Wht happens to domain accounts after dcpromo to stand-alone server?

Hello!

I inherited a single-server Windows 2000 domain that has two workstations on
the domain and three that are in a workgroup with the same name as the
domain. The DC has a bizarre long name, and I would like to rename it, but
since it is the only DC and the only server, the only way to do so would be
to dcpromo it to a stand-alone server. My question is: what happens to the
domain accounts (about ten accounts for the five workstations) if I do a
dcpromo out of the domain? Do they get converted to local accounts on the
server, or do they just get deleted?

If the domain accounts become regular local accounts on the server after
dcpromo down to a stand-alone, I assume I could then rename the server to
something logical, then dcpromo back to a domain, add the three workstations
that were in a workgroup, take the two previous domain members and change to
workgroup then place them into the new domain.

Am I any where near correct on what happens to the accounts after dcpromo?

Thank you!

Gregg Hill

 

Seahawk,

I was afraid of the accounts going away. I have done a swing migration from
NT4 to 2003 and your step 2 is one of the steps. I was trying to avoid that,
but I guess it's not that hard to do. Probably a lot easier than recreating
the users.

Thanks for the help!

Gregg Hill