Member Avatar for willij100

I have a machine which I need to remove from a 2003 Domain, I am no longer in a position to contact the DC, nor am I admin for the Domain anyway, I just want to disjoin it from the domain, and join it to a local workgroup, does any one know a way around this problem.

Thanks
James

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Brief summary and practical options for : the only fully supported way to change an XP machine off a domain on the local box is with a local administrative account (as pointed out). If you can log on with a local admin the registry and system settings can be changed and the machine will boot into a workgroup without contacting the DC. If you cannot log on locally, Windows will block the change because domain membership and the machine account are controlled by Active Directory.

If no local admin credentials are available, options are limited and must be done with proper authorization. Common approaches that people use are:

  • Try Safe Mode: XP sometimes exposes the built-in Administrator account there.
  • Reset the local Administrator password offline using a bootable tool that edits the SAM (for example, Offline NT Password & Registry Editor). Typical flow: boot from media, target the Windows installation, reset the local admin password, reboot, log in locally, then change the computer to a workgroup. Back up critical data first and be aware these tools modify the SAM/registry.

If those routes are not acceptable, a clean reinstall (or reimage) is the simplest way to remove all domain ties and get a fresh local admin account. Before reinstalling, copy user profiles and important files off the disk (boot from external media or attach the drive to another machine).

Important notes: removing membership locally does not delete the computer object in Active Directory — that stays until an AD admin removes it. That can cause issues if the machine later needs to rejoin the domain under the same name. Also, bypassing controls on equipment you do not own or manage may violate policy or law; when possible, contact the domain admin or IT group first.

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Member Avatar for willij100

Could someone please help if they can, I have tried to remove it from the domain, it won't let me without contacting the DC, and help would be appreciated, or maybe someone can advise if I haven't follow the correct protocol in this posting, thanks in advance

Member Avatar for Tezdoll

Umm...You are not an admin? Did you "take" the laptop? Whats the story here.

Member Avatar for Salguer

tienes que entrar como Administrador local y te aparecen las opciones habilitadas y posteriormente cambias a un grupo de trabajo y en el boton MAS quitas el nombre del dominio tambien. y das aceptar y posteriormente te pide reinicies la maquina...y te regresa como originalmente estabas..y si quieres agregarlo a otro dominio pues solo colocas el nombre del dominio

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