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What Happens When You Release Your Domain Name from Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials

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[This post comes to us courtesy of Swapnil Rane and Charanjeet Singh from Commercial Technical Support]

If you wish to change the public domain name linked to the Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials server you have two options.

You can rerun the Access Anywhere Wizard from the HOME tab.

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Make sure “Skip Domain Name setup. I have already set up my domain name ” option is not checked.

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You can also rerun the Set Up Your Domain Name wizard from Setting.

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Either way you will get the following screen:

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From here you can either release or replace your current domain name.

Release the current domain name

    • If you are using a vanity domain address or a custom domain address (contoso.com) it will remove that address from Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials (RWA, etc.).
    • If you are using a Microsoft provided domain name (contoso.remotewebaccess.com) it will remove that address from Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and make that address available for other people to use. In other words, that domain name is no longer linked to your Microsoft ID. Be very careful choosing this option as you may want to keep your old domain.

Use another domain name

    • If you are using a vanity domain address or a custom domain address (contoso.com) it will remove that address from Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials (RWA, etc.) and automatically launch the domain wizard and let you start a new domain setup.
    • If you are using a Microsoft provided domain name (contoso.remotewebaccess.com) it will remove that address from Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials but it will retain the previous domain registered for your Microsoft ID, it will rather add another record under your Microsoft ID (currently every Microsoft ID can register at most 10 free domain names). This option will launch the domain wizard again and let you start a new domain setup.

In both cases, whether a domain is released or replaced, it will unbind the domain and certificate from IIS. The certificate will remain on the box and you will be able to go back to this certificate if required later.

The self-issued certificate will remain bound to IIS so that IIS can respond to the requests from local LAN using local CA trusted certificates. Therefore, if the client was connected to Windows Server Essentials by running client connector, this root certificate exists on the client computer and appears trusted.

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