Demote NT4 BDC???

[Stalemate]

Urk.


D'oh.



Sorry.

[Ya_know]

Urk.


D'oh.



Sorry.

It's all good, when the time comes and I need to use it I will be getting my company to front (thank you for the link)...the way I see it, CeeBee makes good money, and at that rate, let's say he throws about 6 hours into this project, comes to realize he's at a brick wall, or even let's just say he resolves this all on his own...the company lost his services for the duration while he was lab testing an unsupported workaround that someone has already designed the tool for...may end up costing them more to use his brain than just to break down and buy the software... and what if he doesn’t and needs to buy the software anyway???

However don't let that discourage you CeeBee, I still have faith in your skills, and would love to hear your steps should you resolve this...

[CeeBee]

It worked!!! However it might have deeper implications that I'm currently unaware of. These are the steps:
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DISCLAIMER: BY FOLLOWING ANY OF THESE STEPS YOU ARE ASSUMING FULL RESPONSABILITY FOR ANY CONSEQUENCES, KNOWN OR UNKNOWN! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
The procedure involves using 3-rd party registry editors and file system modifications! If you decide to go further make sure you have an image of the hard drive of the BDC, as well as a backup of the PDC! The operation may have irreversible consequences!
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Now let's get to business...
Prerequisites: NT4 Server installation CD, SCSI/RAID controller drivers (if applicable), server's ERD, an offline registry editor like this one , Sysinternal's NewSID or a similar tool, netdom from NT4 server reskit and a ton of luck

1. install the nt4 server resource kit on the BDC that you want to change
2. make a backup of the PDC and taking an image of the hard drive of the BDC (entire disk, not just system partition!). Leave the BDC off. Also unplug the network cable!
3. On the PDC use srvmgr to remove the BDC from the domain
4. Use the offline registry editor and change the following registry setting:
HKLM\system\controlset001\control\productoptions\P roductType from "LanmanNT" to "ServerNT"
5. Delete all the subkeys and values under:
HKLM\system\controlset001\enum\root\legacy_rpcloca tor\
HKLM\system\controlset001\services\lanmanserver\sh ares\
HKLM\system\controlset001\services\netlogon\fullsy nc\
HKLM\system\controlset001\services\rpclocator\enum \
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for all other instances of HKLM\system\controlsetXXX
7. Save the changes and reboot.
8. Upon Windows startup, logon as domain admin (you will also have the option to log on locally now!) and create a new SID for the system using NewSID (you may also rename it if you feel like, but use CAPS), then reboot.
9. Boot from the NT4 server CD, attempt a repair, just restore the security settings and SAM. NOTHING ELSE!
10. Login locally (the account might have a blank password), disjoin the server from the domain and join a workgroup. Connect the network cable and reboot.
11. Logon locally, change the password for admin (you don't want a server with a blank admin password, do you?), then use netdom to join the domain as a member. Reboot.

That's it, you have a member server now! However, for some reason you cannot join the domain from the network applet in the control panel, it might keep traces of it's prior existance as a domain controller. There might be other issues I'm unaware of, I have only tried with a fresh install of NT4 SP6a/IE6SP1 fully patched, but with no apps installed. Maybe a little more digging is needed and problems will surface, but it was worth spending few hours on this and looking busy instead of surfing the net...