I want to ask how to completely uninstall Active Directory on my system. I have Windows Server 2003 SP1. Please send me detailed instructions. And also, how can I know the password for the local Administrator account of the server after removing the Active Directory?
Uninstalling Active Directory is also known as Demote Domain Controller. To demote a Domain Controller, click Start > Run > Dc promo. Check the box if the server is the task domain controller in the domain. If not, leave it alone. Click Next. Type and confirm the password for the local administrator then click Next twice to start the demotion.
To completely remove a domain, you have to do the above steps to each domain controller in the domain. You may need to remove WINS and DNS entries that were associated with the domain controllers depending on how your environment is configured and after all the domain have been demoted unless they were automatically removed via WINS deregistration and DDNS during the demotion process.
You can determine if all the entries are removed by the following commands:
> netsh wins server \SERVERNAME show name <NbiosName> 1c
> nslookup <DCName>
> nslookup -type=SRV _ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.<DCName>
> nslookup <DCName>
By the way, you cannot recover the password for the local Administrator of the server after removing the Active Directory. You can only recover your lost password before uninstalling it.
