What happened to my Windows 2003 server?

[scottjf8]

(TCF X-post, lots of good Windows guys here)

I've got a Win2k3 server running in a VM (VMware Server 2.0.)

It's my only server - it's my Domain Controller/Global Catalog, etc...

All of a sudden, I see this when booting:

http://idisk.me.com/scottjf8/Public/Pictures/Skitch/Emachine-20090316-160926.jpg

It looks like something is wrong with AD, causing Netlogon to break. When I go to Active Dir U&C, I get

http://idisk.me.com/scottjf8/Public/Pictures/Skitch/Emachine-20090316-161036.jpg

I even tried to run dcpromo to demote, then re-create/repromote this DC, and I get

http://idisk.me.com/scottjf8/Public/Pictures/Skitch/Emachine-20090316-161246.jpg

Any way to fix this machine without just reformatting and reloading? I really want to avoid that if at all possible.

Thanks

[Snowman]

How long has the machine been off? 30 days? There are no other Windows machines? I'm concerned that the time server could be an issue (vmware is good about losing time).

[Snowman]

Oh, and since DNS is your issue, you'd need to uninstall the DNS server role. That should hopefully, allow you to dcpromo it down.

[Snowman]

And finally..
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322267

Naturally, yes, I could have gone back and edited, but I'm a post whore.

[scottjf8]

Snowie - I think DNS is the culprit here.. the machine wasn't ever off.. it was working fine.

I suspect it was because of a windows update.

How do I kill DNS? I've started building a new VM instance (luckily someone at my work has built the image with Windows, so I just need to bring up a new server instance, and reconfigure my AD, which might be just as easy.)

Then I'm gonna back it up :D

[Snowman]

Check your network settings and ensure that you still have Client for Microsoft Networks checked. Also, you didn't turn off DHCP client, did you? It's required for DDNS to work properly. It's possible your SRV record disappeared.

[scottjf8]

Wow, somehow when I was moving this VM from one server to my new one, I kept a backup of the VM. Just untar'd it, put it in a different directory, and booted, and it works 100%.

I fucking love VMware.

[Snowman]

I fucking hate you. I wanted to FIX this, not wuss out and restore.

BTW, dnslint is a great util for troubleshooting such issues. I don't recall if it's in the 2003 server distro or a downloadable util, but it does lots and lots of checks.

Oh, and tarballs are for people who can't understand how to use winzip :)

[keirgrey]

Tarballs come from a real OS, though. ;)

[scottjf8]

Tarballs come from a real OS, though. ;)

My "host" OS on my VMware server is Ubuntu.

I can keep my card, right?

[Snowman]

Tarballs come from a real OS, though. ;)

Yeah, but this is Windows he was working with. Windows ain't like Linux. With Linux, you expect it to break and just nuke/re-pave regularly. With Windows, you install it once and it never breaks. I believe the issue here is that the Linux kernel panic'd when it saw a real OS installed and tried to sabotage it. Being a Linux guy, Scott didn't realize that Windows doesn't ever have to be re-installed the way Linux does.

Kool Aid... Fool aid :)

[keirgrey]

I was talking about Unix.

[scottjf8]

Yeah, but this is Windows he was working with. Windows ain't like Linux. With Linux, you expect it to break and just nuke/re-pave regularly. With Windows, you install it once and it never breaks.

Dude, you never fail to make me laugh.