OpenAFS for Windows works with Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Server 2008 [R2] from both the command prompt and the Explorer Shell. When performing an upgrade from earlier versions of Microsoft Windows the Microsoft Loopback Adapter (MSLA) will be uninstalled. OpenAFS should be re-installed after the Windows Upgrade installation to restore the MSLA configuration.

Due to a feature change in Windows Vista’s Plug-n-Play network stack, during a standby/hibernate operation the MSLA is disabled just as any other hardware device would be. This causes the OpenAFS Client’s network binding to be lost. As a result, it takes anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds after the operating system is resumed for access to the OpenAFS Client and the AFS file name space to be restored. Until the network bindings have been re-established, ticket managers and other tools will report that the "AFS Client Service may not have been started".

Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 contain a bug that will prevent access to \\AFS after either a network media link state change or DHCP client lease results in the loss or change of assigned IP address. When the bug is triggered, all attempts to connect to \\AFS will result in a "Bad Network Name" error even though "nbtstat.exe -n" reports the name "AFS" as locally registered. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters "DisableDHCPMediaSense" (DWORD) can be set to "1" to disable network media sense events from being delivered to the DHCP client. Under some circumstances this will avoid triggering the bug. See KB239924: How to disable the Media Sensing Feature for TCP/IP in Windows.

Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Server 2008 [R2] implement User Account Control (UAC), a new security feature that implements least user privilege. With UAC, applications only run with the minimum required privileges. Even Administrator accounts run applications without the "Administrator" access control credentials. One side effect of this is that existing applications that mix user and system configuration capabilities must be re-written to separate those functions that require "Administrator" privileges into a separate process space. Future updates to OpenAFS will incorporate the necessary privilege separation, until that time some functions such as the Start and Stop Service features of the AFS Authentication Tool and the AFS Control Panel will not work unless they are "Run as Administrator". When a Vista user account that is a member of the "Administrators" group is used to access the AFS Control Panel (afs_config.exe), the process must be "Run as Administrator". Otherwise, attempts to modify the OpenAFS configuration will appear to succeed but in reality will have failed due to Vista’s system file and registry virtualization feature.

The help files provided with OpenAFS are in .HLP format. Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Server 2008 [R2] do not include a help engine for this format.