Delete a zone

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To delete a zone

Open DNS.
In the console tree, click the applicable zone.

Where?
- DNS/applicable DNS server/Forward Lookup Zones (or Reverse Lookup Zones)/applicable zone
On the Action menu, click Delete.
When asked to confirm that you want to delete the zone, click OK.

Caution

Deleting an Active Directory-integrated zone effectively deletes the zone and eliminates its use at all other DNS servers using the same directory store of zone data.

Notes

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group might be able to perform this procedure. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure.
To open DNS, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click DNS.
This procedure is most often used to delete a secondary copy of a zone, although it can also be used to delete a primary zone.
Deleting a standard primary zone is usually unnecessary, unless you are redesigning your DNS namespace and the zone is no longer needed or used. In most cases, you can change the zone type if you only want to modify the zone. For more information, see Related Topics.

Value	Description
dnscmd	Specifies the name of the command-line tool.
ServerName	Required. Specifies the DNS host name of the DNS server. You can also type the IP address of the DNS server. To specify the DNS server on the local computer, you can also type a period (.)
/ZoneDelete	Required. Specifies the command to delete the zone specified by ZoneName.
ZoneName	Required. Specifies the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the zone you are deleting.
/DsDel	Deletes a the zone from Active Directory.
/f	Performs the command without asking for confirmation. If you omit this parameter, you are prompted to confirm the deletion of the resource record.

Notes

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group might be able to perform this procedure. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure.
To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command prompt.
This procedure requires the Dnscmd Windows support tool. For information about installing Windows support tools, see Related Topics.
To view the complete syntax for this command, at a command prompt, type:

dnscmd /ZoneDelete /help

Format	Meaning
Italic	Information that the user must supply
Bold	Elements that the user must type exactly as shown
Ellipsis (...)	Parameter that can be repeated several times in a command line
Between brackets ([])	Optional items
Between braces ({}); choices separated by pipe (\|). Example: {even\|odd}	Set of choices from which the user must choose only one
`Courier font`	Code or program output

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