Accidental deletion of Active Directory objects is a common occurrence for users of Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS). In Windows Server 2008 Active Directory domains, you could recover...

I was reminded of the infamous forward link 5171 today. We had quite a time figuring out all the circumstances in which people were getting this message with the following words "This condition may be caused by a DNS lookup problem" and then displayed...

Installing from Media is not new, but Windows Server 2008 does have a new way to create the "seed" media using a new ntdsutil ifm command. For a technet topic that explains the steps to create the media, see Installing AD DS from Media . You can see...

With the release of Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta, we are proud to announce the Active Directory Module for Window PowerShell. The Active Directory module is a command line scripting language that network administrators can use to manage their Active Directory...

We have published guidelines for planning and deploying read-only domain controllers (RODCs). There is a Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC) Branch Office Guide available on TechNet ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd734758(WS.10).aspx ) and...

When you want to virtualize a domain controller there are some things that you should not do. For example, you shouldn't make copies of vhds that belong to domain controllers and then start those vhds in virtual machines. Why? Well, you can cause replication...

The directions to do this are described in Creating a site link at ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc783909.aspx ). I am posting this entry because this is one of our more highly rated documents, but it is rarely seen. This posting is...

I've seen several posts on the new "authentication assurance" feature coming in Windows Server 2008 R2. The term we decided to go with is authentication mechanism assurance because it is actually the authentication mechanism that is assured. Authentication...

I know this one isn't about Active Directory, but every now and again, I feel the need to share something outside the little world of Active Directory. For example, a few days ago I received an update for a non-Microsoft program that is an add-on to Internet...

Here are two methods to enter Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) in Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2: From the Desktop use the graphical user interface (GUI) Msconfig tool. Click Start . In Start Search , type msconfig and then...

Did you know that there are certain pre-defined limits of Active Directory? For example, there is a maximum on the number of objects (users, groups, computers, organizational units, group policies, etc.) that can exist in Active Directory; specifically...