Windows 2003 Storage Server safe mode options?

[Venn10]

Hello everyone,

We recently purchased two Win2k3 storage servers at my company, one server is local and the other installed at a remote site. We proceeded to establish replication between both servers and discovered that in order to accomplish this, the schema master had to be updated.

Unfortunately, this (updating the schema master) was not an option in our environment, so we decided that a better solution might be to establish a new domain strictly for the storage servers. The plan was to convert one of these servers to a PDC for the new domain and implement replication via DFS.

The process began smoothly enough, DCPROMO completed as planned. I then proceeded to reboot the server after this was completed. At this point, I discovered that I was unable to log onto the domain. It dawned on me that during the DCPROMO process, the only password assigned was for the Directory Service Restore.

Long story short, I'm now unable to access the server. Attempts to access Directory Service Restore mode have been futile. Matter of fact, there's no F8 or similar option to access this menu during bootup. Also, I found that win2k3 storage server is unable to function as a domain controller. Wish I'd know this previously.

Anyhow, I don't wish to dwell on these issues or oversights. Going forward, what are my options short of rebuilding the server? The storage server was recently configured and I would like to avoid any rebuilds if at all possible. I figure there has to be a way to access the server in some type of "safe mode" (Directory Services Restore is esentally safe mode) and with some modifications to the registry be able to change the domain admin account password. Your thoughts, ideas?

I truly appreciate your excellent assistance as usual.

Thanks.

 

[pagy]

It dawned on me that during the DCPROMO process, the only password assigned was for the Directory Service Restore

It would have used the existing administrator password that was in place before you ran dcpromo, have you tried that password??

As storage server can't be used as a DC then why not use them as member servers in your existing domain for the role they are designed for??

Paul
MCSE 2003
MCSA 2003
MCITP Enterprise Administrator

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
Scott Adams

 

[Venn10]

Pagy,

Thanks for taking the time to respond. You know, I assumed the same regarding the existing admin password. This did not work when I tried previously, and I tried all manner of passwords, both old and new!

After numerous hours working on this issue and debating a rebuild with the recovery CD, I managed to actually access the F8 menu. You're literally provided with a 1 second window to depress this key or else it skips right to the Windows screen. What makes this even more confusing is that after the system POST is complete, you're presented with a set of options, F9, F10 and F12 (I previously tried all these options with no luck). The 1 second transition period between this screen and the windows screen is where you have to depress the F8 key. As I said, not immediately evident.

So, I attempted to change the domain admin password by accessing Directory Service Restore mode and installing 2 tools provided by Microsoft in their resource kit: SRVANY and INSTSRV. SRVANY can run any program as a service and this program will have system privileges (LSA) and gain full access to the system. Long story short, this did not work. My guess is that there have been additional changes made to further restrict this type of access on Win2k3 after Sp2. The above procedure was only confirmed pre-sp2.

The actual fix came about when I applied the Last Know Good Configuration option. This effectively reverted the system to its state prior to the DCPROMO process.

Definately a good learning experience!