When your organization is looking to implement Windows Server 2012-based Domain Controllers, your Active Directory environment needs to meet certain requirements. Two of these requirements are the domain functional level and forest functional level. In this blogpost I’ll explain the required domain and forest functional levels for the specific ...

Every good Active Directory Domain Services implementation started with sizing Domain Controllers appropriately for the environment in which they needed to be able to service clients for a period of four to five years. For years, we’ve been using adsizer.exe, a part of the Windows 2000 Resource Kit for this purpose. This tool was released for ...

Since Windows 8 is now available, some of our jobs at work is to make plans to replace our Windows client infrastructure. At my employer we’ve already migrated to Windows 8 and this has provided us with a wealth of information, experience and feedback. Some of this information, luckily, I’m able to share with you today in the form of this ...

Recently, Microsoft released KnowledgeBase article 2743367 with the ominous title Adprep ''not a valid Win32 application'' error on Windows Server 2003, 64-bit version. When you’ve been reading this blog, you might have already guessed what might be causing this issue, even though adprep.exe on the Windows Server 2012 DVD is a perfectly fine ...

With the release of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, many people are eager to download and install the latest and greatest Operating Systems from Redmond. For people who have deployed one of the pre-release versions of Windows 8, Windows Server 8 and Windows Server 2012, the big question now is which version they are running. (and whether they ...

Customers often ask me and my colleagues for innovative solutions, based on proven technology. While that sounds like a contradictio in terminus, we always deliver. The key behind these successes is to research and implement new technology in an early stage. From there, we combine these new technologies, where appropriate, with our proven ...

Since Windows Server 2008, Microsoft no longer offers the ability to restart a Domain Controller in Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) from the default F8 boot menu. About Directory Services Restore Mode For Windows Server-based Domain Controllers, a special startup mode exists, where the Active Directory database isn’t loaded. This startup ...

Since Windows Vista, Microsoft has bundled and enabled IPv6 by default. This means Windows Vista, Windows 7 Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 (and all their derivate SKUs like Small Business Server) out of the box talk IPv6. Note: Server Core installations do not have IPv6 enabled by default and are the one notable exception. The ...

Microsoft has included numerous features in Active Directory the last couple of years. Also, more and more technologies in products like Exchange Server, SharePoint Server and the Windows client (Windows Vista, Windows 7) have an Active Directory opt-in to store information in Active Directory. All this bountiful integration, however, comes with ...

Windows Server 2008 R2 was released on October 22nd 2009. With a slew of new Active Directory features, the newest incarnation of Windows Server was appealing to many customers. But not to some customers. One thing that stood in their way was the inability to restructure Active Directory domains and forests. Much needed functionality in their line ...