How to Remove Non Existent Microsoft Windows Domain Controller

Removing a Non Extent Microsoft Windows Domain Controllers

In this tutorial I will guide you through how to use ntdsutil to remove a non existent domain controller. As an example if you have a domain controller that has been powered off and disconnected from the network, you will be able to use this guide to remove it from your active directory.

In this lab, vmdc1.vmlab.local is my working domain controller and vmdc2.vmlab.local is the domain controller I wish to remove from active directory.

Using NTDSUTIL

1. Open a Command Prompt with Run as Administrator privileges.

2. Type in ntdsutil

3. metadata cleanup

4. connections

5. connect to server vmdc1

6. q

7. select operation target

8. list domains

9. select domain 0

10. list sites

11. select site 0

12. list servers in site

13. select server 1

14. q

15. remove selected server

16. A pop-up window asks if you are sure you want to remove the server object. Select Yes.

17. The last message is displayed that vmdc2 has been removed from domain controller vmdc1.

18. Open up Active Directory Sites and Services. Expand your site where the domain controller we just removed was residing. Right click on the removed Domain Controller and select delete.

19. If you open up Active Directory Users and Computers you can see that VMDC2 has been removed from the Domain Controllers OU.

20. Open up DNS Manager, right click on your forward lookup zone and select properties, select Name Servers tab and remove the non existent domain controller.

Disclaimer:
All the tutorials included on this site are performed in a lab environment to simulate a real world production scenario. As everything is done to provide the most accurate steps to date, we take no responsibility if you implement any of these steps in a production environment.