Correctly renaming a Domain Controller for a seamless easy migration
Renaming a domain controller using netdom so migrations are seamless to end users
This article is for you if…
- You have a Windows 2019 server (these steps are also applicable to 2016 and 2012 R2)
- You want to rename your domain controller
- You renamed your domain controller wrong and now you see DCDIAG errors and references to the old name
- You manually updated the File Replication Service entries in Active Directory.
- You renamed your Domain Controller via the System GUI
This article assumes that your have an existing DC to rename or a new DC installed you are wanting to move to, follow this guide to install the Server OS if not.
If don’t already have a domain in place then it might be best to head over to this guide which will guide you through setup of a new forest and domain.
If you are running in a none production environment and are following this guide for testing only you can download an evaluation copy of Server 2019 from Microsoft here.
Words of caution
If you rename your DC by renaming a Domain Controller in the normal way you would rename a computer (using the System > Rename this PC gui), you didn’t do it right and your metadata is likely irreversibly damaged.
However, I have seen success in this situation when multiple DC’s exist by demoting a re-promoting the DC. If only a single DC exists I would say its maybe a good idea to follow the below guide as it may get your out of the proverbial but probably not recommended and you may have to rely on backups.
We take no responsibility if you get this wrong. However, if you do have issues we are happy to respond to emails.
What will happen to clients using this DC?
During the renaming process the below services will be impacted but can be mitigated by having a second DC in place.
- DNS – any client that are using your server for DNS while the process is taking place will not be able to request DNS resolves. The lookup zones will be re-created during this process and may take time to regenerate.
- DHCP – If DHCP is installed on the server also this won’t be affect by the rename itself but will be during the server reboot which is a requirement.
- Any other services for example File Services, Print Management etc – The rename wont affect these directly but it will be affected during the reboot.
Command Generation tool
**NEW** – Try out our command generator to rename your Domain Controller here
Step 1: Getting ready.
Open a command prompt. (Windows key+r (run) + cmd)
Step 2: Adding an alternate computer name.
SYNTAX : netdom computername <currentDC FQDN> /add:<newDCName FQDN>
In the command prompt, type (minus quotes) “netdom computername wrongname.domain.local /add:server.domain.local“
This should return with “Added (NAME) as an alternate name for the computer. The command completed successfully.“
Step 3: Make the new name the primary.
SYNTAX: netdom computername <currentDC FQDN> /makeprimary:<newDCName FQDN>
Type netdom computername wrongname.domain.local /makeprimary:server.domain.local
IMPORTANT: This command will return successful, and warn you that you need to reboot immediately, as it may not authenticate logons (very important if only DC in forest)
Step 4: Reboot the server.
Pick your poison. I like “shutdown /r /t 0” in the cmd.
Step 5: Check new server name.
Go to system properties and confirm new computer name.
Step 6: Remove old hostname.
SYNTAX: netdom computername <newDCName FQDN> /remove:<oldDCName FQDN>
(remember, in a command prompt)
Type “netdom computername server.domain.local /remove:wrongname.domain.local“
Command should return successfully.
Step 7: Paranoia.
in cmd, run a “dcdiag” to make sure everything is AOK.
Step 8: Clean up.
If you use logon scripts, remember to update the UNC paths with the new server name.
For any further help in renaming a domain controller please contact us here
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles.
I’ll bookmark your blog and test once more here regularly.
I am somewhat sure I’ll be told many new stuff right here!
Best of luck for the next!
so when I try to run the command I get an error: Cannot create a file when that file already exist.
I am trying to rename a DC to have the name of an old DC that was demoted and removed from the network. The old DC is completely gone, properly demoted, verified it is no longer listed in sites and services. Not sure what else to check.
Hi,
Have you checked in DNS for any record of the server, also check AD to ensure the computer account has gone? If not try running a Meta Data clean-up to remove any lingering records of the old Domain Controller – Good article here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/deploy/ad-ds-metadata-cleanup
Thanks a lot, working great, i had a trust relationship established between two DC, that i removed the time to rename my new DC, then created the trust relationship back, i had no trouble except an error running DCDiag : the test failed for DFSREvent but i have only One DC so nothing to replicate to : for me its a false positive .
Excellent! Glad it worked for you Alexandre.
Great article!
My current environment has two DCs, replicating to one another. How can I rename the DC with your approach? What should I be concerned about? Any advice?
If the dcs are virtual I would standard snapshot both then you can go ahead and rename the required dc. Once done and you have checked replication and logins are all working remove the snapshots.
Great info here lad and a simple solution for a newbie like me. I wish to know it before messing with my test server computer name…
You;re welcome glad you found it helpful!
I took over my domain/network environment from a former Network Admin over a year ago. One of my 2 replicated DCs is called TEMP-DC-10 and I have been wanting to change it to match the naming scheme for the rest of the Hyper V servers on the domain. But I was afraid of all the unknowns that could happen from this. but now this gives me the confidence to do it. I’m going to give this a shot over the weekend.
Thanks for writing this up!
No worries. If your dc is virtual why not take a snapshot of both dc’s prior incase it messes up you can revert both.
Yeah, I plan to. Plus I have nightly Altaro VMBackups as well…
Perfect it’s always best to have a regression plan.
Hi,
I have AWS EC2 Win2019 Instance that acts as Domain Controller. By default it has got the AWS provisioned name.
I have removed the Instances from DC and followed the above steps . Now I am unable to login to it.
Any suggestions?
Question, If I want to keep the old server (2008) running as a secondary server and backup dns (until I replace it) but just change the name of it and then also renaming my new server with the old name will I have any issues ?
Personally I think you would be better following this guide, then promoting a new server for a secondary. Domain controllers can do weird things when old DCs exist, plus for this to work correctly there needs to be no record of the old one at all otherwise it will fail.
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Hey, glad this was helpful!