DC Lost Computer Account -very sad story

[irbk]

So, Yesterday our Schema master and Domain Naming Master, for what ever reason, lost it's computer account. It can no longer communicate with AD. This is a DC that can't connect to the domain. You do the math... Bad, bad, bad juju. I can't run a DCPromo to remove it from AD as a DC, so I can't take it cleanly off the domain, so I don't think I have any choice but to yank it off the network, format C:\ and start from scratch. I've managed to seize the roles of Schema Master and Domain Naming Master on a different DC and the network seems kind of stable at the moment. A friend of mine recommended using ADSIEdit to make sure all references are removed, but ADSIEdit doesn't have a search function, so unless I know for sure where to look, I may miss a reference. So the question is, 1) How do I remove it cleanly from the domain or 2)how do I make sure all references to this server, that I'm going to have to forcefully yank out of the domain get removed properly from AD?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ArizonaGeek]

You can run a force removal using NTDSUIL. Here are some instructions

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255504

also this

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/235416

Some more good links:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/189713-46-removing-existent-ntdsutil

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;216498&Product=win2000

Good luck!

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[irbk]

Thanks Rob. That's exctally what I ended up doing. Now I know I was on the right track.