Hello, If I deploy a Windows 2008 R2 read only DC now can I change it to a regular DC later? Thank you

Unfortunately, no. When you have RODC deployed and you want to transfer it to R/W Domain Controller, you need to decommission it first, and then repromote it as R/W DC. That's the only one way of doing that.Regards, Krzysztof ---- Visit my blog at http://kpytko.wordpress.com

Thank you for your reply. I guess the plan would be to put a Read Only DC in one of our Branch office, the questions brought up by management is if all other DC's fail would we be able to recover from our Read Only DC?

Hello, No. This could not be done. To deploy a RODC, you have to use at least one RWDC running 2008 OS or higher. I recommend using at least two RWDCs to minimize risks of losing your AD domain. More about RODCs: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=AE33A129-FF41-4BEC-B2B7-6DDCD4998828&displaylang=e&displaylang=en This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner 2010 / 2011 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 Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows 7, Configuring Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator Microsoft Certified Trainer

Ok, even though there would be a copy of AD database available you wouldn't be able to restore from it?

Ok, even though there would be a copy of AD database available you wouldn't be able to restore from it? No. It is a Read Only DC so you can not use it for reconstruction of an AD environment as it will never replicate to another RWDC. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner 2010 / 2011 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 Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows 7, Configuring Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator Microsoft Certified Trainer

Thank you for your help.