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I have a small network with a single domain controller, running Windows Server 2008 R2. All was going well until just now.

I had previously had a Windows Server 2003 DC. I demoted it to a workstation and promoted the new 2008 R2 to a DC successfully and used it like that for a couple weeks.

However, to completely migrate everything to the new server it had to get the name of the old server - 'SERVER'. I followed the instructions on http://www.petri.co.il/rename-windows-server-2008-domain-controllers.htm but after step two it told me "Active Directory Domain Services already contain a Computer Account or a Server Object with the specified name: SERVER (blah blah, remove them, account already exists)".

In my infinite wisdom, I decided to reboot the 2008 R2 box. Now I am getting all sorts of errors about not being able to contact the domain security controller. I've also noted that in adsiedit.msc that it lists the server in OU=Domain Controllers as "CN=OLDNAME".

I'm not really sure where to go from here. Unfortunately, I didn't expect this to blow up on me so I don't have a backup to just swap back to.

Edit:

Renaming the new server back to the original name with netdom said that it had failed because it couldn't contact the domain, but it had actually succeeded - the System control panel where it lists the computer name contained the message about needing to restart to get the new computer name. After a reboot, it is now working again (hooray, at least I'm not worse off than before).

I took a poke around in Active Directory Sites & Services and it seems the old server is still listed as an object. (It was not listed under Users & Computers with its old name). I'm going to delete it since there is currently no computer on the network with that name and re-try the renaming tutorial I linked from above.

Sam Cogan
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evilspoons
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  • Did you try renaming the server back? – Vick Vega Sep 06 '11 at 21:48
  • Yes; it tells me it cannot contact the domain controller and fails. – evilspoons Sep 06 '11 at 22:00
  • Did you verify that the new DC has all the FSMO roles? http://www.petri.co.il/seizing_fsmo_roles.htm – murisonc Sep 06 '11 at 22:21
  • netdom query fsmo returns the new server name for all roles without me having to do anything special now that the rename process actually succeeded. – evilspoons Sep 06 '11 at 22:37
  • Sounds like you answered you own question. Post the answser and mark it as answered after the timeout. You wont get rep from it but it will close the question. – murisonc Sep 07 '11 at 00:52
  • Thanks for the attention - I've fixed my problem. The steps I had to take have been edited into the original question, since I wasn't able to post an answer at the time. Hopefully this question helps someone else out in the future! – evilspoons Sep 08 '11 at 15:58

1 Answers1

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After renaming back (see above edit) and then deleting the lingering (old) SERVER object in Sites & Services, the instructions from the tutorial I originally tried to follow actually worked properly!

I then followed Microsoft's instructions here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794759(WS.10).aspx to correct the FRS names, as for some reason they don't rename themselves - there's a KB article on how it's a known bug in Server 2008 / 2008 R2, it simply does not attempt to rename those items.

Crisis averted!

Sam Cogan
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evilspoons
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