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I have an old Server 2003 domain, and need to install a new server and move all to it. As far as I tried, there i no way to add a new domain controller to 2003 level domain (2008 or higher, only).

The new 2019 server added without issue to old domain, but as it seems there will be no transfer of users and roles to new server.

There is only about 20 users, so I can recreate them, but I am not sure about user's profiles on their local workstations.

My current idea is to:

  1. disjoin the new server from domain
  2. recreate a new old domain
  3. unjoin users from one domain to the new one

Presumption is that if I use the same username that the old local profile will be pulled in that case?

Any suggestions welcome, I have to start solving this issue his week.

mrmut
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1 Answers1

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The easiest method is to use a in-between OS and do a first step migration, 2003 -> 2008R2, and after to 2019.

Don't forget when you buy a operating system you have downright right, so yes it's possible to execute what you are looking for with what you have in hands.

nb; Your method is a good plan if it's a small domain/shop without Exchange, SQL or any advanced setup as you will break all your security sid by dooing so.

yagmoth555
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  • I think the solution you suggest is best, with intermediary OS. I presume I would need first to migrate the 2003 DC domain role to 2008, raise functionality level to 2008 level, turn off old server, then add 2019 server and migrate DC to it and raise domain functionality level 2016 (max), and then turn off 2008 VM? – mrmut Oct 30 '19 at 19:07
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    @mrmut Yes, and the only pre-req step you will have to do in the 2008R2 to be ready for 2019 is to migrate the FRS to DFS for the SYSVOL volume. It's kinda easy to do, but just to mention it – yagmoth555 Oct 30 '19 at 19:08
  • Thanks. I would probably come to that myself later when I would got stuck. My current thinking was more in line of creating a new domain in parallel. I have a small number of users, the file server is a dumb NAS, and no resources other than DNS and user/domain management are located on 2003. So the idea is to transfer user by user, and migrate the user interface. That way I won't carry junk from old 2003 installation over, and would have a clean state (I was not who built a system in the first place, and it is generally poorly done.). – mrmut Oct 30 '19 at 20:22
  • @mrmut It's your call, but the first option will make it transparant to the user, you will never touch their computers, while the second you will have to do profile migration and such. – yagmoth555 Oct 30 '19 at 20:27
  • Thanks. I will give this a serious thought. – mrmut Oct 30 '19 at 20:46
  • As an update, I did it doing this step update and it worked fine. – mrmut Nov 14 '20 at 09:15