How to completely remove an orphaned child domain without its DC

Question

Ok, I know you are all going to say this has been visited and yes, I have seen the solution:

Specific steps are as follows:

1. Open command prompt on the parent domain controller and enter ntdsutil;
2. Enter metadata cleanup;
3. Enter connections;
4. Enter connect to server <Parent Domain Controller FQDN>;
5. Enter quit;
6. Enter select operation target;
7. Enter list sites;
8. Enter select site <Site Number>;
9. Enter list domains in site;
10. Enter select domain <Child Domain Number>;
11. Enter list servers for domain in site;
12. Enter select server <Child Domain Controller Number>;
13. Enter quit;
14. Enter remove selected server;
15. If you have multiple child domain controllers in your child domain, you need to run the above commands again until there is no more child domain controllers in your organization.
16. After metadata cleanup, you can go to Active Directory Sites and Services and delete the servers that you’ve cleaned before.
17. Finally you can go to DNS Manager and delete all the DNS records related to the child domain.

My issue is when I get to selecting the child domain and select #1, I get an Error parsing Input - Invalid Syntax.

It's great when an answer that works get posted but not everyone gets it to work.

Any assistance would help.

Thanks

Answer 1

I think you need to remove references to any child domain controllers first.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/deploy/demoting-domain-controllers-and-domains--level-200-

--please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

Answer 2

Link gives a 404 Page not found.