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Found an offline domain controller present in Active Directory error is preventing upgrade to SBS 2011

Answered Found an offline domain controller present in Active Directory error is preventing upgrade to SBS 2011

  • Friday, December 14, 2012 4:59 AM
     
     
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    I'm trying to install a new SBS2011 server in an existing SBS2003 domain.  The SBS2003 server is the only domain controller in the domain.  All the prerequisites for the 2011 upgrade have been completed.  When I run the SBS 2011 Standard Migration Preparation Tool on the SBS2003 server, I get an error at the 'Scan the source server for problems' screen:

    Found an offline domain controller present in Active Directory: Server: Server.mydomain.local

    The server that is referenced is the SBS2003 server!  I checked all the FSMO roles, they all point to the SBS2003 server.  I also confirmed that the SBS2003 server is the only domain controller in the environment and it's the only server in the Domain Controllers OU.  I also ran DCDIAG /V and confirmed that there aren't any problems.

    I found a few other posts with the same problem, but no fixes.

     

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  • Friday, December 14, 2012 3:46 PM
     
     
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    Hello Jake,

    Issues seems with WMI.

    Follow the steps under Sub-rule 7 (B) under below article:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2578426#appliesto

    Probably Rebuilding the WMI Repository should resolve the issue.

    Let me know the results. You might need help with some more steps after this depending on results that you provide.

    Thanks & Regards, Naga Santosh EPS(SBS)

     
  • Wednesday, December 19, 2012 11:32 PM
     
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    You're right that the problem was WMI, but unfortunately the recommended solution didn't fix the problem.  I had to called MS and opened a support case.  After a few hours, they found and fixed the problem.  Here are the details:

    Ultimately, the problem was caused by the ProductName registry vaule under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion.  The value was configured as a REG_MULTISZ instead of the REG_SZ.  That was messing up a WMI property that (I think) was called 'operatingsystem.name'.  By being a REG_MULTISZ value, the name was being presented as "Microsoft Windows Server 2003/n for Small Business Server".  Apparantly the '/n' was tanking the Preparation Tool and causing the 'offline domain controller detected in Active Directory' error message.  The fix was to backup the registry then delete the ProductName value then recreate it (correctly) as a REG_SZ value then enter "Microsoft Windows Server 2003" for the data.  After that change was made, I don't recall if I had to reboot or if I simply went back to the Preparation Tool and clicked 'rescan'.

    One final note about this issue.  The SBS2003 server was Dell OEM software and when you click My Computer -> Properties, there was a Dell logo on the General tab.  I'm pretty confident that Dell modified the ProductName registry valueas part of their custom OEM SBS 2003 installation.  I say that because I have several other customers that have SBS2003 servers that are non-OEM and their registry values for ProductName are REG_SZ values.

    I hope this makes sense and helps someone else.


    • Marked As Answer by jake4343 Wednesday, December 19, 2012 11:32 PM
    • Edited by jake4343 Wednesday, December 19, 2012 11:34 PM
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  • Thursday, December 20, 2012 12:41 AM
     
     
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    Microsoft Windows Server 2003/n for Small Business Server??? and that tanking up as offline domain controller? Server on its own advertising as offline domain controller?

    Anyways , this qualifies as a Kb or bug. OEM's don't modify the product name btw :-)