Domain controller recoginition problems. Cannot demote.
Background: I had two hard drives in a 3-disk array go bad. Importing the foreign configuration didn't help so I replaced the two drives, blew away the virtual disk, recreated the disk and attempted restore. I was having issues with getting the OS to restore from backup and decided I would have to reinstall the OS (windows server 2003 standard) and then restore the data. In active directory users and computers, domain controllers, on another DC, I deleted the domain controller in question since I was unable to demote. After doing that, I decided to give the OS restore one more try and it completed successfully. I will call this DC1, and I have multiple other DC's on my domain.
NOW: My problem is that DC1 is no longer recognized in my domain as a DC because I deleted it. I can't demote it because it says no DC can be contacted to perform the demotion. It appears that DC1 is not communicating with the other DC's. I am unable to remove it from the domain to a workgroup because it is a DC, and I can't demote the DC. I did try changing the name and restarting, thinking that my force info into the domain and then I could demote. No good. Still can't demote. No connection between sites in sites and services due to a possible DNS lookup error. The IP address of DC1 has changed because I brought it from another subnet.
This has now stumped me and I need some help. Thanks.
NOW: My problem is that DC1 is no longer recognized in my domain as a DC because I deleted it. I can't demote it because it says no DC can be contacted to perform the demotion. It appears that DC1 is not communicating with the other DC's. I am unable to remove it from the domain to a workgroup because it is a DC, and I can't demote the DC. I did try changing the name and restarting, thinking that my force info into the domain and then I could demote. No good. Still can't demote. No connection between sites in sites and services due to a possible DNS lookup error. The IP address of DC1 has changed because I brought it from another subnet.
This has now stumped me and I need some help. Thanks.
Last Comment
dave_it
If I were in your shoes, I would just wipe that server and rebuild with a new name. You're also going to need to perform a metadata cleanup on the old DC name on one of your remaining DCs. The lingering DC object could, and probably will, cause problems down the road if not cleaned up.
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Since you have other DCs, you should do like Dave says rebuild the broken DC. Run a "dcpromo /forceremoval" on it and clean the metadata.
http://www.petri.co.il/delete_failed_dcs_from_ad.htm
http://www.petri.co.il/delete_failed_dcs_from_ad.htm
ASKER
Bummer. Not what I hoped for. How do I do a metadata cleanup on the old DC name? Once that is done, can I then rebuild with the same name? I have enough people accessing this that it would be helpful if I could still name it DC1.
I should have just reinstalled the OS, but once I realized my OS restore worked I was happy that I would not have to go to all the extra work. HA! Silly me. It rarely works that way.
I should have just reinstalled the OS, but once I realized my OS restore worked I was happy that I would not have to go to all the extra work. HA! Silly me. It rarely works that way.
ASKER
@iSiek: I just read your post and I am on your blog. This looks promising!
You can reuse the old name, but you should check that there are no traces of it in DNS before promoting.
ASKER
Thank you so much! DC1 is now demoted and re-joined to the domain as a member server using the original name. I'll be keeping an eye on your blog for more valuable information.
You're welcome :) and thanks for visiting my blog
Krzysztof
Krzysztof
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 was based on Windows XP and was released in four editions: Web, Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter. It also had derivative versions for clusters, storage and Microsoft’s Small Business Server. Important upgrades included integrating Internet Information Services (IIS), improvements to Active Directory (AD) and Group Policy (GP), and the migration to Automated System Recovery (ASR).
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