How to use LDP to remove a Domain Controller?

If you tried to use the Active Directory Users and Computers to delete the dead Domain Controller you will get the “The DSA object cannot be deleted” message.

Here are the instruction on how to use LDP.exe to remove a Windows Server 2000 Domain Controller from Active Directory.

To delete a Domain Controller with LDP.exe:

* LDP.exe is in the Windows 2000 Support Tools

1. Type LDP.exe in the Command Prompt
2. Once the LDP window pops up, Click on ‘Connection->Connect’ to connect to a working domain controller.
3. Click on ‘Connection->Bind’ from the menu to bind
4. Click on ‘View->Tree View’ to change the view. You will need to enter your domain name. E.g. “DC=testDomain,DC=com” <– testDomain.com without the quote
5. From the Tree View, find and expand ALL containers inside the dead domain controller.
6. Now, delete all of the folders inside the dead dc from the inside out starting with the inner folders.
7. From the Tree View, find the ‘Sites’ container inside the ‘Configuration’ container. Look for the Dead DC name and do the same by expanding all subfolders then delete them.
8. Disconnect from LDP and reconnect back to see if it works or not.

Remove AD Users and Computers records of the Dead DC:

1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers.
2. Go to ‘System->File Replication Service->Domain System Volume (sysvol)’ *you might need to turn on the ‘Advanced feature’ under the ‘view’ menu.
3. Delete the dead DC

Now, delete all entries of the dead dc from DNS.