Event 5781 Occurs After Domain Controller Changes Domain (311354)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
This article was previously published under Q311354

SYMPTOMS

After you have changed the domain that a Windows 2000 domain controller belongs to, you may frequently receive the following event 5781 in the System Event log:
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: NETLOGON
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5781
Date: date
Time: time
User: N/A
Computer: SERVER

Description:
Dynamic registration or deregistration of one or more DNS records failed because no DNS servers are available.

CAUSE

This issue can be caused by stale entries in the DNS zone for the old domain that the domain controller belonged to.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue:
  1. Stop the Netlogon service.
  2. Rename the Netlogon.dns file to Netlogon.old, and then rename the Netlogon.dnb file to Netlogon.old2.

    Note Netlogon.dns and Netlogon.dnb are located in the Windows\System32\Config folder.
  3. Start the Netlogon service or restart your computer.

MORE INFORMATION

During the demotion of the domain controller, Dcpromo.exe might not be able to de-register all of the Netlogon service records at the DNS server, which hosts the domain controller's domain.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:12/15/2003
Keywords:kbenv kberrmsg kbnetwork kbprb KB311354
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.