Avatar of Jonathan Duane
Jonathan Duane
 asked on

upgrading Domain controller

Hi Guys,

This weekend i am upgrading my server from server2k3 to 2012 R2.

What is the best way to approach it, i am thinking

BACKUP old server 2k3 machine
Build new 2012 machine
Demote 2k3 machine as PDC
Promote 2012 as PDC
restore data from 2k3 machine to 2012

How do i restore all the active directory settings?
Windows OSActive DirectoryWindows Server 2003

Avatar of undefined
Last Comment
Radhakrishnan

8/22/2022 - Mon
SOLUTION
max_the_king

THIS SOLUTION ONLY AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS.
View this solution by signing up for a free trial.
Members can start a 7-Day free trial and enjoy unlimited access to the platform.
See Pricing Options
Start Free Trial
GET A PERSONALIZED SOLUTION
Ask your own question & get feedback from real experts
Find out why thousands trust the EE community with their toughest problems.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Radhakrishnan

THIS SOLUTION ONLY AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS.
View this solution by signing up for a free trial.
Members can start a 7-Day free trial and enjoy unlimited access to the platform.
See Pricing Options
Start Free Trial
GET A PERSONALIZED SOLUTION
Ask your own question & get feedback from real experts
Find out why thousands trust the EE community with their toughest problems.
Jonathan Duane

ASKER
is there an option to add as additional DC in 2012?
SOLUTION
Radhakrishnan

THIS SOLUTION ONLY AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS.
View this solution by signing up for a free trial.
Members can start a 7-Day free trial and enjoy unlimited access to the platform.
See Pricing Options
Start Free Trial
⚡ FREE TRIAL OFFER
Try out a week of full access for free.
Find out why thousands trust the EE community with their toughest problems.
Lee W, MVP

In my opinion, the advice offered will be lucky to work flawlessly.

If you've never done this before, you should be doing it with a testing environment first.

You should also be verifying the health of AD by running DCDIAG /C /E /V everytime you are about to add or remove a DC.  *IF* you want a successful migration.

I would strongly recommend you partner with someone with experience to get this done right or postpone it a few months to learn what to do properly yourself.
Jonathan Duane

ASKER
Hi Guys,

I have decided to install win2k8 instead on the new server, i have added to the domain about to run adprep and i get this error on the 2003 machine? i have copied the adprep folder to the win2k3 machine and tried to run it from command line ( i put it in a folder C:\active)

Adprep created the log file ADPrep.log under C:\WINDOWS\debug\adprep\logs\20171111131855 directory.



Adprep copied file C:\active\schema.ini from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\schupgrade.cat from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\PAS.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch32.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch33.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch34.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch35.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch36.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch37.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch38.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch39.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch40.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch41.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch42.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch43.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\sch44.ldf from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\system32. 



Adprep copied file C:\active\dcpromo.csv from installation point to local machine under directory C:\WINDOWS\debug\adprep\data. 



Adprep successfully made the LDAP connection to the local Active Directory Domain Controller VENUS.



Adprep was about to call the following LDAP API. ldap_search_s(). The base entry to start the search is (null).



LDAP API ldap_search_s() finished, return code is 0x0 



Adprep successfully retrieved information from the local Active Directory Domain Services.



Adprep successfully initialized global variables.

[Status/Consequence]

Adprep is continuing.





ADPREP WARNING: 



Before running adprep, all Windows 2000 Active Directory Domain Controllers in the forest should be upgraded to Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) or later. 



[User Action] 

If ALL your existing Windows 2000 Active Directory Domain Controllers meet this requirement, type C and then press ENTER to continue. Otherwise, type any other key and press ENTER to quit.



Adprep was unable to check the forest update status.

[Status/Consequence]

Adprep queries the directory to see if the forest has already been prepared. If the information is unavailable or unknown, Adprep proceeds without attempting this operation. 

[User Action] 

Restart Adprep and check the ADPrep.log file. Verify in the log file that this forest has already been successfully prepared.

Adprep encountered a Win32 error. 

Error code: 0x3a Error message: The specified server cannot perform the requested operation..

Open in new window

This is the best money I have ever spent. I cannot not tell you how many times these folks have saved my bacon. I learn so much from the contributors.
rwheeler23
Radhakrishnan

Hi
You need to run adprep /forestprep on the schema master, not PDC. If schema master is 32-bit DC, the run adprep32.exe for Windows Server 2008 R2 schema upgrade. I think adpep32.exe is in the support folder of the windows Server 2008 R2 installation disk. You can run netdom query fsmo to see which DC is schema master.