Removing Non-Existent Domain with Ntdsutil.exe Generates "DsRemoveDsDomainW Error..." Error Message

ID: Q235416

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

SYMPTOMS

When you remove a domain from the forest, the Dcpromo.exe tool is used to remove the domain. If this process does not work, then the Ntdsutil.exe tool is used to remove the domain metadata from the forest. Also, when you use the Ntdsutil.exe tool to remove a domain, you may receive the following error message:

DsRemoveDsDomainW error 0x20ab.

CAUSE

This problem can occur if, during the process of removing the domain, the trust relationship is broken before an administrator has a chance to properly remove the domain using the Ntdsutil.exe tool. This can occur if the trusted domain is removed before the trust relationship is deleted. If the trust relationship is "broken", the error message listed earlier in this article is generated.

RESOLUTION

To work around the problem, remove the following references in the Active Directory Database

CN=domain name$, DC=Users,DC

CN=domain name, CN=Partitions,CN=Configuration,DC

CN=domain name, CN=System,DC

where domain name is the name of the domain. Note that these entries can be removed with the Ldp.exe Snap-in or the Adsiedit MMC Snap-in.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kberrmsg kbtool
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb