[ActiveDir] Anyone do anything this stupid and recover?

[Arnold Arce]

Ok, here’s my scenario.  In the process of rebuilding a domain because of misconfiguration by a previous vendor, we decided that we’d just replace the server completely with a newer server.   The old server’s AD domain was company.com, and running Windows 2000 Server.  However, it’s not a registered domain, and this company doesn’t have an internet presence.  So I went ahead and built a new server using Windows 2003 Server.  I did this at our office before delivering the server and completing the migration.   So in building the server, I named the AD domain company.local.  Seemed logical enough, right?  So, come delivery day, I install the server and connect it into the existing network.   I start copying data from one server to the other.   I started joining workstations to the new domain, etc.  All seemed well until I tried setting a group policy.  I’m sure some of you are already shaking your heads knowing what happens next.   Apparenly, company.com and company.local can be two different domain, but in mixed mode AD, their NetBIOS domain names are just company.  So nonetheless, I now have a new server yielding it’s PDC function to the old server that doesn’t even recognize being the PDC of the new domain.   I tried to change AD to Native mode, but it won’t let me because it can’t contact the PDC.    My general question is:  Can this be fixed w/o rebuilding the server?  I’m assuming that it won’t let me remove AD w/o a PDC, but I haven’t tried that.  Can I rename the new domain at least and separate them that way?  If I have to rename it company-1.local, I can live with that.    Any help would greatly be appreciated.   I’ve learned my lesson.   Never install a new server into an existing environment on only two hours sleep.