What does Windows error code 8618 (ERROR_DS_POLICY_NOT_KNOWN) mean?

ERROR_DS_POLICY_NOT_KNOWN

At this time, it cannot be determined if the branch replication policy is available on the hub domain controller. Please retry at a later time to account for replication latencies.

ERROR_DS_POLICY_NOT_KNOWN is a domain-specific Windows result.

Likely impact: Treat the state as indeterminate, not as proof that the policy is absent or disabled.

Typical causes

• policy metadata has not replicated yet.
• the contacted hub is stale or unavailable.
• the branch-to-hub association is incomplete.
• the request arrives during topology or policy transition.

Troubleshooting steps

1. Verify that the hub DC has received and can evaluate the branch replication policy.
2. Collect branch and hub DC identities and policy object version and originating USN.

Useful evidence

• Collect site topology and connection objects.
• Collect time since policy creation or change.

Recovery and retry

Wait for or repair replication to the authoritative hub, then query the same policy with bounded retry.

Related errors

ERROR_DS_NO_RESULTS_RETURNED is an empty query result; this code means policy availability cannot yet be determined

Example

A branch configuration is created on one DC and immediately queried through another hub. After replication converges, the same query returns a definite policy.

References

• Microsoft: exact Win32 system error range
• Microsoft: AD DS troubleshooting
• Microsoft: dcdiag
• Microsoft: repadmin