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Symbolic Link Cannot Be Followed Error in File Server Monitoring Plan

Symptom

You see the following error in the Health Log for your File Server monitoring plan:

Error: 0x80049610
The symbolic link cannot be followed
Make sure the local-to-local, local-to-remote, remote-to-local, and remote-to-remote symbolic link evaluations are enabled on the computer that hosts Netwrix Auditor Server.

The error shows only during State-in-Time data collection.

Cause

Symbolic links (symlinks) are disabled or misconfigured.

Resolution

Enable all symbolic link types.

  1. On your Netwrix Auditor server, open an elevated Command Prompt and run:

    fsutil behavior query SymlinkEvaluation

    Once executed, you'll see the settings for symbolic links (enabled or disabled).

    ![SymlinkEvaluation output]./../0-images/servlet_image_3823966b1661.png)

  2. To enable a symlink type, run the following command:

    fsutil behavior set SymlinkEvaluation R2L:1

    The R2L:1 stands for remote-to-local enabled. You can change R to L and vice versa to enable the disabled symlink.

Learn more about fsutil syntax in the Microsoft documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/fsutil-behavior (fsutil behavior ⸱ Microsoft)