Searched the net and microsoft's KB's but couldn't find an authoritative explanation... So I turned to you guys here:

Setup:

PDC running NT4.0 SP6 (no AD)

DHCP server running w2k advanced server

Both servers are in the same domain.

Problem:

I am trying to move the user database (including passwords, logon .bat files) from NT (which will be removed from the setup after the transfer) onto w2k AD and keep the domain name intact. I have found and tried ADMT 2.0 (since v.3 works only on w2k3) but it simply doesn't work for me, the w2k server doesn't see the NT or says that the domains are the same when trying to import or that no AD has been found on NT (obviously, since NT doesn't have one...). Could someone lend a hand, please? This is really making me pull my hair (whatever's left of it...). Thanks in advance.

nitro

Used
http://www.xxcopy,com as this worked for same problem (as could not get any VirtualWare to WORK!)

I'd rather skip reading cr/-\p like this... Please, PLEASE, if you ain't got some constructive information, refrain from posting...

Nitro, what I used to do back in the heady first days of NT to 2K migrations was thus - power down the original NT4 machine, and image it. Then, bring it back up and upgrade to Windows 2000 on the server (to do the NT4 -> AD migration). If anything went wrong, the original image was still on the old PDC, but the upgrades almost always went smoothly enough.

After a few days, I'd make sure that upgraded DC did not store the GC or have any other FSMO roles, then dcpromo it to remove domain controller duties. If all went well there, I'd remove it from the domain and rebuild it cleanly (and re-add it as a DC once I was sure everything was OK).

Thanks cluberti, that was the answer I was looking for. I will start on it this week-end when I can take the machines out of production and come back with the results.

Cool . I've always found it best to image the PDCs/BDCs as a snapshot, then do the upgrades as previously mentioned. Now, with VMs it's even easier (using vmware converter) to make a backup and test first, to see what's gonna happen if you've got the hardware to run the number of VMs it would require.

Update:

Imaged NT4.0 machine but can't upgrade to w2k due to lack of space (~500MB left on the partition) and it's on a mirror RAID set... Cluberti, could you think of an alternative way? This is really driving me crazy...

What did you use to image it? At this point, it might be best to convert it to a VM and run it on VMWare or Virtual Server (or hyper-v, as the case may be) to get it off that hardware, if it's not got the disk space you need. It'll be easier (much) to use something like VMWare converter and put it in a VM you can resize.

Thanks for your reply I used Acronis to image the machine. I am thinking why didn't virtual machines spring in my mind before. Good idea! Thanks again!!!!!

cluberti, it worked like a charm. Thank you! Mounted NT4.0 image in vmware, upgraded to w2k and spilled the AD onto the real w2k machine using ADMT v2.0. Do you need an old NT4.0 machine?

No, that's what VMs are for .