AD DS Installation and Removal Step-by-Step Guide

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

Active Directory® Domain Services (AD DS) is a server role of the Windows Server® 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems. AD DS provides a distributed directory service that you can use for centralized, secure management of your network.

This guide describes the installation and removal processes for the AD DS server role. You can use the procedures in this guide to install and remove AD DS on servers that are running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 in a test lab environment.

In this guide

• What's New in AD DS Installation and Removal

• Known Issues for Installing and Removing AD DS

• Scenarios for Installing AD DS

• Scenarios for Removing AD DS

• Requirements for Installing AD DS

• Steps for Installing AD DS

• Steps for Removing AD DS

• Appendix of Unattended Installation Parameters

• Appendix of Functional Level Features

• Windows Server 2008: Appendix of Changes to Adprep.exe to Support AD DS

• Windows Server 2008 R2: Appendix of Changes to Adprep.exe to Support AD DS

Publication and revision history

The following table summarizes the revision history for this guide, including its original publication on Microsoft TechNet.

Date	Revision
April 2006	Original publication on Technet
January 2009	This guide was amended to refer to Windows Server 2008 R2 in addition to Windows Server 2008. In Forcing the Removal of a Domain Controller, examples were added to show how to forcefully remove AD DS in an unattended operation. This operation may be required if you must forcefully remove AD DS from a Server Core installation of Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2.