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HOW TO: Move a workstation or member server between domains |
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You cannot move computer objects between domains using the Active Directory Users and Computers domain administration tool (snap-in). However, the netdom command line tool enables you to do just this. This article discusses the differences between netdom and movetree and explains how to move computer objects between domains using netdom.
Although you can use movetree.exe to move computer objects between domains, this does not disjoin the computer object from the source domain; a better way to do this is using the netdom.exe tool.
Note. Both movetree.exe and netdom.exe are part of the Windows Support Tools, located under the \Support folder on the Windows installation CDROM. The support tools are not installed by default; they require a separate installation.
The syntax to move a computer object from one domain to another (within the same forest) is as follows:
C:\>netdom move /d:sales paulsWkstn /ud:sales\administrator /pd:*
Where sales is the target domain, paulsWkstn is the computer object to move, and * is telling netdom to prompt for the sales\administrator account password.
Note. The actual password can be entered after /pd instead. This is simply a preferential choice (as it is not recommended to store clear text passwords in batch files and the like).
There is no mention of the source domain, as this command is moving the computer object from the current (source) domain to the target domain (sales.msresource.net).
Typing netdom move /? or netdom move /help outputs the following information:
C:\>netdom /?
The syntax of this command is: NETDOM HELP command
-or-
NETDOM command /help Commands available are:
NETDOM ADD NETDOM RESETPWD NETDOM RESET
NETDOM COMPUTERNAME NETDOM QUERY NETDOM TRUST
NETDOM HELP NETDOM REMOVE NETDOM VERIFY
NETDOM JOIN NETDOM MOVENT4BDC
NETDOM MOVE NETDOM RENAMECOMPUTER
NETDOM HELP SYNTAX explains how to read NET HELP syntax lines.
NETDOM HELP command | MORE displays Help one screen at a time. Note that
verbose output can be specified by including /VERBOSE with any of the above
netdom commands.
The command completed successfully. C:\>
For more information on netdom please refer to the Microsoft web site.
For more information on the Windows Support Tools, please refer to the following msresource.net article:
Document information
Author: Paul Williams
Written: 09-11-2004
Version: 2.0
Last updated: 02-08-2007
Last updated by: Paul Williams |
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