2008 DC on 2003 forest, dcpromo fails after adprep

We have a setup of Windows Server 2003 at Functional level with Forest 2003. Now we are also trying to add a Windows Server 2008 64 DC to the same which we are running from past few weeks. After running DCPROMO I got notification saying that I haven’t ran adprep yet. Hence I copied the adprep folder from the 2008 cd and log on to the current and woefully overloaded DC.I run adprep /forestprep and adprep /domainprep /gpprep.

All done, and now when I try to run dcpromo on the 2008 box it still says that I need to run adprep /forestprep. Why now again? Though I ran it again, it gives me the same message again and again. Do anyone else have come through such situation? Please help.

Hello IndrneeL. Can you just clarify exactly how many DCs do you guys have currently? Also did you tried running the adprep on Schema Master?

Will i be correct if i say that your 2008 server's DNS settings in IP properties are the same as 2003 DC's IP addresses? Did you check Event Viewer? Are there any logs generated?

I will suggest that you should not copy the adprep folder to the server. Instead simply run it from the disk itself because I have seen many people saying that they get some problem running adprep from server but works fine from disk itself.

Apart from this, can you just post the adprep logfile from the 2003 DC where you run it? It will help me to help you more.

Thank you very much for the help guys. Here are the details of first log for comparison, which was just a adprep /forestprep.

*********
Adprep successfully set the forest Update revision attribute to 2 on
object
CN=ActiveDirectoryUpdate,CN=ForestUpdates,CN=Configuration,DC=domainnamereplaced,DC=com.

[Status/Consequence]

Adprep updates the forest Update revision attribute in order to mark
the forest as prepared. Adprep is continuing and will now prepare the
forest.

Adprep set the value of registry key System\CurrentControlSet\Services
\NTDS\Parameters\Schema Update Allowed to 0

Adprep successfully updated the forest-wide information.
**************

Thanks again.

Please post an unedited ipconfig /all from the schema master and the 2008 VM.

Best regards

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : 2003schemamaster
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : domainnamereplaced.com
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : domainnamereplaced.com

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel 8255x-based PCI Ethern
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : xxxx
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 172.50.20.5
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 172.50.20.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 172.50.20.5
208.67.222.222

************

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : 2008soontobeDC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : domainnamereplaced.com
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : domainnamereplaced.com

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : xxxxx
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : xxxxx(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 172.50.20.53(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 172.50.20.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 172.50.20.93
172.50.20.5
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Alrite, i got it. You will need to remove the 208.67.222.222 form the DNS server. As i guess this is ISP's DNS server, you may need to add this as a forwarder under the DNS server properties in the management console under FORWARDERS tab.