Removing a child domain that no longer exists
I was asked to remove a child domain at work today. Usually that wouldn’t be a problem but unfortunately the final DC had been wiped and not been dcpromo’d (Cleanly removed from the domain).
So I thought I’d document the process should anyone else find themselves in a similar situation. To do most of the below, you’ll need to be an Enterprise Admin.
- Remove all the DNS entries for the missing DCs and the child domain. Make sure you get the GUID entries too.
- Fire up ntdsutil and follow the below steps. When you select a server to connect to, connect to the operation master.
ntdsutil: metadata cleanup
metadata cleanup:
metadata cleanup: connections
server connections:
server connections: connect to server london.nwtraders.msft
Binding to london …
Connected to london using credentials of locally logged on user
server connections:
server connections: quit
metadata cleanup:
metadata cleanup: select operation target
select operation target:
select operation target: list domains
Found 2 domain(s)
0 - DC=nwtraders,DC=msft
1 - DC=child,DC=nwtraders,DC=msft
select operation target:
select operation target: select domain 1
No current site
Domain - DC=child,DC=nwtraders,DC=msft
No current server
No current Naming Context
select operation target:
select operation target: quit
metadata cleanup:
metadata cleanup: remove selected domain
Depending on the exact situation, you may get an error about needing to remove a server first (Sorry, I can’t recall the exact error). If you do, there’s an extra step you need to undertake first.
ntdsutil: metadata cleanup
metadata cleanup:
metadata cleanup: connections
server connections:
server connections: connect to server london.nwtraders.msft
Binding to london …
Connected to london using credentials of locally logged on user
server connections:
server connections: quit
metadata cleanup:
metadata cleanup: select operation target
select operation target:
select operation target: list sites
Found 1 site(s)
0 - CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=nwtraders,DC=msft
select operation target:
select operation target: select site
Site - CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=nwtraders,DC=msft
No current domain
No current server
No current Naming Context
select operation target:
select operation target: list servers in site
Found 1 server(s)
0 - CN=brisbane,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=nwtraders,DC=msft
select operation target: select server 0
Then repeat the first process to remove the server (remove selected server). - Open up Active Directory Sites And Services and remove any stranded servers.
