DFS Timeout

DFS is great until it isn't! If you DFS is slow or timing out check if any of these solutions fixes your problem.

DfsDnsConfig

Registry Path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dfs
Name: DfsDnsConfig
Value: 1

This causes DFS Referrals to use FQDN. This needs to be set on all DFS servers, not just your file shares. If your DFS-Namespace is stored on a domain controller, then DfsDnsConfig=1 needs to be set there as well.

2012 R2

See: KB3046481

Reference

http://serverfault.com/questions/50789/long-pause-when-accessing-dfs-namespace

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3046481