Removing AD

[grandpubah]

I have a domain controller I want to demote. My problem is that it no longer can communicate with the PDC and when I do a dcpromo and tell it to demote, it fails saying it can't contact the pdc. I tried to tell it that it was the last controller for the domain. It wouldn't buy it saying their were other domain controllers. Can somoone help me get this this to just uninstall AD?

Thanks,

Jon

 

[gbiello]

Some random thoughts:
Can the two machines ping each other?

If they are not on the same subnet, try doing this.

Are either of them running DNS? If the first one is, try pointing the one you want to demote to it as the primary DNS server.

The one time I had this problem "Client for Microsoft Networks" was not checked in Network Neighborhood properties. That was the problem.

hope something here helps,
-gbiello

 

[grandpubah]

Further clarification. The PDC of the domain is on its last leg. I already have a new domain configured on a new server. The server I want to demote is at a remote site. I just want to demote it and then promote it in the new domain. I don't want to waste a lot of effort trying to get the old master working again.

Jon

 

[CHESTNUTTR]

You may want to take a look a a utility called NTDSUTIL. It can be used to remove a dc from active directory on the PDC if a demote on a DC fails.(search Google.com for ntdsutil) I am guessing you will have to reload the operating system on the remote server before joining it to the new domain..prob the last thing you want to do at a remote site.

 

[grandpubah]

Okay, if anyone cares here is what worked. Chestnuttr was on target with ntdsutil. I used that utility to remove all servers but itself from AD on the orphaned server. ntdsutil is a pain to use but it does work. Once the server had all servers but itself removed from AD, I ran dcpromo. When prompted I checked last server in domain. dcpromo then happily removed AD. Please note, if you don't remove the references to other dc's first with the utility dcpromo will call you a liar when you say it is the last server in the domain.

After removing AD I moved the server to a new domain and promoted it back as a member controller. Worked like a champ.

Jon