Just I am trying to understand some AD concepts and when looked to find my AD database file, I couldn't see any folder named "Ntds" inside C:\Windows. Rather I could find the file "Ntds.DIT" inside C:\Windows\System32. I had a check in 2 environments and found the same.
Googled and found this post, but I know by default this database file gets created inside C:\Windows\Ntds\ folder. Then if it has not created such a file, then how AD works properly in those environments? Or is it some information that I am missing related to this?
FYI, Checked Windows 2003 R2 AD servers.
Best Answer
The location of
Ntds.ditis configurable during the process of promoting a domain controller; it doesn't need to be in the default location.To determine where the active file is located, check
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Parameters.