Rename a domain controller using Netdom

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

You can use this procedure to rename a domain controller by using the Netdom command-line tool.

The netdom command updates the service principal name (SPN) attributes in Active Directory for the computer account and registers Domain Name System (DNS) resource records for the new computer name. The SPN value of the computer account must be replicated to all domain controllers in the domain, and the DNS resource records for the new computer name must be distributed to all the authoritative DNS servers for the domain name. If the updates and registrations have not occurred prior to removal of the old computer name, some clients might be unable to locate this computer using the new name or the old name.

Administrative credentials

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Domain Admins group or the Enterprise Admins group.

To rename a domain controller using Netdom

  1. Open a Command Prompt.

  2. Type the following command to add the new domain controller name, and then press ENTER:

    netdom computername CurrentComputerName **/add:**NewComputerName

  3. Type the following command to designate the new name as the primary computer name, and then press ENTER:

    netdom computername CurrentComputerName **/makeprimary:**NewComputerName

    Term Definition

    CurrentComputerName

    The current, or primary, computer name or Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer that you are renaming.

    NewComputerName

    The new name for the computer. The NewComputerName must be a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). The primary DNS suffix that is specified in the FQDN for NewComputerName must be the same as the primary DNS suffix of CurrentComputerName, or it must match the DNS name of the Active Directory domain that is hosted by this domain controller, or it must be contained in the list of allowed DNS suffixes that is specified in the msDS-AllowedDNSSuffixes attribute of the domainDns object.

  4. Restart the computer.

  5. After the computer restarts, open a Command Prompt.

  6. Type the following command to remove the old domain controller name, and then press ENTER:

    netdom computername NewComputerName **/remove:**OldComputerName

    Term Definition

    NewComputerName

    The new FQDN that you added for the computer in step 2.

    OldComputerName

    The old FQDN of the renamed computer.

See Also

Concepts

Rename a domain controller using System Properties