Cant demote out of forest

[Guest]

I am trying to demote a DC (the last 1 in the child
domain) out so that I can rename and rebuild the DC to
have it's new location name. Currently there are only 8
users accounts on it so my rebuild wont take too long.
But when I run DCPROMO and fill in the creditials, I get
an error

The operation faile because:
The Directory Service failed to replicate off changes
made locally.
"The DSA object could not be found"

Any ideas on a side-step to this or is there a way to
replace the DSA object in the forest so that I can demote
the DC out?

Thanks,
Richard

 

[Dean Wells [MVP]]

I am trying to demote a DC (the last 1 in the child
domain) out so that I can rename and rebuild the DC to
have it's new location name. Currently there are only 8
users accounts on it so my rebuild wont take too long.
But when I run DCPROMO and fill in the creditials, I get
an error

The operation faile because:
The Directory Service failed to replicate off changes
made locally.
"The DSA object could not be found"

Any ideas on a side-step to this or is there a way to
replace the DSA object in the forest so that I can demote
the DC out?

Thanks,
Richard

If you're running Windows 2000 SP4 or Windows Server 2003, simply run
"dcpromo /forceremoval". If not, install Microsoft's Q332199 hotfix (or
SP4 ... a bit extreme though) on the Windows 2000 DC (it must be running
at least SP2) and restart it.

HTH

 

[Guest]

I found what your talking about just before reading your
post..KB Artical 332199.
The warning I read said I needed to be able to restart
into Direcory Services Restore Mode, otherwise I will not
be able to log into the computer after a forced demotion.
I'm @ my house working via TS. I didnt want to chance the
machine not restarting normally..Or is this warning just
a possiblity? Would you happen to know?

Thanks for your reply,
Richard

-----Original Message-----

I am trying to demote a DC (the last 1 in the child
domain) out so that I can rename and rebuild the DC to
have it's new location name. Currently there are only 8
users accounts on it so my rebuild wont take too long.
But when I run DCPROMO and fill in the creditials, I get
an error

The operation faile because:
The Directory Service failed to replicate off changes
made locally.
"The DSA object could not be found"

Any ideas on a side-step to this or is there a way to
replace the DSA object in the forest so that I can demote
the DC out?

Thanks,
Richard

If you're running Windows 2000 SP4 or Windows Server 2003, simply run
"dcpromo /forceremoval". If not, install Microsoft's Q332199 hotfix (or
SP4 ... a bit extreme though) on the Windows 2000 DC (it must be running
at least SP2) and restart it.

HTH

--
Dean Wells [MVP / Directory Services]
MSEtechnology
[[ Please respond to the Newsgroup only regarding posts ]]
R e m o v e t h e m a s k t o s e n d e m a i l


.

 

[Dean Wells [MVP]]

I found what your talking about just before reading your
post..KB Artical 332199.
The warning I read said I needed to be able to restart
into Direcory Services Restore Mode, otherwise I will not
be able to log into the computer after a forced demotion.
I'm @ my house working via TS. I didnt want to chance the
machine not restarting normally..Or is this warning just
a possiblity? Would you happen to know?

Thanks for your reply,
Richard

This is certainly "gutsy" via TS but most definately something I
(personally) would happily proceed with (that's not to say you should
.... the KB is accurate _enough_ though I'm fairly certain "DCPROMO
/forceremoval" requests the password anyway ... regardless, if you're
running 2000 SP2, login as an Admin. and run a Command Prompt (Start -->
Run --> CMD) and type "setpwd" ... IIRC, this legacy utility does NOT
confirm your new DS Restore Mode password so be sure you typed it
"c0rr3ctly" ... if not, post back with what you are running.

Now you know your SAM password which will be active if the
"forceremoval" succeeds!