Force Rediscovery Interval
Verified with Windows 11 25H2 — updated on July 30, 2026
Supported on: At least Windows Vista
Path in the GPO console
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Net Logon\DC Locator DNS Records Description
This policy setting determines the interval for when a Force Rediscovery is carried out by DC Locator. The Domain Controller Locator (DC Locator) service is used by clients to find domain controllers for their Active Directory domain. When DC Locator finds a domain controller, it caches domain controllers to improve the efficiency of the location algorithm. As long as the cached domain controller meets the requirements and is running, DC Locator will continue to return it. If a new domain controller is introduced, existing clients will only discover it when a Force Rediscovery is carried out by DC Locator. To adapt to changes in network conditions DC Locator will by default carry out a Force Rediscovery according to a specific time interval and maintain efficient load-balancing of clients across all available domain controllers in all domains or forests. The default time interval for Force Rediscovery by DC Locator is 12 hours. Force Rediscovery can also be triggered if a call to DC Locator uses the DS_FORCE_REDISCOVERY flag. Rediscovery resets the timer on the cached domain controller entries. If you enable this policy setting, DC Locator on the machine will carry out Force Rediscovery periodically according to the configured time interval. The minimum time interval is 3600 seconds (1 hour) to avoid excessive network traffic from rediscovery. The maximum allowed time interval is 4294967200 seconds, while any value greater than 4294967 seconds (~49 days) will be treated as infinity. If you disable this policy setting, Force Rediscovery will be used by default for the machine at every 12 hour interval. If you do not configure this policy setting, Force Rediscovery will be used by default for the machine at every 12 hour interval, unless the local machine setting in the registry is a different value.
Registry
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Netlogon\Parameters MDM / Intune (CSP)
./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_Netlogon/Netlogon_ForceRediscoveryInterval Microsoft Learn documentation Mapping data: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0)
Export Builder
BETAConfigure the state, scope and options, then generate .reg, PowerShell, Intune and SCCM outputs — or add the setting to a multi-setting collection.
These exports write the registry — this is not a managed GPO. ⓘ
.reg file
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; Exported from gporais.com
; Policy: Force Rediscovery Interval
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: At least Windows Vista
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Netlogon\Parameters]
"ForceRediscoveryInterval"=dword:0000a8c0More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)
PowerShell
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force Rediscovery Interval
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Netlogon\Parameters'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'ForceRediscoveryInterval' -Value 43200 -Type DWordIntune XML
OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_Netlogon/Netlogon_ForceRediscoveryInterval
Data type: String
Value:
<enabled/>
<data id="Netlogon_ForceRediscoveryIntervalLabel" value="43200"/>Intune Remediation
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force Rediscovery Interval
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Netlogon\Parameters' -Name 'ForceRediscoveryInterval' -Expected 43200 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force Rediscovery Interval
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Netlogon\Parameters'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'ForceRediscoveryInterval' -Value 43200 -Type DWordSCCM scripts
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force Rediscovery Interval
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
# SCCM Configuration Item guidance:
# Create a Configuration Item of type "Setting: Script".
# Discovery script: use the Detection script below.
# Remediation script: use the Remediation script below.
# Compliance rule: the Discovery script output equals 'Compliant'.
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force Rediscovery Interval
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Netlogon\Parameters' -Name 'ForceRediscoveryInterval' -Expected 43200 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Force Rediscovery Interval
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Vista
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Netlogon\Parameters'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'ForceRediscoveryInterval' -Value 43200 -Type DWordBuilding a multi-setting collection? Add this setting and generate combined .reg / PowerShell / GPO scripts.