Removing a DC

[Andrew Smith]

One of my Domain Controllers HD died last night. I'm going to rebuild the
server this afternoon with a new HD. Is there anything special I need to do
first? Like Removing the Server from the list of DC's? If so how do I do
this? Is there an article that describes this process?

I've been looking and haven't found anything yet.

Andrew

 

[Jimmy Andersson [MVP]]

Yep, you need to do a metadata cleanup and you also might need to use ADSI
Edit
or Ldp to delete the object. Don't forget to clean up the DNS.

See these KB articles:
Q216498 - How to remove data in the AD after an unsuccessful DC demotion:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q216/4/98.ASP

Deleting Objects from Active Directory Using Ldp.exe:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q244344

Domain Controller Server Object Not Removed After Demotion:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q216364

Error Deleting a Domain Controller Account in Active Directory Users and
Computers:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q247393

Regards,
/Jimmy

 

[Andrew Smith]

Thanks for the pointers, Question though:

I'm following Q216498, I've completed the first part in doing the metadata
cleanup. I'm trying to figure out how to do the ADSIEdit, it's telling me
to do. I've figured out the ADSIEdit is located in the Support\Tools
directory of the W2K Server CD. I've extracted the .msc and .dll. On my
server I loaded mmc from the command prompt and attempted to open the .msc
file. However I get the error:

Snap-In Failed to Initialize:
Name: - not available -
CLSID: { A Bunch of Chars I can type in if you really want }

Is this the correct way to use ADSIEdit if not how do I do it?

Thanks in Advance,

Andrew

 

[Andrew Smith]

Nevermind.

I figure out how to delete the object with LDP; Had to figure out the
proper DN for the Server.

Thanks for the help,

Andrew