Ungracefully demote a 2008 R2 domain controller

One of our domain controllers crashed harder than the NYSE. Couldn’t decommission it, so I had to manually demote it.

1. Open the Command Prompt
2. Type “ntdsutil” (all the commands will be entered via this command prompt)
3. Type “metadata cleanup”
4. Type “connections”
5. Type “connect to server ” and replace with the name of a functional DC in your environment…even if you are logged in locally. This step is not needed post W2K3 SP1.
6. Type “quit”
7. Type “select operation target”
8. Type “list sites”
9. Type “select site <#>” where <#> is the site where the failed or offline DC resided
10. Type “list servers in site”
11. Type “select server <#>” where <#> is the DC that is failed or offline
12. Type “list domains”
13. Type “select domain <#>” where <#> is the domain where the failed or offline DC resided (at this point you should verify that the site, server and domain are all selected)
14. Type “quit” (this should set you back to the metadata cleanup menu)
15. Type “remove selected server” ( a warning message will pop up…verify that this is the correct DC.)
16. Click Yes
17. Open Active Directory Sites and Services
18. Expand out the site that the failed or offline DC resided in
19. Verify the DC cannot be expanded out (no connection objects and such)
20. Right Click the DC and select Delete
21. Close Active Directory Sites and Services
22. Open Active Directory Users and Computers
23. Expand the Domain Controllers OU
24. Delete the failed or offline DC from the OU (if it even exists)
25. Close Active Directory Users and Computers
26. Open DNS Manager
27. Expand the zones where this DC was also a DNS server and perform the following steps
28. Right click the zone and select Properties
29. Click the Name Servers tab
30. Remove the failed or offline DC from the Name Servers tab
31. Click OK to also remove the HOST (A) or Pointer (PTR) record if asked
32. Verify the zone no longer has a DNS record for the failed or offline DC
And that’s it. Once you’re to this point, you can start reinstalling your OS on your server, and go through the domain controller process again.

If the issue is still not fixed, it can be a very critical problem with your computer affecting your personal data and the Windows Operating System. You will have to chat with our Experts or you can check with your local technician to get the problems fixed with very high priority.