I'm currently in the process of retiring an old Windows Server 2000 box from a client's network. The server has been rebooting spontaneously for about a month, and is generally old, so they wanted a new server. I've managed to move out all the stuff that was on it, now only the Domain Controller role remains.
However, I'm unable to demote the DC because of an error.
When I do
dcpromo /demote
the process runs up 'till a point where LSASS.exe suddenly crashes with an "exception 128" and I'm offered a chance to debug (server has VS2005 :)) – only as we all know from the days of the Sasser-worm, when LSASS.exe crashes, it restarts the computer after a minute!
Add the extreeeeemly slow general operation of the server, and you need a large bucket of patience to keep going..
I also tried
dcpromo /forceremoval
with the same result as above.
I tried a couple of suggestions I found online:
- Memory is failing, remove RAM bank by bank. (did that, same result)
- KB MS has fixed this in Service Pack 4 (it's already installed, but I guess I could reinstall it..)
I'm tempted to just turn the server off and then do a metadata cleanup from one of the other DC's. That would be like giving up, and I don't like that. 🙂
So anyone seen this and maybe fixed it?
Best Answer
The worst case solution would be to simply give up, and manually remove the computer from the domain as if it has failed. It really isn't worth trying to debug.