3.5. Troubleshooting Domain Controller Promotion or Demotion Problems
Problem
You are having problems promoting or demoting a domain controller and you want to troubleshoot it.
Solution
The best source of information about the status of promotion or
demotion problems is the Dcpromo.log and Dcpromoui.log files contained in the
%SystemRoot%\Debug folder on the
server. The Dcpromo.log captures
the input entered during dcpromo
and logs the
information that is displayed as dcpromo
progresses. The Dcpromoui.log
file is much more detailed and captures discrete actions that occur
during dcpromo
processing, including any user
input.
Additionally, the Windows Server 2003 version of
dcdiag
contains two new tests that can aid in
troubleshooting promotion problems. The dcpromo
test reports anything it finds that could impede the promotion
process. The RegisterInDNS
test checks if the
server can register records in DNS. Here is an example of running
both commands to test against the rallencorp.com domain:
> dcdiag /test:dcpromo /DnsDomain:rallencorp.com /ReplicaDC /test:RegisterInDNS
Discussion
In most cases, the level of detail provided by Dcpromoui.log should be sufficient to
pinpoint any problems, but you can increase logging if necessary. To
enable the highest level of logging available, set the following
registry value to FF0003:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AdminDebug. You can
confirm that this mask took effect by running
dcpromo
again, checking the Dcpromoui.log, and searching ...
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