VHD conversion of a member server, after conversion out of the domain

[NarendarR]

Hi,

Can any one point to me in right direction to convert a physical windows 2003 member server to a VHD file for Hyper-V and retaining the domain memebersip when running as a VM on Hyper-V.

Please look into this thread
https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/vmdk-conversion-and-domain-server-member#comment-2668611

One of the symantec employee says that while restoring the server, it Backup Exec System Recovery need to find the domain, this will allow vhd tol retain the domain memebership.

Is that true? if so at what step of restoring process?

1. is it when taking the backup?
2. is it when converting the backup files to VHD
3. is it when running the VHD file as a Virtual Machine in HyperV?



regards
Naren

[AJT]

After you have performed the restore/Restore Anyware, open a command window to %systemdrive%\SysPrep folder. Edit the sysprep file and add you domain admin credentials.

PS: Look for the network setting lines that lines with semi-colon take out the semi-colon this tells sysprep the line is a comment.

Hope this helps :)
 

[marcogsp]

I like to think of a Restore Anyware recoveries and  Virtual conversions as analogous to an Install in Place  installation of the OS.  An  Install in Place installation is used to repair a faulty OS installation without wiping out most of the installed programs and settings.  The similarity becomes apparent during the reboot where the mini setup occurs.  If you've ever restored a domain controller, then you've come across the message that the server can't be unjoined from the network because it is a domain controller.  The mini setup is attempting to unjoin the system from the domain, and then rejoin it to the same domain.  Normally this error shouldn't occur with a member server. 

I believe the purpose of the unjoin and rejoin procedure is to reset both the system account and SID for the system.  This assures that the domain controllers and the member systems will communicate for the purposes of synchronization.  When a domain controller and member system are out of contact with each other, the member system's account can become invalid.  Ever wonder why when you right click a computer account in Active Directory Users and Computers, that Reset Account is one of the options?  Resetting the computer account allows the domain controllers and the affected computer to synchronize again.

Expanding upon AJT's point, this is a viable option if you are going to deploy the system very soon, and wish to avoid entering the login credentials to rejoin the domain during the mini setup.  The danger is that the login credentials are stored in plain text.  Also, if you change your adim passwords regularly and do not deploy this system for a while, then there is the danger of having expired passwords in the sysprep.ini.

There is the possibility that the process will fail and you will have to join the system to a workgroup temporarily and then rejoin it to the domain.  This step is not much different than building a workstation or server manually and then joining it to the domain.  If you plan on switching out a live server with the virtual to test the success of the conversion, you may have use this step anyway.  The SIDs may be different and not allow you to logon to the domain until this step is undertaken.