Windows Server 2003 R2: "The active directory is rebuilding indices please wait..." Message While Logging

Jinish KGSpecialist
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I'm Jinish KG,  Total 13 years of experience in IT field.
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While rebooting windows server 2003 server , it's showing "active directory rebuilding indices please wait" at startup. It took a little while for this process to complete and once we logged on not all the services were started so another reboot is required to start the all services normally

Problem

Error "The active directory is rebuilding indices please wait” in Windows  Server 2003
 
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Operating system:

Windows 2003 server

 

Solution



The server may show the message “The Active Directory is rebuilding indices” if the Active Directory database (NTDS) gets corrupt. Follow the below steps to get of this message.

Boot the server in “Directory Service Restore Mode” using “F8” on boot up.

There is another command that checks the “integrity” of the database. But first, Microsoft documentation states that before running the integrity command ,we should run the “ntdsutil files recover” command. This commands “ensures all committed transactions  are reflected in the data file.

type the command ntdsutil in administrator privilged command prompt.

PS C:\> ntdsutil

From the console type the command activate instance ntds

C:\Windows\system32\ntdsutil.exe: activate instance ntds

Active instance set to “ntds”.

type files  and press enter and execute checksum command as shwon in below

C:\Windows\system32\ntdsutil.exe: files
file maintenance: checksum

 

There is another command that checks the “integrity” of the database. But first, Microsoft documentation states that before running the integrity command .we should run the “ntdsutil files recover” command. This commands “ensures all committed transactions are reflected in the data file.

Since we are still in “ntdsutil, files” , we can simply enter the command as follows:

type the command Recover as shown in below
 

file maintenance: recover

It will initiate recovery mode and  Performing soft recovery

Move the log files (res1.log, res2.log and edb.log) from “c:\windows\ntds\” to another location.

ad1.JPG
Type ntdsutil files integrity (Checks integrety of ntds.dit)

ad2.JPGType ntdsutil “sem d a” go

Type ntdsutil “sem d a” “go f”

(When you move or compact the Active Directory database, if the integrity check fails, you must run a subsequent database test called semantic database analysis. When you run semantic database analysis with the Go Fixup command instead of the Go command, errors are written into Dsdit.dmp.xx log files. A progress indicator reports the status of the check. You can use this procedure to perform semantic database analysis with fixup.
Perform the database recovery using the “Esentutl.exe”.)


Type esentutl /r c:\windows\ntds\ntds.dit
Delete the database log files (.log) from the WINDOWS\Ntds folder.
Execute the command  esentutl /p “c:\windows\ntds\ntds.dit”

Open the registry editor by typing “regedit” in command prompt. Locate the path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RpcSs

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Add a “Reg_Multi_Sz” with the name as “DependOnService” then add “Eventlog” to the data list “DependOnService”, close the registry and reboot the server in normal mode.

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Jinish KGSpecialist
CERTIFIED EXPERT
I'm Jinish KG,  Total 13 years of experience in IT field.

Comments (1)

Super Jinesh

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