Microsoft KB Archive/235416

= Removing non-existent domain with Ntdsutil.exe generates "DsRemoveDsDomainW Error..." error message =

Article ID: 235416

Article Last Modified on 2/27/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

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This article was previously published under Q235416



SYMPTOMS
When you remove a domain from the forest, the Dcpromo.exe tool is used to remove the domain. If this process does not work, then the Ntdsutil.exe tool is used to remove the domain metadata from the forest. Also, when you use the Ntdsutil.exe tool to remove a domain, you may receive the following error message:

DsRemoveDsDomainW error 0x20ab.



CAUSE
This problem can occur if, during the process of removing the domain, the trust relationship is broken before an administrator has a chance to properly remove the domain using the Ntdsutil.exe tool. This can occur if the trusted domain is removed before the trust relationship is deleted. If the trust relationship is "broken," the error message listed earlier in this article is generated.



RESOLUTION
To work around the problem, remove the following references in the Active Directory Database, where  is the name of the domain that you removed:
 * DC= ,DC=com,CN=Users > CN= $
 * DC= ,DC=com,CN=System > CN= . .com (trustedDomain)
 * CN=Configuration, ,DC=com,CN=Partitions > CN=

Note that these entries can be removed by using Ldp.exe or Adsiedit. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

887424 "DsRemoveDsDomainW error 0x2015" error message when you use Ntdsutil to try to remove metadata for a domain controller that was removed from your network in Windows Server 2003



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

Keywords: kberrmsg kbprb KB235416

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