Moving DC Drive to new Computer

OK guys,

I am going to be upgrading my domain controller tonight - this is the ONLY
domain controller for this domain. I want to take the Hard Drive out of it -
and put it in a new computer (faster) and be able to power it on, not have
lost anything.

Possible? I know that its VERY picky when you move drives to another
computer w/ windows booting up and all - getting Blue Sceen of Death's and
things of that nature. I am currently running Windows Server 2003 with AD
installed on it..

Again, all I am doing is moving the drives (two in currently - 1 has AD and
windows installed on it and all apps - the second is a storage drive) to
another computer.

Thanks in advance
Mike

Get read for a disaster if you do it that way, especially without a good
image backup of the drive (like Norton Ghost).

The best thing to do is find a machine that you can temporarily put together
and load up as another DC in the same domain. Make it also a Global Catalog
Server. Make sure it has everything it needs to temporarily function as the
Domain's "one and only" DC.

Wait for replication to setting down. Maybe give it a couple hours to be
safe.

Now demote the original to a member server with DCPromo.exe, but *don't*
uninstall anything. Shutdown the WINS & DHCP Services and set them to
manual startup. You can leave DNS running.

Now move the drive to the new machine. If everything starts up properly and
everything seems stabile and clean, then you can promote it to a DC again
with DCPromo.exe. Make it a Global Catalog Server. Set WINS and DHCP back
to Automatic Startup and start them up.

Wait for replication to setting down *again*. Maybe give it a couple hours
to be safe *again*.

Now you can demote the Temporary DC to a Member Server first, and then move
it out of the Domain to a Workgroup machine second, then shut it down and
pull it out of the system.

Using this method, if the thing rolls over and dies when you move the drive
to new hardware, you can just reload it from scratch and any loss would be
mimimal, and your Active Directory would not be in any danger at all. If
you don't have the hardware for a Temp DC, the go borrow one from someone
for a couple days,..it's *that* important.


--

Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com


"Michael San Filippo" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> OK guys,
>
> I am going to be upgrading my domain controller tonight - this is the ONLY
> domain controller for this domain. I want to take the Hard Drive out of
it -
> and put it in a new computer (faster) and be able to power it on, not have
> lost anything.
>
> Possible? I know that its VERY picky when you move drives to another
> computer w/ windows booting up and all - getting Blue Sceen of Death's and
> things of that nature. I am currently running Windows Server 2003 with AD
> installed on it..
>
> Again, all I am doing is moving the drives (two in currently - 1 has AD
and
> windows installed on it and all apps - the second is a storage drive) to
> another computer.
>
> Thanks in advance
> Mike
>
>