Changing Domain name in windows 2000

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Hi

I have a windows 2000 server, The domain name has an underscore Admin_Office.local. Is it possible to change it as I am trying to add another domain controller but the underscore in the domain name will not allow me to.


Thanks

Sekonda

 

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Changing the Domain name in Windows 2000 is not supported. You will have to start again i.e. demote the domain controller using DCPROMO and promote it again. Of course, if this is a production environment and you have users as members of this domain you are in trouble. If it is a home lab then I suppose there is no great concern.

Remember that if you blow away a domain, the client machines will still be able to log in using cached credentials but sooner or later you will have to join them to the new domain and you will have issues with profiles and identities which will take some effort to resolve.

The Microsoft best practices state that careful planning should be used before creating the first domain in the forest, naming strategies are really important.

Pete

 

As you don't mention if this is a live or test enviroment I'll just offer a couple of possible solutions which you might want to consider.


As Windows originally allowed you to create a domain with the underscore in the domain name, It might be worth trying promoting your second server after adding (possibly removing) service packs because the allowable rules for domain names might have changed between revisions of Windows.

Also I understand that 2003 Server allows you to change alot more after installation so if this is a live network and you have plans to upgrade to 2003 it might be worthwile restructuring what order tasks are completed in.

You might want to check other services to see if they are set up to allow use of more liberal naming schemes, DNS being one that comes to mind.