asked on

Force domain controller removal

Hi I need help doing a forced removal of a domain controller. the machine has been offline for about a year and a half. I never thought to demote it before taking it off line. now i need it as a member server to rescue a dying file server.

Please help.

thank you

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Mike Kline

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

Cliff Galiher

If it has already been off for a year and a half AND it is being repurposed, don't bother with the forced removal. Delete the machine account from AD and do a metadata cleanup. Then (separately) just reformat the drives and install the OS fresh. Nee name and all. Join it to the domain as if it were a new fileserver.

No reason to force removal, as that would still require metadata cleanup. And complicates getting the machine account password resynced, etc to use it as a member server. Unnecessarily complex.

KenBlessing

ASKER

Question
i don't want the computer connected to the network, correct?

KenBlessing

ASKER

Reinstalling could be an issue as i am not sure of the proper license key number, when the machine was shipped back from the old location they messed up the files and I can’t locate a definite license key.

I have the one i got out of the machine by running belarc advisor.

I wanted to try and demote it and see if that worked, if not then i will try the reinstall and the license key from belarc. If that dosnt work im out of a job and it wont matter.

Cliff Galiher

If you don't have a valid license on paper with the key, I can't recommend either approach. Microsoft does issue license audits (with increasing regularity) and not having legitimate proof of license is a great way to not only lose your job, but to get sued for piracy as well. And yes, companies can recoup costs from IT staff that knowingly installed software without a license, which you basically put in print with the comment above.

KenBlessing

ASKER

thanks cliff your a big help right now.

KenBlessing

ASKER

Thanks mike your Blog really help and it looks like the forced removal has worked very nicely.

Cliff Galiher

Keep in mind that EE has policies about complying with licensing. So sometimes the best advice is "don't" even if you don't find it useful. And, beyond that. I genuinely don't know if you are aware that MS is auditing licenses very heavily these days. Sharing that, no matter how much it disappoints you, is usually relevant and often an IT person just needs that little but of a reality check to help them realize they are on a bad path.

But hey, your sarcasm is duly noted and I'll remember hour username for future questions.