Raising functional level problem; service is busy

[Rydra]

I'm having a little trouble with raising the function level of my server.

 

I have 1 DC atm, 2nd one died over xmas, replacement has been bought and is running server2008r2.

 

Current DC/Forest is running in Windows 2000 native mode, and is a server 2003 box.

 

Old DC that died had no functions, all FSMO's are on the currently running DC. Old DC does not appear in ADUC, or in ADDT.

 

When I try to raise the functional level of the domain, it moans about the Domain service being busy.

 

The server is in use; there are users logged on/using it etc, I could disconnect it if this is what is stopping it from working.

 

There was some out of date records in the DNS, I have removed all references to it as a naming server, and removed all records i could find in the ip or name of the old server.

 

The replacement is not yet on the domain ( I did have it as a member for a bit, I've since removed it just in case I'd broken something.)

 

Anyone got any bright ideas?

 

If disconnecting the server and stopping people logging in will fix this then great! But I want to make sure before I disconnect everyone to do it.

 

Halp?

[Blue_Cookeh]

Did you manage to demote the failed DC properly? If not you might want to take a look at How to remove data in Active Directory after an unsuccessful domain controller demotion. Leaving 'stale' DC info in AD can cause problems, iirc just because you can't see an old DC in the GUI, doesn't mean that it's totally removed from the domain.

 

I also don't think disconnecting the rest of the network would help in this case, but I could be wrong.

[Michael]

I would agree that because the DC wasn't properly demoted, this may be the reason you're receiving these messages. This is why normally I demote an old DC, then demote it from the domain too, just to be sure no critical domain information is left over.

 

I presume also you've updated the schema on your existing DC to 47. You can check this in the registry:

 

HKEY_Local_Machine\system\CurrentControlSet\services\NTDS\Parameters

 

For your reference, Functional Levels always work to the oldest DC OS. So for example, if you have a domain with 2000 and 2003 servers, the Functional level can only be 2000 Mixed.

 

If you have 2003 and 2008 servers, the Functional level can only be 2003.

 

If all your servers are 2008 R2, then the Functional level can be 2008 R2.

Edited March 1, 2012 by Michael

[Rydra]

I'm doing a rolling roll-up of the servers, which is part of the process; New 2k8 server is in but not attached to the network yet, I'll gradually port over services to the new server, then eventually will decom the 2k3 server and rebuild into 2k8.

 

I'm looking through the link above about old data now, will see if that does the trick.

[Rydra]

Thanks @Blue_Cookeh; that link worked a treat, there was a metadata link to the old server still existing.

 

Functional level successfully raised, now I'm happy to hop my new 2k8 server onto the network and begin the process of transferring things! :