Active Directory Forest Recovery - Invalidate the current RID pool

Use the following procedure to use Windows PowerShell to invalidate the current RID pool on a domain controller. Windows PowerShell is enabled by default on Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2008 R2, but not Windows Server 2008 where it must be installed by using Add Features. It can be downloaded to run on Windows Server 2003.

To verify the command completed successfully, check for event ID 16654 (source is Directory-Services-SAM) in the System log in Event Viewer in Windows Server 2012. Earlier versions of Windows don't log this event.

Note

After you invalidate the RID pool, you will receive an error when you first attempt to create security principal (user, computer, or group). The attempt to create an object triggers a request for a new RID pool. Retry of the operation succeeds because the new RID pool will be allocated.

Invalidate the current RID pool

  • Open an elevated Windows PowerShell session, run the following command and press ENTER:

    $Domain = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry
    $DomainSid = $Domain.objectSid
    $RootDSE = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry("LDAP://RootDSE")
    $RootDSE.UsePropertyCache = $false
    $RootDSE.Put("invalidateRidPool", $DomainSid.Value)
    $RootDSE.SetInfo()
    

Next steps