Active Directory Installation Failed - WHY?

Hello all -

I have two offices... both have two servers running W2k Adv Server. Both
servers in Office A has a brand new installation of W2k Adv Server w/ SP4.
One of these servers is the PDC and the other is a member server. I am
trying to configure a 2nd domain with two servers at office "b" and have
that domain in the same forest as office "a." When I run the AD wizard on
either server in office "b" [remotely from office "a" with Remote Desktop
Connection over a VPN tunnel], I get the following error: "Active Directory
Installation Failed."

The error message continues to say, "The operation failed because 'The
remote attempt at server dc.officea.com to remove server CN=NTDS Settings,
CN=DC,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=COnfiguration,DC=officea,DC=com
from the enterprise failed. The DSA object cannot be deleted."

I tried researching this problem over the weekend and found an article
saying my AD is corrupted with old objects and to do one of two things: (1)
remove objects that shouldn't be there anymore or (2) install the OS again.
I opted for #2... and I'm still getting the error. AD isn't the problem...
any ideas of what the problem is?

Thanks,

Robert

Hello Robert,

On the existing domain, with one DC if i understand correct, please run dcdiag
/v, netdiag /v and post the unedited output here.

It sounds like that you had installed or tried to install another domain
in the forest? Check with this articles for older DCs and old domains existing
in the AD database:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555846/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/230306

If they are listed in the AD database and do NOT exist, you can remove them
according to the same articles. And keep in mind to have a good/tested backup
available, in case something goes wrong.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
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> Hello all -
>
> I have two offices... both have two servers running W2k Adv Server.
> Both servers in Office A has a brand new installation of W2k Adv
> Server w/ SP4. One of these servers is the PDC and the other is a
> member server. I am trying to configure a 2nd domain with two servers
> at office "b" and have that domain in the same forest as office "a."
> When I run the AD wizard on either server in office "b" [remotely from
> office "a" with Remote Desktop Connection over a VPN tunnel], I get
> the following error: "Active Directory Installation Failed."
>
> The error message continues to say, "The operation failed because 'The
> remote attempt at server dc.officea.com to remove server CN=NTDS
> Settings,
> CN=DC,CN=Servers,CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=COnfiguration,
> DC=officea,DC=com from the enterprise failed. The DSA object cannot
> be deleted."
>
> I tried researching this problem over the weekend and found an article
> saying my AD is corrupted with old objects and to do one of two
> things: (1) remove objects that shouldn't be there anymore or (2)
> install the OS again. I opted for #2... and I'm still getting the
> error. AD isn't the problem... any ideas of what the problem is?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Robert
>