[ronwolff2001]

I have a Winnt 4.0 domain server that is used only for authentification, file and printer services, (no application services). I want to upgrade to Windows 2003 Active Directory. I have purchased new server hardware with Win 2003 server (std edition). I do not have a backup server for either the Winnt PDC or 2003 servers. How can I move my domain from the Winnt PDC to Win2003 server? The info I read on Microsoft's site seem to all pertain to upgrading the existing Winnt PDC to 2003, but I do not want to loose my NT PDC, incase something should go wrong. Is there some way to move the NT PDC enviroment to the 2003 server?

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i'll give you the short answer. build up the win2k3 server as a bdc. once its synced the data you can use dcpromo to promote it to a full domain controller and then you can demote the old nt via the same method. Now if you want to use active directory then you are better off architecting a fresh domain controller.

The theory is sound, I have done this with nt4 to new nt4 controllers but never nt to 2k3. Maybe a tad oversimplified, but it should get you started in the right direction.

starjax

[starjax]

i'll give you the short answer. build up the win2k3 server as a bdc. once its synced the data you can use dcpromo to promote it to a full domain controller and then you can demote the old nt via the same method. Now if you want to use active directory then you are better off architecting a fresh domain controller.

The theory is sound, I have done this with nt4 to new nt4 controllers but never nt to 2k3. Maybe a tad oversimplified, but it should get you started in the right direction.

starjax

[ronwolff2001]

I tried that first. I tried to install the Win03 server as a non-primary server, but got an error saying it could not find the domain name on the dns servers. The PDC is not running dns, only WINS. I tried to run dns manager on the PDC, but it gives me an "Error. The RPC server is unavailable". I checked services and RPC Locator and Server are running. Any way around this? Thanks for your help.