Cannot Cancel Dcpromo.exe While Demoting a Domain Controller (238117)

SUMMARY

You should not cancel the Dcpromo.exe task when you are demoting a domain controller to a member server. Although there is no way to cancel the task in Dcpromo.exe, you could end the Dcpromo.exe task by using Task Manager. If you end the task by using Task Manager, the following message may be displayed when you try to resume Dcpromo.exe:

Active directory is already being installed or removed on this computer. That operation must finish before another may be attempted.

MORE INFORMATION

You use the Dcpromo.exe utility for promoting a server to a domain controller or demoting a domain controller to a member server (or to a stand-alone server in a workgroup if the domain controller is the last in the domain). As part of the demotion process, Dcpromo.exe removes the configuration data for the domain controller from Active Directory. This configuration data takes the form of an "NTDS Settings" object, which exists as a child object to the server object in the Active Directory Sites and Services Manager tool.

If you cancel this process before the entire process is finished, the error message listed above may be displayed, and you no longer have the option to demote the domain controller.

If the error message is displayed and you cannot demote the domain controller, you must manually remove these settings by using the Ntdsutil.exe utility. For additional information about how to use Ntdsutil, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

216498 Removing Active Directory Data After an Unsuccessful Demotion