions are wiped as well.
Yes, we've got good backups. I’ll look into restoring that hive soon. Thanks!