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Changing Domains

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by drummergod12

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I currently have a Windows 2000 domain controller and a small 10 user network. all clients are running windows 2000 pro. i need to change the domain name because the person who planned the network did a poor job and we are having conflicts. Is therea way i can change the domain name with out demoting it to a member server, then promoting it back to a DC. I am trying to do this so i do not have to re-create all the users and such again.

3 replies

by ins413

There is one way and only one way. The only way that this can be done is if the domain were in mixed mode with a BDC present (SP6a included). I am assuming that the domain is in native mode since all pc's and DC are W2K. You would have to force synchronization from the BDC to the domain controller and physically remove the W2K DC from the network. Promote the BDC to PDC and then upgrade the PDC to a W2K DC. Demote the old W2K DC and then reinstall on network as a member server. Next, promote the W2K member server to DC status and transfer FSMO roles before removing upgraded BDC. This only works if the domain is in mixed mode. Keep in mind the the domain Netbios name will have to remain the same althought the FQDN can change. In other words:
Current domain name = MyDomain.local
can be changed to:
MyDomain.com. I have been in this situation before due to proper planning and it was no fun. Hope this helps.

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