Forest with orphaned child domain issue

[colinmitton]

I have an issue with an orphaned domain!

I originally had a single domain / forest called:
companyname_domain
When I upgraded from NT4 to 2003 it became:
companyname_domain.local

Due to some issues with some hardware / software that did not like the underscore in the domain name when we updated to windows server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010 I requested from the supplier doing the work that they set up a new domain / forest called:
companyname.local

Sadly they created this domain inside of the current forest and set up trusts between the two domains. (inside the forest of companyname_domain.local).

Now I have everything (servers / users / PC's etc) on the domain of:
companyname.local

I only had one DC left in the old domain of companyname_domain.local which has been turned off for a few days to ensure nothing was relying on this server to work.

I decided to do a DCpromo to remove this last controller and with it the domain of companyname_domain.local as nothing was dependant on it. It would not allow this and cancelled the operation (sadly I did not make a note of the error).

On rebooting the server it failed and I could not get it working again! not a happy chap...

After looking around I decided to do a meta clean up using ADSIUTIL to remove the orphaned Domain controller then the Orphaned Domain its self. The removal of the DC went fine, I followed the MS procedures and it worked.

I ensured that the DC on the 'new' domain (companyname.local) had all the FSMO roles and was the time server for the domain. Also checked that everything was still working on the 'new' domain.

I then proceeded to remove the orphaned domain, which fails! I get the error:
DsRemoveDsDomainW error 0x2015(The directory service can perform the requested operation only on a leaf object.)

I googled the error and ran the suggested resolutions and still it does not allow me to remove this domain?

The forest still have the name of companyname_domain.local and I've tried to rename the forest root (to companyname.local) using rendom that has also failed!

I'm now running in circles... any ideas please

 

[kmcferrin]

Your issue is caused because companyname_domain.local is the root domain of the forest. You cannot remove it when you still have other domains in the forest. You'll probably have to go the route of migrating companyname.local to a new forest, then remove companyname.local from the old forest, then decomm the old forest.


________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Server Administrator
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
MCITP:Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2
Certified Quest vWorkspace Administrator

 

[colinmitton]

Yep, found out yesterday as I took the plunge and contacted Microsoft! not a happy chappy as I trusted other knowledge on this. Still it will teach me a lesson!

Yep in the process of planning my new forest / domain...