Reverse an Accidentally Created Disjoint Namespace

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

An administrator can configure a computer to be in a disjoint namespace accidentally in the either of the following ways:

• The local administrator can clear the Change primary DNS suffix policy setting when domain membership changes.

• On servers running Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008, a domain or enterprise administrator can add a Domain Name System (DNS) domain name to the Primary DNS Suffix policy setting on the DNS client. This policy setting overrides the Change primary DNS suffix when domain membership changes policy setting on DNS clients.

The following sections describe how to reverse a disjoint namespace that an administrator accidentally created.

Reverse a locally configured disjoint namespace

To reverse a disjoint namespace that an administrator created on a local computer running Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista, perform the following procedure.

Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, 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).

Reverse a locally configured disjoint namespace

1. Open the System Properties dialog box.

   • To open the System Properties dialog box in Windows 2000 or Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then press ENTER.

   • To open System Properties using Windows Vista, click Start. In Start Search type sysdm.cpl, and then press ENTER.

2. On the Computer Name tab, click Change, and then click More.

3. Verify that the value in Primary DNS suffix of this computer is the same as the Active Directory domain name.

4. Verify that the Change primary DNS suffix when domain membership changes check box is selected, and then click OK twice.

5. Click OK to confirm that the computer must be restarted, and then click Close.

6. When you are prompted to restart your computer, click Restart Now.

   If you choose to restart your computer later, any changes that you made will take effect at that time.

Reverse a disjoint namespace that was created using Group Policy

Domain controllers can use Group Policy to deploy a primary DNS suffix to computers that are members of the domain. On Windows Server 2003–based computers, the Group Policy object (GPO) path for the Primary DNS Suffix policy setting is Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Network\DNS Client. On Windows Server 2008–based computers, the GPO path for the Primary DNS Suffix policy setting is Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Network\DNS Client.

To reverse a disjoint namespace that an administrator created using Group Policy, remove or revise the GPO that implements the Primary DNS Suffix policy setting. To determine which policy settings are implemented, you can use the Group Policy Results tool (Gpresult.exe) from the DNS client. For more information about Gpresult, see article 321709 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=102289). You can use the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) to determine which GPO implements the policy. For more information, see Group Policy Management Console (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=105933).

Note

The Primary DNS Suffix policy setting does not apply to Windows 2000–based domain controllers. If you are running only Windows 2000–based domain controllers, you must modify the namespace of those computers manually. For more information, see Primary DNS Suffix (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=102283).