somebody told me it's possible to rename a windows 2008 domain controller without having to demote it first. can anyone confirm this?

Hi Ziggy.

Yes, this is possible as long as it isn't a Certificate Authority. There is a good guide here that explains how to do it using the netdom command: http://stuartconey.com/wp/?p=586

Dave

This document outlines the steps required to recover a Windows 2000 server or domain controller. Please Note: the steps vary if the server is a member server, a primary domain controller or a secondary domain controller.

It is assumed the server has failed completely (hardware failure, disk corruption, etc). At this point you have three options:

The quickest way to rebuild a server is from a PowerQuest server image or Deploy Center version 5.0 or newer. Then restore from Legato Networker backups. (covered here in parts 1,2 and 3) NOTE: Intel P4 systems seem to need a different image build than PIII’s
Alternatively the W2K Server CD can be used and Legato Networker installed to restore the previous image. (may be necessary if the hardware has changed and is not supported by the Powerquest Server image. (same as above but first part not covered here)
Build again from scratch and rejoin the domain manually. This may require domain or Active Directory cleanup to any old references of the server name and it’s services. (covered here in parts 1 and 3)
Recovering the server hardware is not covered by this document. See the document called Partial Active Directory Restores and Repair for additional information.

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