How can I move the ntds.dit file?

John Savill

March 4, 2001

1 Min Read
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A. The ntds.dit file contains the Active Directory (AD) data for your domain and is stored in the %systemroot%tds folder. This file can become very large. To improve performance you might want to move this file to a faster drive. To do so, perform the following steps:

  1. Restart the domain controller (DC).

  2. Press F8 at the Startup menu when the system displays the list of OSs.

  3. Select Directory Services Restore Mode.

  4. Select the appropriate installation, if more than one exists, and then log on as an administrator at the logon prompt.

  5. Start a command prompt (Start, Run, cmd.exe).

  6. Start the NTDS utility, ntdsutil.exe.

  7. At the ntdsutil prompt, type "files" as shown below:

    ntdsutil: files

  8. At the file maintenance prompt, type the following:

    file maintenance: move DB to

  9. To view the database, at the file maintenance prompt, type "info" as shown below:

    file maintenance: info

  10. To verify the integrity of the database at its new location, at the file maintenance prompt, type "integrity" as shown below:

    file maintenance: integrity

  11. Type "quit" (without the quotation marks) twice to return to a C prompt.

  12. Restart the computer in Normal mode.

About the Author

John Savill

John Savill

https://savilltech.net

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