standalone to BDC

[davidinherts]

So I've got this machine that just doesn't like Win2000 advanced server. So, I had a brilliant idea. Load NT4 server first and then do an upgrade. This took about a day...

So I loaded Win2000 AS and as I couldn't get it on the network first time around, I made the NT server a standalone and now I want to make it a BDC. Any ideas?

Many thanks

 

[MSperrin]

What happens when you run dcpromo?

 

[davidinherts]

Err, dcpromo ?

 

[MSperrin]

Sorry, I'm not quite clear on what OS you currently have installed on your Server.

DCpromo is the command to promote/demote a windows 2000 server to/from a Domain Controller.

If your Server is currently NT4 and is stand alone there is no way to make it into any kind of domain controller without a re-install. Sorry

 

[breader]

if you're going to upgade to 2000 you dont need to make your NT4 machine a BDC you cant do all that switching around through dcpromo later in 2000.

Also if your computer doesn't like 2000, you may consider flashing the BIOS. SO times a new BIOS will address certain issues.
The manufacturer may also have OS specific files available that you should load.

 

[NetAdmin2]

I think he already had loaded 4.0 initially. Is this correct David? If so, then you only option at this point, as earlier posted, is to re-install with 2000. Then you can do what ever you need to.

Nice post about the BIOS Breader. It will clear some issues.

 

[breader]

i was thinking that if he just upgraded to 2000 then he had switch from standalone to Doamin Controller at will using dcpromo. then there are no issues about making an NT4 BDC.

 

[jared71]

You specify PDC and BDC during install on NT4, I don't think there is a way to "promote" from a stand-alone server. You may run into issues if you try to rebuild NT4 as a BDC as I'm not aware of a way to have a NT4 BDC on AD win2k domain, but that may just be ignorance. Furthermore, if you try to build a NT4 PDC with the same "mixed mode" domain name as the AD domain, you may cause yourself a whole heap of trouble.

As Breader pointed out, if your issue is hardware related to the network, a bios upgrade 'may' help, or it could just be as simple as a flaky (a.k.a. bad) network adapter. Try a new one.

 

[davidinherts]

Hi Guys

I've opened up a right can of worms! I loaded NT4 Server and then upgraded it to server2000. It looks a lot better but the graphic card keeps falling over. It shows the modes that it can run and then fails to hold an image. It's an NVIDIA card.

Also, I was not using the active directory so I couldn't promote it to BDC. When I ran the Active directory and restarted the computer, the graphic card let me down again! which means I have to uninstall the driver, restart the machine, re-install the driver and have 256 colours at 400 x 640 or thereabouts. Bugger.

I hear tell that there is a file from Microsoft that cleans up the registry - do you think that this might fix it?

Thanks so far - there are probably loads of people who are benefiting from these posts!

David

 

[lunatiic]

It is possible to run a WIndows NT 4 Server as a BDC in a Windows 2000 Active Directory Domain.

I have set up my domain like this cause I know that in the future I will have to remove all of Active Directory (voices from above) and thats why I don't want to loose all accounts.

So, it is possible.

After you have uninstalled Active Directory you just promote your BDC to a PDC.. I hope at least