I need to upgrade a domain controller that is currently on a windows server 2000 sp4 machine. This computer is going to go into a very nicely equipped new server but due to licensing issues we are going to put server 2000 on that machine for the moment then upgrade it to windows server 2003 or 2008 I do not know yet at this point.

I need to get this computer ready to be transferred over to a new hardware layout. I read that I need to use the sysprep.exe to remote the CID from the machine. I am going to use Acronis as the software to make the backup. Pretty much I’m gong to run SYSPREP.exe and then going to do a full backup of the data on DC2 (the domain controllers name) and migrate that data to the new hardware.

Is there anything that I should take into consideration before I do this? I think that this server had ADUC (active directory users and computers) installed on it so a lot of network services will be down for a short period of time. Any feed back on this issue would be greatly appreciated!