During a new Configuration Manager 2012 implementation project, we tried to push a secondary site at another location (Datacenter B) from our primary site (in Datacenter A). We saw failures in the logs specifically it can’t connect to the secondary server’s c$ and failed other queries. Both Primary and the secondary servers are Windows Server 2012. Some testing showed we are not able to connect to c$ manually from the primary server from Datacenter A to the secondary server in Datacenter B. But we can connect from a Windows 7 desktop from Datacenter A to the server (2012) in Datacenter B.

After much research, we found this is was because the sites are optimized by Riverbed and the current firmware of the appliances do not support SMB3.

Riverbed just announced SMB3 support late July 2013 with the release of RiOS 8.5 for Q3 2013.

In RiOS 8.5, Riverbed is introducing new optimizations for business-critical Microsoft applications and environments including SharePoint® 2013, Exchange 2013, Office365® and file sharing applications that utilize the server message block 3 (SMB3) protocol in Windows® 8 and Server 2012 environments. As a result, mutual customers of Microsoft and Riverbed can increase productivity and efficiency, while enhancing business resilience.

Their blog (from August 5, 2013) also stated the same.

Work around is to disable Secure Negotiate.

To change this setting, set the following LanmanWorkstation parameter using PowerShell cmdlet:

Set-SmbClientConfiguration – RequireSecureNegotiate <0|1|2>

0 – Disabled

1 – Required

2 – Enabled if needed 

You can also edit the DWORD value through the registry editor.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters\RequireSecureNegotiate.

To change the default behavior, you need to define the registry key. If not present, its default value is “Required” in Windows 8 clients.

The registry key can be populated via GPP in the computer configuration.

More information on SMB on 2012 and previous version:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/josebda/archive/2012/06/06/windows-server-2012-which-version-of-the-smb-protocol-smb-1-0-smb-2-0-smb-2-1-or-smb-3-0-you-are-using-on-your-file-server.aspx