Decommission a WINS server

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 8 Beta

To decommission a WINS server

  1. Before decommissioning a WINS server, make sure that any computers previously configured to be WINS clients of this server are reconfigured to point to other servers as their primary or secondary WINS servers. Reconfiguration is necessary only if these clients are to continue using WINS to register and resolve network names.

  2. Open WINS.

  3. In the console tree, click Active Registrations.

    Where?

    • WINS/applicable WINS server/Active Registrations

  4. On the Action menu, click Delete Owner.

  5. In Delete Owner, in Delete this owner, click the IP address for the WINS server you want to decommission.

    If the WINS server is not running locally on this computer, it might take awhile to load the records for the selected server.

  6. In Use this operation to delete the selected owner and its records, click Replicate deletion to other WINS servers (tombstone), and then click OK.

    When prompted to confirm tombstoning, click Yes.

  7. In the console tree, click Replication Partners.

  8. On the Action menu, click Replicate Now.

  9. Once you have verified that records tombstoned in step 6 have been replicated to other partner servers, stop and remove WINS on the decommissioned server.

Notes

  • To open WINS, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click WINS.

  • If the WINS server you want to decommission does not appear in the console tree, you can add it. For more information, see Related Topics.

  • Tombstoning ensures that the WINS servers that are replication partners with the decommissioned WINS server are updated properly so that they delete the records. If tombstone status is not properly replicated, you can manually delete the records at each WINS server on which tombstone replication failed.

  • WINS supports remote record deletion for servers running Windows NT Server 4.0, if updated to Service Pack 4 (SP4) or later.

Information about functional differences

  • Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings. For more information, see Viewing Help on the Web.

See Also

Concepts

Working with MMC console files
View WINS server statistics
Add a WINS server to the console
Remove a WINS server from the console
Remove or uninstall WINS