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Determine the Location of the DIT in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)

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Beginning in Windows Server 2008, you can check the location of the DIT (directory information tree) without booting the domain controller into DSRM (directory services restore mode).  This can be done by stopping the NTDS service and using NTDSUTIL.

To determine the location of the DIT in AD DS:

  1. Open a command prompt with administrative privileges.
  2. Type net stop NTDS.
  3. When prompted to stop the related services (Kerberos Key Distribution Center, Intersite Messaging, DNS Server and DFS Replication), type Y.
  4. Type NTDSUTIL.
  5. Type Activate Instance NTDS.
  6. Type Files.
  7. Type Info.

After you type info and hit enter, the output will list the DS Path information which includes the location of the database (the DIT file), the backup, working, and log directories.

Once you have the information you need, type Quit twice to exit NTDSUTIL. At the command prompt type net start NTDS to restart the AD DS service.  This will also restart the related services listed above.

To perform this operation in Windows Server 2003 see,** **Determine the database size and location offline. ** **