Prepare a Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 Domain for a Domain Controller That Runs Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012

Use the following procedure to prepare a Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 domain for domain controllers that run Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. To prepare the domain, run Adprep.exe from the installation DVD on your existing domain controller that hosts the infrastructure master role. In Windows Server 2008, Adprep.exe is located in the /Sources/adprep folder of the operating system installation DVD. In Windows Server 2008 R2, Adprep.exe is located in the /Support/adprep folder.

Review the list of operations that are performed by Adprep.exe and test the updates in a lab environment to ensure that they will not conflict with any applications that run in your environment. For a list of specific operations that are performed when you update the Active Directory domain, see Windows Server 2008: Domain-Wide Updates and Windows Server 2008 R2: Domain-Wide Updates.

Administrative credentials

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Domain Admins group. Membership in the Enterprise Admins group is not sufficient to perform this procedure.

To prepare a domain for Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2

  1. Identify the domain infrastructure operations master (also known as flexible single master operations or FSMO) role holder as follows:

    • In the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, right-click the domain object, click Operations Masters, and then click Infrastructure.
  2. Log on to the infrastructure master as a member of the Domain Admins group.

  3. Insert the Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD into the CD or DVD drive.

  4. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right click Command prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

  5. If you are using the Windows Server 2008 DVD, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    D:\sources\adprep\adprep /domainprep /gpprep

    Where D: is the drive letter of your CD or DVD drive.

    If you are using the Windows Server 2008 R2 DVD, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

Important

Windows Server 2008 R2 includes 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Adprep.exe. The 64-bit version runs by default. If you want to run one of the Adprep.exe commands on a 32-bit computer, use the 32-bit version of Adprep.exe (Adprep32.exe).

`D:\support\adprep\adprep /domainprep /gpprep`
  1. Allow the operation to complete, and then allow the changes to replicate throughout the forest before you install a domain controller that runs Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2.