Forcing a demotion of a domain controller – server core

Hi

I recently installed a 2nd DC on my network and then, due to naming issues, I had to demote it, in order to rename it.

It wouldn’t demote, using the instructions posted on an earlier blog

So it had to be forced

The syntax for running dcpromo, on a server core machine, to force demotion is

CODE

dcpromo /unattend /forceremoval /demotefsmo:yes /username:<domain admin> /userdomain:<domain> /password:<DA password> /administratorpassword:<local admin password>

So open up a command prompt and run the dcpromo command with the relevant switches.

e.g

dcpromo /unattend /forceremoval /demotefsmo:yes /username:administrator /userdomain:BR /password:BongoBongo/administratorpassword:BungoBungo

and voila the server removed AD and shutdown.

In my case, I then renamed the server, rebooted it and promoted it again using the instructions detailed here

Hope this helps

JK