Migrating from Windows 2000 Active Directory to Windows 2008 Active Directory

Published on Wednesday, 08 April 2009.

1. Make sure the domain functional level is set to Windows 2000 native mode for the Windows 2000 domain.
2. Make sure DNS is set to Active Directory Integrated.
3. Upgrade the Windows 2000 forest schema by running "adprep /forestprep" command on OldWin2000. Can be copied from the adprep folder from the Windows Server 2008 installation disc to OldWin2000 in order to run "adprep /forestprep". The location is \source\adprep on the installation disc.
4. Upgrade the Windows 2000 domain schema by running "adprep /domainprep" command on OldWin2000.
5. Verify NewWin2008's TCP/IP configuration points to existing DNS server.
6. Add NewWin2008 to existing Windows 2000 domain as a member server.
7. Run dcpromo on NewWin2008 to promote it as an additional domain controller in existing Windows 2000 domain, afterwards verify the installation of Active Directory.
8. Enable Global Catalog on NewWin2008. Manually Check Replication Topology. Afterwards manually trigger replication to synchronize Active Directory database between the replicas.
9. Disable Global Catalog on OldWin2000.
10. Use NTDSUTIL utility to transfer all the 5 FSMO roles from OldWin2000 to NewWin2008. Transfer FSMO roles via GUI method instead of using NTDSUTIL.
11. Install DNS component on NewWin2008 and configure it as a new DNS Server(Active Directory Integrated-Zone is preferred).
12. Transfer all the DNS configuration from the existing DNS Server.
13. Migrate DHCP service from Windows Server 2000 to NewWin2008.
14. Leave OldWin2000 offline for several days and check whether everything works normally with NewWin2008 online. If so, bring OldWin2000 online and run DCPROMO to demote it.