Once a server is promoted to a DC, Windows 2008 R2 in my case, write cache is disabled by default. You can try to enable it, but it will revert back to disabled. This is default behavior to protect AD Database.
You should not "hack" to enable it on Production Server, but what if you really want it on Dev/Test environment. Some workarounds
Manual Enabling or Disabling the Disk Write Caching
- Right-click My Computer , and then click Properties .
- Click the Hardware tab.
- Click Device Manager .
- Click the plus sign (+) next to the Disk Drives branch to expand it.
- Right-click the drive on which you want to enable or disable disk write caching, and then click Properties .
- Click the Disk Properties tab.
- Click to select or clear the Write Cache Enabled check box as appropriate.
- Click OK .
Get Dskcache.exe from http://support.microsoft.com/?id=811392 to enable Write Cache on start up script
c:\dskcache.exe +w
exit
Start > gpedit.msc then go to
Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Scripts
Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Scripts
Registry hack
Path: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Parameters
Value: "DSA Heuristics"
Type: REG_SZ
Setting this to "1" (Note: the type MUST be a string type) prevents AD service from disabling write cache.
