How to Delete Failed ADCs from Active Directory i have 1 Domain Controller and have 2 Additional Domain Controllers (there is an exchange 2007 on one ADC) say server1 is my Domain Controller server2 is my ADC (Failed ADC) server 3 is my ADC and now Server2 has failed which is my ADC and now i want to install a new ADC with the same old server name. now i am on Server 1( this is my Domain Controller) ntdsutil: metadata cleanup metadata cleanup:connections server connections : connect to server server1 ( this is my Domain Controller is this step correct to connect to server1) server connections: q metadata cleanup: Select operation target select operation target: List servers in site (i can see my failed ADC ((2- server2)) select operation target: select server 2 select operation targets:q metadata cleanup: Remove selected server Is it required to perform the above following steps on my other ADC (server 3) or is it enough to run on my Domain Controller(server 1) Please Correct me if any mistakes are being made because i wanna do in production environment.

You don't need to run the procedure again on your DC3. You should also remove any DNS entries relating to DC2 as well as the server object from Active Directory Sites and Services. Do this before building your new DC with the same name.Tony

Yes you perform the activity on the working domain controller. Also before you do it make sure that the failed dc does not have any FSMO roles Here is a good article to follow http://www.petri.co.il/delete_failed_dcs_from_ad.htm

Hello, ADC means Active Directory Connector. First of all, running Exchange on a DC is not recommanded. Proceed like that: Run netdom query fsmo to determine holders of FSMO roles. If the DC to demote is holder of FSMO roles then isolate them and resize FSMO roles to another DC run dcpromo /forceremoval on the DC to demote (It will force its demotion) Perform a metadata cleanup (The easiest way to proceed is to run dsa.msc and delete the faulty DC account and then run dssite.msc and delete the faulty DC account) Delete all remaining DNS records of the old DC Promote again the old DC It is recommanded to transfer FSMO roles to the DC with higher OS. If you perform a metadata cleanup on a DC then it will be replicated to other DCs so it enough to run it on just one DC. You don't need to open two threads for the same problem: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverDS/thread/3e6148d9-6f29-4253-8553-53fd9af4f0ce This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuration