Server 2022 - Corrupt NTDS.dit

[Patrick]

I'm probably out of luck with this, but I've been asked to help out at a small primary that's had a bit of a disaster.

 

The server (single DC, VM) won't boot with a bluescreen of 0xc00002e2. That error points towards a corrupt NTDS.dit file. I've tried a few commands in esenutl and ntdsutil and getting no luck with doing a repair. Interestingly the log files are stored in another location which I'm not used to seeing. I'm trying to do a repair using esentutl tool but it seems to be hanging on the defrag ntds.dit part at 45%, although CPU usage is a 50% so maybe it's doing something? It's been at it for an hour though. There's no backups for the VM as it was configured incorrectly but their data drive (virtual disk) is backed up and intact. But the servers drive C isn't. No system state!

 

I'm thinking this a new domain build, but is there anything I can to make life easier? Anyway to export user accounts and group polices? Or is it toast and simply start again?

 

Any tips or help would be appreciated. A side note, school have authorised a proper backup solution to be put in place, but obviously that doesn't help me now.