Sysvol replication broken between Server 2008 R2 DCs

We recently added a second DC to our network at a different site. The DCs do not appear to have any difficulty communicating via the network, and AD objects (users, computers etc) are synchronising correctly. However, group policies are not. Examining the C:\Windows\SYSVOL\domain folder on the new DC shows that it is empty, whereas on the old DC it contains the Policies and scripts folders with associated contents.

However, dcdiag does not show any obvious hints as to what is wrong (see output below), and DFSR seems to believe that it is replicating correctly, as per the output of dfsradmin backlog. dfsrdiag replicationstate shows no active connections, but I'm not sure whether or not this is normal; dfsradmin membership list shows both DCs.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm pretty much at my wit's end; I'd even try manually copying the policies over were it not for the fact that there are many permissions issues involved in doing so.

dcdiag output:

C:\Windows\system32>dcdiag

Directory Server Diagnosis

Performing initial setup:
   Trying to find home server...
   Home Server = HACTAR
   * Identified AD Forest.
   Done gathering initial info.

Doing initial required tests

   Testing server: Saturn\HACTAR
      Starting test: Connectivity
         ......................... HACTAR passed test Connectivity

Doing primary tests

   Testing server: Saturn\HACTAR
      Starting test: Advertising
         ......................... HACTAR passed test Advertising
      Starting test: FrsEvent
         ......................... HACTAR passed test FrsEvent
      Starting test: DFSREvent
         There are warning or error events within the last 24 hours after the
         SYSVOL has been shared.  Failing SYSVOL replication problems may cause
         Group Policy problems.
         ......................... HACTAR failed test DFSREvent
      Starting test: SysVolCheck
         ......................... HACTAR passed test SysVolCheck
      Starting test: KccEvent
         ......................... HACTAR passed test KccEvent
      Starting test: KnowsOfRoleHolders
         ......................... HACTAR passed test KnowsOfRoleHolders
      Starting test: MachineAccount
         ......................... HACTAR passed test MachineAccount
      Starting test: NCSecDesc
         ......................... HACTAR passed test NCSecDesc
      Starting test: NetLogons
         Unable to connect to the NETLOGON share! (\\HACTAR\netlogon)
         [HACTAR] An net use or LsaPolicy operation failed with error 67,
         The network name cannot be found..
         ......................... HACTAR failed test NetLogons
      Starting test: ObjectsReplicated
         ......................... HACTAR passed test ObjectsReplicated
      Starting test: Replications
         ......................... HACTAR passed test Replications
      Starting test: RidManager
         ......................... HACTAR passed test RidManager
      Starting test: Services
         ......................... HACTAR passed test Services
      Starting test: SystemLog
         An error event occurred.  EventID: 0x00000422
            Time Generated: 10/10/2014   14:39:05
            Event String:
            The processing of Group Policy failed. Windows attempted to read the
 file \\bistromath.domains.h2g2.local\sysvol\bistromath.domains.h2g2.local\Polic
ies\{31B2F340-016D-11D2-945F-00C04FB984F9}\gpt.ini from a domain controller and 
was not successful. Group Policy settings may not be applied until this event is
resolved. This issue may be transient and could be caused by one or more of the 
following:
         [snip: many identical log entries]
         ......................... HACTAR failed test SystemLog
      Starting test: VerifyReferences
         ......................... HACTAR passed test VerifyReferences


   Running partition tests on : ForestDnsZones
      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ......................... ForestDnsZones passed test CheckSDRefDom
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ......................... ForestDnsZones passed test
         CrossRefValidation

   Running partition tests on : DomainDnsZones
      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ......................... DomainDnsZones passed test CheckSDRefDom
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ......................... DomainDnsZones passed test
         CrossRefValidation

   Running partition tests on : Schema
      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ......................... Schema passed test CheckSDRefDom
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ......................... Schema passed test CrossRefValidation

   Running partition tests on : Configuration
      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ......................... Configuration passed test CheckSDRefDom
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ......................... Configuration passed test CrossRefValidation

   Running partition tests on : bistromath
      Starting test: CheckSDRefDom
         ......................... bistromath passed test CheckSDRefDom
      Starting test: CrossRefValidation
         ......................... bistromath passed test CrossRefValidation

   Running enterprise tests on : bistromath.domains.h2g2.local
      Starting test: LocatorCheck
         ......................... bistromath.domains.h2g2.local passed test
         LocatorCheck
      Starting test: Intersite
         ......................... bistromath.domains.h2g2.local passed test
         Intersite    

dfsrdiag backlog:

C:\Windows\system32>dfsrdiag backlog /rgname:"Domain System Volume" /rfname:"SYSVOL Share" /smem:queeg /rmem:hactar

No Backlog - member <hactar> is in sync with partner <queeg>

dfsrdiag replicationstate:

C:\Windows\system32>dfsrdiag replicationstate
Summary

  Active inbound connections: 0
  Updates received: 0

  Active outbound connections: 0
  Updates sent out: 0

dfsradmin membership list:

C:\Windows\system32>dfsradmin membership list /rgname:"Domain System Volume"
MemName  RfName        LocalPath                 StagingPath                                  StagingSize
HACTAR   SYSVOL Share  C:\Windows\SYSVOL\domain  C:\Windows\SYSVOL\staging areas\bistromath.domains.h2g2.local  4096
QUEEG    SYSVOL Share  C:\Windows\SYSVOL\domain  C:\Windows\SYSVOL\staging areas\bistromath.domains.h2g2.local  4096

I know this is an old question, but I encountered this same issue after promoting a new Windows 2016 VM to be a new DC. Google led me here.

Here's what I learned, in the hope it helps others:

If any of your DC are being backed up using VSS, VSS pauses DFSR. This is normal. The event(s) that are logged may cause DCDIAG to complain.

You may see some hits around that say something like "Clear the DFS event log and run DCDIAG again". It is true that DCDIAG does not complain about DFSR if you have cleared the log, but this is cheating, of course.

Ultimately, you need to verify that DFS replication is in fact ongoing.

The official way to do this is in the DFS Management tool (System Manager | Tools | DFS Management)

In DSF Management:

1. in the Left Actions pain, click Create Diagnostic Report
2. Choose Propagation Test, proceed through the wizard to start the test
3. In a couple of hours (your interval may vary; mine was 1.6 hours for three DC), return to DFS Management and click Create Diagnostic Report again
4. Choose Propagation Report, and generate the report.

The report will open in your default browser and indicates if the propagation worked and how long it took.