Delete an Application Directory Partition

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

Delete an application directory partition

You can use Ldp.exe to delete an application directory partition from an existing Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) instance.

Membership in the Administrators group of the AD LDS instance is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local and Domain Default Groups (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).

To delete an application directory partition from an existing AD LDS instance

  1. Open Ldp.exe, and then connect and bind to an AD LDS instance. For more information about how to connect and bind to an AD LDS instance with Ldp.exe, see Manage an AD LDS Instance Using Ldp.exe.

  2. In the console tree, double-click the configuration directory partition CN=Configuration,CN={GUID}, where GUID is the globally unique identifier (GUID) that is assigned by AD LDS.

  3. To view the cross-reference objects for the directory partitions on your AD LDS instance, in the console tree, double-click the partitions container CN=Partitions.

  4. In the console tree, under the partitions container CN=Partitions, locate the cross-reference object of the application directory partition that you wish to delete.

  5. To delete this cross-reference object (and, therefore, the associated directory partition), right-click it in the console tree, click Delete, and then click OK.

Warning

You cannot undo a partition deletion after you click OK.

  1. After you delete the cross-reference object, output similar to the following appears in the details pane:

    ldap_delete_s(ld, "CN=56c5aea2-5cb1-450a-96f0-5622cd949791,CN=Partitions,CN=Configuration,CN={90BF4692-0FF5-4410-8835-DCBBEE6E08B1}");
Deleted "CN=56c5aea2-5cb1-450a-96f0-5622cd949791,CN=Partitions,CN=Configuration,CN={90BF4692-0FF5-4410-8835-DCBBEE6E08B1}"

  2. To refresh Ldp.exe and make sure that you successfully deleted your test directory partition, you must disconnect and then bind again to the AD LDS instance. On the Connection menu, click Disconnect.

  3. Bind to your AD LDS instance as you did previously.

  4. To view the directory tree in Ldp.exe, on the View menu, click Tree.

  5. To view all directory partitions on the AD LDS instance, leave BaseDN blank, and then click OK.

Warning

The only way to retrieve a deleted application directory partition is to restore the entire AD LDS instance from a backup copy that was made before the deletion of the partition. For more information, see Administering AD LDS Backup and Restore.