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I have several computers in my network involved in the situation:

  • 2 servers: 1 "new" domain controller, and 1 old domain read-only domain controller
  • 1 client computer logging into domain account

The main server's OS crashed and was unrecoverable after the 2012 to 2012 R2 update, leaving me with the read-only DC for the old domain. The main server is currently off but is set up for a similarly named new domain.

I would like to transfer the settings (at least local rights, perhaps somehow imported from the still active RODC), files, etc. That domain account/login has a lot of local usage time on it and personalization.

I am uncertain on how to proceed with this situation and not lose what I have on the client PC.

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First up, you can't restore a domain's full configuration from a read-only domain controller. (Further reading at Server Fault.) The entire purpose of a domain controller being read-only is that it doesn't carry anything sensitive besides its own machine account password.

You can, however, recover the Group Policy objects and logon scripts because RODCs have a copy of SYSVOL. You'll probably need to use Directory Services Restore Mode to get into the machine. You can then copy the important stuff from \Windows\SYSVOL, but getting the new domain to accept the files might be tricky. Optimally, you would instead use the actual backup function of Group Policy Management. Further reading at TechNet.

You can probably still log into a domain user's profile on workstations thanks to cached credentials. (You'll need an account that has admin access to the machine.) That works as long as the user isn't a member of the Protected Users group, the user was one of the last 10 to log into the machine, and credential caching isn't disabled by policy. If that doesn't work, you'll need to log in as a local admin. If you don't have any local admins, see What can I do if I forgot my Windows password?

From there, you can use Windows Easy Transfer to move most of the user state to a different account. Further reading at Super User. If you're using Windows 8 or newer (or can't get local admin access), you won't be able to use Windows Easy Transfer. You're kind of stuck then. You could try to manually copy all the things out, or use the ever-arcane User State Migration Tool. Some people advocate some Registry tweaks, but that can easily result in bizarre problems down the road. I'm sure you could find third-party programs that move profiles to different accounts; I've heard of zinstall but have not used it.

In the future, I suggest keeping up-to-date backups of your domain controllers, or at least the Active Directory.

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  • greetings and thank you for your answer, I can indeed login to the client computer, which uses windows 10 the user I login to is a member of the administrators group, the RODC has been setup for the reasons it should be a RODC indeed, I do not need to recover my entire old domain, but instead indeed alone the 1 user account, the RODC can still be logged into. I have tried to grab a copy of SYSVOL and intigrate it into the new server install but this failed, which seems to correspond with it being tricky backups of the new domain are indeed high on the list of things to do
    – Dave Vanloo
    Mar 26, 2016 at 18:37
  • I would also suggest Zinstall, and have used it in the past for this kind of situation. Not sure if their Easy Transfer product would work for this, though; most likely will need the Pro version. They even have a tutorial for cross-domain profile transfer here. All of the above assumes that you want to migrate the personalization and software from the client machine, not recover the domain itself.
    – Barakando
    Mar 27, 2016 at 16:22

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